Tank trouble, losing everything!

[Amandaw2810]

Hi all, my tank has been pretty stable for the past 6 months, but pH was down to 7.4. Took lid off and got some fresh air to try and increase pH but it wasn’t budging. Fish and corals still seemed healthy, so I slowly raised pH over the course of two weeks using Aquavitro OH balance (which is supposed to raise pH without affecting alk), adding small amounts daily. Alk started around 7 and spiked to 9.5 but is now down to 8.5.

In the past 48 hours I’ve lost a monti, cyphastrea, candy cane, and 3 favias. Birds nest is completely bleached. Leather is retracted and shriveled. Goni is retracted and starting to develop brown jelly, seems like a goner too. 3 mushrooms have detached/ disintegrated. Hammer is retracted, and gsp is retracted and beginning to turn brown on tips. About half of the remaining corals now have a white film on them. My two clowns are doing great.

I’m assuming swing in pH/ alk caused rtn even though it was done slowly. I’ve done another 20% water change with ro/di and Iodine dip on most of the remaining corals. Is there anything else I can do to try and save what’s left? Should I try to lower pH and alk back down or is that just going to make things worse? Was trying to keep ideal parameters but now I feel like I should have just left pH low. Do you think anything else would cause this? Thanks so much for taking the time to read! I’m so sad about losing these beautiful corals
Tank- fluval evo 13.5
Salt- instant ocean, salinity 1.026
pH- 7.9
Alk- 8.5
Temp- 79
Nitrate/ nitrite- undetectable
Ammonia <.02

 

[Mrtakeoff53]

I know it’s hard but I don’t chase pH as a general rule of thumb. That’s probably what your undoing was. There are 2 things that naturally cause pH to swing in a tank, Alk level and CO2 in the water. High CO2 and the pH drops. Low Alk and the pH drops. However, CO2 has a MUCH greater affect on pH than Alk level (within normal ranges) Adding a product that changes pH without raising Alk is not good unless it magically lowers CO2. Your essentially adding a strong base solution to your tank and who knows what that might be. I suggest LARGE water changes to get it out, maybe carbon too and hope for the best. Go back to the basics and keep your tank stable. The more you mess with it, the worse it’ll get for ya. Good luck. Sorry for your struggles.

 

[Amandaw2810]

I know it’s hard but I don’t chase pH as a general rule of thumb. That’s probably what your undoing was. There are 2 things that naturally cause pH to swing in a tank, Alk level and CO2 in the water. High CO2 and the pH drops. Low Alk and the pH drops. However, CO2 has a MUCH greater affect on pH than Alk level (within normal ranges) Adding a product that changes pH without raising Alk is not good unless it magically lowers CO2. Your essentially adding a strong base solution to your tank and who knows what that might be. I suggest LARGE water changes to get it out, maybe carbon too and hope for the best. Go back to the basics and keep your tank stable. The more you mess with it, the worse it’ll get for ya. Good luck. Sorry for your struggles.

Thank you! Is there anything else I can do to get the co2 down? Like I said I have removed lid and tried to get some fresh air flowing. I’ll try another water change. Ugh I was just worried keeping the pH so low over time would cause an issue

 

[Mrtakeoff53]

I have low pH issues too. I have 5 kids and a dog and I live in FL which means high humidity and the house is shut a lot. CO2 levels in my house are high leading to low tank pH. I run a rimless tank with no lid to help with CO2 exchange, I dose kalk (‘eats’ the CO2 when added to the tank, hence the rise in pH when you add it) and run my skimmer hose outside my house to draw in less CO2. It helps a lot. When the weather is nice, I open the windows to get fresh air in. Other than that, I don’t worry what the pH is. I do what I can and accept low pH in the summer (max of 7.9 on a good day). I keep my Alk at about 8.5 regardless. Remember, keep it stable. Avoid ‘fixes’ and work toward long term solutions and habits that support problem solving. Also, you can run a CO2 scrubber to help with the low pH. People have a lot of success, it’s just expensive to buy the media forever.