ALK
 

Im having problems with my ALK and PH, My ALK is way too hight (16DKH) and my PH is too low (7.9). Is there anything that you guys do to rectify this? Water changes dont help, I stopped dosing, and still no real changes.

Have you checked the parameters on your salt?? There were a few bad buckets floating around awhile ago, I think it was more than a year ago now but you never know.

Ya I had one of those buckets, this one is ok, its brand new and I tested, no problems.

I to have had this problem.

The best thing to do is wait. The ALK will drop and your PH will return to normal.
Have you checked your CA. I suspect it to is a little high or even mid 400s

Stop adding any buffers until it returns to normal

J

I stopped adding anything, the funny thing is, my calcium is around 250

alk?
 

Test your Mg...low Mg messes with the Ca (and alk therefore pH) utilization. Also browse Bev's chemistry links, should be some instructions for your situation in one of Farley's articles. Did you have a percipitation event? ie white snow?or heavy build up on your pumps and PH?
Good Luck

heavy build up on my pumps, no snow, what does that mean? I was going totry epsom salts for magnesium and see if that fixes the problem.

Here are some pages to read.....

The Relationship Between Alkalinity and pH:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2002/chem.htm

Solving Calcium and Alkalinity Problems:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

High pH: Causes and Cures:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.htm

Low pH: Causes and Cures:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

The rest of the Reef Chemistry links can be found at:

http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19927

If alk is high and Ca is low, stop the alk but continue the Ca. Both are required for coral growth - without sufficient Ca the corals cannot use the carbonate alkalinity and bring the level down.

Try to figure out how your levels get this way? Were you dosing more buffer (alk) to try to raise the pH? What additives are you using? What doses?

Is the pH level causing problems? If not I would not waste too much effort trying to raise it. Once your tank is back in balance maybe try implementing some kalk in your dosing regimen - it will raise pH without sending alk levels sky high. Otherwise you can do more harm than good trying to get 'textbook' levels.

now now Bev, what did we tell you about posting all thoes and jamming up threads :mrgreen:

Steve

Test your Mg, sounds like a classic low Mg problem to me.

once you fix the Mg level you can raise you Ca again and it will depress the Alk which is artificialy high because there is not enuf Ca to limit it. but like I said test the Mg first. My guess is you will find it down around 800 PPM

Steve

Thanks for the links Bev, Ive read them a thousand times before, thats why Im stumped, I am only dosing with Kalk and my ALK is still going through the roof. I was going to try using epsom salts for Mg and see if that will fix it, can you OD with MG?

I would do a little reading before raising Mg levels with Epsom salts alone... I think it's an issue with free chloride ions... a Mg additive is supposed to be 1 part epsom salts to 10 parts Magnesium Sulfate Hexahydrate... which I think helps precipitate those nasty chlorides, but I'm not the chemist... check Littlesilvermax's posts to get more info..

Mg
 

Sorry Jim....Ya got it backwards dude :mrgreen:
You can use Epson salts (MgSo4) about once for Mg suppliment because the sulfate levels will be raised too much.
To keep your ionic balance, a mix of 1 in ten MgSO4 to MgCL2.6H2O is used.
........BTW dropping kalk is the typical way of this happening....Ca and alk but no Mg....which must be supplimented...a lot more than I ever thought too...PS Both Bev and I had similar events...culprit low Mg

Yes, you can overdose as with anything to fast of a change is bad. do not dose Mg unless you have a test kit to tell you where you are starting and when you are done. add no more than 100ppm/day (has worked for me with no problems a few times :rolleyes: )

Steve

Corey,

We had low pH in our tanks the first winter we lived in our new condo that has in-floor heating. Turned out the condo is pretty airtight and we were all suffering from too much CO2, hence the low pH. With the in-floor heating, there was no air coming into the place to give a proper balance of O2 and CO2.

With that in mind, you might also be suffering from high CO2 in your tankroom, and perhaps your whole living quarters. Is your tank in the basement or in a room that gets little fresh air?

Along with the high CO2, we also had high humidity. To counteract both of these, we kept our two bedroom windows open a crack and strategically placed a floor fan to push the fresh air into the tank area. pH soon began to rise somewhat. When humidity got too high (it was like a sauna in here at times), we'd open the balcony door for several minutes to exchange the air. pH rose even more after that.

To find out if you have high CO2 in your house/tank room, do the following test both inside the house and outside in the fresh air:

1. Pour a new glass of cool tapwater for each test. Measure with a pH probe and record the results.
2. Aerate the glass of water with an air pump for 10 minutes, then measure pH and record results.
3. Compare inside and outside end pHs. The outside pH will give you an accurate account of what the proper balance of O2 and CO2 should be. If you inside pH is lower than the outside pH, you need more fresh air in your tankroom.

BTW, we did the outside pH test in January when it was really freaking cold. Can't remember the exact numbers, but I believe inside pH was about 7.9 and outside pH was 8.2 or 8.4 or something like that.

Never ending good tips, thanks guys. I tried taking the air pump outside, not a co2 problem.

Oh, and as for the PH, a level of 7.9 doesn't concern me as a normal range would be from 7.8 to 8.2. for what it is worth my set up always runs at 7.9. also depending on the time of day your PH will be either lower or higher.

Steve

Re: Mg
 

Thanks John... I KNEW a chemist would show up and part the clouds! :mrgreen:

Re: Mg
 

John where can we get MgCL2.6H2O here? it would be a lot cheeper to make it than buy it

Steve

reply
 

That happened to me a while ago. My Alk was too high MG was pretty high and PH was about 8.5. The best thing I did was nothing at all, accept a couple of small water changes, and my levels returned to normal after a while. Sometimes when adding buffers they don't mix right away and cause irregular readings, expecially Calcium. You might find that your CA levels will raise all by themself if you leave the tank alone.