Low Ca/Alk/pH in Tank, High CO2 in Condo

[mark]

Surprised that co2 levels could build up enough to effect things. Eitherway, leave the bathroom or range hood fan on, would pull in outside air that way.

[robbyville]

Hi Bev,

I have the same problem here in Whistler. Here is my magical fix that worked very well for me.

I ran some plastic airline tubing of 1" in diameter from the closest window of my condo to the air intake of my skimmer. I have a HOB Prism Pro. I loosely taped the tube to the intake adjustment knob and left the other end in the window which is only open a little bit so the rest of the apartment does not get cold.

After a few days my tank ph was right back to where it should be !

HTH, and good luck!

Rob

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by Samw

Hi Beverly. Have you continued your use of Balance Blocks? Have they improved anything in your tank?

Oh, the woes of my tanks' chemistry problems........

I am still trying to figure out several things:

- baking soda added alone drops pH significantly, so when adding BS, I also add about an equal amount of kalk to counterbalance the low pH of the BS. I carefully watch how much of each I put in at one time and keep a close eye on the pH monitor so pH increases or decreases only slightly and not by leaps.

- however, I have overshot my calculations on how much BS to add because the kalk also increases alk, so I have ended up with alk in my 28g SH tank at 20 dKH Ca in that tank is a reasonable 420, though.

- it appears that to raise Ca from the very low initial levels, after not paying attention to these issues for months (bad, I know!), that it takes a few Balance Blocks to raise Ca.

- to complicate things even more, I am wondering if the BB have also contributed to dramatic increase in alk.

- since our condo appears to be very airtight, with in-floor heating and no forced air, we have een keeping windows open in bedrooms that face different directions and have fans blowing in the hallway to move the air into the living/dining rooms where the tanks are kept. We also usually open the balcony door for periods of time, especially before going to bed to exchange the air and increase O2 for the night period. The air is fresher by a long shot compared to the closed window time, but pH is still a little low. With the increase in alk in the two tanks being monitored, pH swings are now between 7.95 and 8.08 approximately, which is a vast improvement imo.

To sum up, I don't know how the long term effects using BB will have on my systems. I have been lax on water chemistry issues lately because I've been dealing with ich on new fish in my 72g softie reef and am trying to quickly cycle a 20g to do hyposalinity treatment for the ich. Oh, and then there was also the distaction of the holidays.

Oh, well, I still have the 72g that I can experiment with Will do more detailed testing during the addition of the kalk and BS to determine how much of a rise in alk I actually get by adding small but equal amounts of both.

So, I guess I have not really answered anyone's questions

[robbyville]

Hi Bev,

Well at least it sounds like you are on the right track. I gotta telly you though that my little trick worked wonders for us and made the rest of the dosing problems a lot easier!

good luck!

Rob

[Beverly]

Rob,

Would probably work for us, too, but we don't run skimmers, sumps or refugs on any of our three tanks. Plus, despite the coolness at times, we do like the fresh air throughout the condo.