Bad IO Reef Crystals.....

[hfp75]

Good Advise Denny!!!

Used an old API Ph test and the Tap water came back at 7.8'ish and the Apex reported it at 9+

So, I dug around and found a Ph calibration 4 & 10 set and recalibrated and it was the Apex... totally weird as nothing there changed, it started reporting new numbers after the water change I did yesterday (which was small). I should have though of that sooner.

Needless to say my tank was reading 7.1 (ouch) I have started adding buffer and ALK to get things balanced up somewhat... not to fast not to slow.

At the same time I have a 25% water change on the way, and will do another right after. Ill try to add buffer/Alk & raise things up a bit here and just let the changes do the rest. I hate adding and manipulating this tank as I think it being left alone is the most reliable....

I'll test my Ph on the new H2o before I change it in/out.

I am most frustrated with my Apex Ph probe.... I'll fix this Ph problem but any ideas why the apex would uncalibrate like that?

So, Ill add that it is probably not the IO Reef Crystals at this point... Yes my IO R.C. were from the B.A. boxing day sale in 2013....

[reefwars]

In any case though this is a good lesson to be taught , always test your first (even last cup) in a bucket or box , bad salts are an easy possibility and they happen all the time so don't trust salt mixes , the other being always verify things with a different test/type .

Fwiw a ph reading of 9 would be fatal to the animals and would be very hard to achieve , the same can be said for very very low readings.....when these appear something is a miss and it's usually the testing error

I would Test your Alk levels now as well to just to be on the safe side

Good luck man a bad batch of salt would have been way harder to resolve as you don't always know what in the salt is doing the damage , equipment failures start you in the right direction right away

[reefwars]

As for the apex coming out of calibration wher in the sump do you keep it? And this is a new move right from the other house maybe something happened during the move and re setup? Hard to say mines been out of whack for a long time like yours reads 9 lol

[hfp75]

I tested by ALK yesterday after the change at 10-11 then last night I tested and it was 8 after some acid... I did some more acid after that so I am guessing its a 6'ish.... ph is otw up and I have added some alk back in also.

Im not gonna dose to crazy as I want to just change out the water and get rid of the problem down the drain....

but I want to 'zero' the tank over a day or two....

this is frustrating, I have better things to do today.

Anyone have such an issue with the apex before?

[reefwars]

Yeah I'd go easy on the Alk additions , especially the kalk as its adding calcium as well and likely your calcium wasn't affected much by the acid , slowly over the course of a week raise it with soda ash or bicarbonate

I had my doser go wonky and overdosed my Alk so these kind of things happen its a learning curve

[hfp75]

so far nothing I can see has died.... things look a bit unhappy, but to be expected.

The Ph probe has been working just fine since the move, so I didnt see any reason to recalibrate it. The Ph / Temp probes are in the overflow.

[monza]

How old is the probe? They do need replacing generally every couple of years or so, maybe sooner if they start acting up.

Muratic Acid to your reef tank, IMO that sounds like a shocking crazy thing to add to a reef tank??

[ronau]

Originally Posted by hfp75

so far nothing I can see has died.... things look a bit unhappy, but to be expected.

The Ph probe has been working just fine since the move, so I didnt see any reason to recalibrate it. The Ph / Temp probes are in the overflow.

If you have the solutions out, you might as well calibrate it. It takes 5 minutes and then you'll know.

[hfp75]

Originally Posted by ronau

If you have the solutions out, you might as well calibrate it. It takes 5 minutes and then you'll know.

Its already recalibrated.... First 10+% water change done... second one is mixing....

thats like a 15% change today of the original water.... if I do the same tomorrow.... another 2x 10% then thats 33% of the original water gone in 2 days.... I'll keep this up for a week or so until I'm at a 70/30 split....