Alkanity

[Abe]

I would greatly appreciate if someone can help me solving this problem. I did a PH test last week and it showed it was 7.6, but my Alkalinaty is always at the high limit which is 11dhk, I always keep my calcium around 420ppm. so I checked the PH from my RO water and tap water and they both showed around 7.4. Even after I added salt to my RO water, I tested the PH and it was 7.6. so I know that my PH is not dropping its just low from my water. So last week I added a PH buffer, it brought it up to 8.2 but my Alkalinaty went up to about 23dkh which is too high so I did a 10% water change to correct it. SO my question is, what can I dose my top up water to bring the PH up but not the Alk or i would like to bring the Alk down to 9 if possible. Thank you.

[reefwars]

alot of ph talk here lately might have something to do with winter and lack of fresh air in the house, basically 7.6 isnt going to destroy your system in fact alot of tanks are constantly under 8.0 ..... the proble lies with trying to fix something thats not broke an ideal ph is 8.0-8.2 but its always gonna fluctuate and if your always at around 7.6 then i see no problem so long as its not dropping bigtime or being raised bigtime.

i say forget your ph and get your alk back down to normal first before things really get bad i dont like using ph buffer unless theres a horrible problem which i dont think is your case cheers

[cwatkins]

Throw away your pH test kit! Just kidding. But seriously. Unless something looks off in your tank, let your tank decide its pH.

Yes, I do have pH on my controller, much like everyone else, but I don't react to it unless it goes way out of whack for some other reason (doser is stuck on or something...).

I have some pH buffer but only used it once long time ago. Probably will never use it again.

Edit: If you click on my footer and look at my pH graph, you can see its daily range.

[kien]

Originally Posted by reefwars

alot of ph talk here lately might have something to do with winter and lack of fresh air in the house, basically 7.6 isnt going to destroy your system in fact alot of tanks are constantly under 8.0 ..... the proble lies with trying to fix something thats not broke an ideal ph is 8.0-8.2 but its always gonna fluctuate and if your always at around 7.6 then i see no problem so long as its not dropping bigtime or being raised bigtime.

i say forget your ph and get your alk back down to normal first before things really get bad i dont like using ph buffer unless theres a horrible problem which i dont think is your case cheers

This should be a sticky or a t-shirt (Brett!), or a bumper sticker. I have heard way too many pH horror stories over the past few months and as you said, likely due to the lack of fresh air.

If your tank is running fine don't start looking for problems

If your tank isn't looking so hot check everything else first. You should not need to mess with pH so long as everything else is in check. My pH has been hovering around 7.6 to 8.0 all month according to my controller and everything in the tank is doing just fine.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by kien

This should be a sticky or a t-shirt (Brett!)

I'll kill two tangs with one stone here and make a STICKY T-SHIRT. Comes sticky already so don't ask questions please.

I agree with the 'leave the ph alone' vibe here btw.

[whatcaneyedo]

Low pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm