AmQuel Plus lowered my ph!!!

[misselle27]

Hi All,
new to the site...

My tank has been set up for a year now with no issues until I moved to Delaware and began using their tap water. Before I was using well water from Maryland and believe it or not I had ZERO issues. I tested the nitrates straight out the tap and they are .10 ppm and sometimes a bit higher. I use a liquid test but confirm results with a strip test.

anywho, I just upgraded my 16gal tank to a 30gal yesterday. Before the upgrade I used AmQuel plus and I noticed my ph was down to 7.4. So I decided to test it straight out the tap and it was 8.2

Did a water change on the 16 gal and everything was normal. Now after the upgrade I decided to try AmQuel again since im using tap water and by the next morning my ph went from 8.4 to 7.4 again after using the product. :cry1: The label does say aerate properly as there will be a oxygen drop. I have in my 30 gal tank a marineland bio-wheel 200gph, a aqueon 150gph and a penguin 150pgh powerhead running.

parameters

ammo: 0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: .10 ppm (normal for my tap water)
stocked with 3 damsels & 2 clownfish , 2 blue leg hermits & 2 thin striped hermits
my water is hard btw.

if someone else has experienced this, will my ph raise on its own or should I do a water change? Any other info on using AmQuel that maybe im missing. I used the proper dosage of 5ml per 10gal =15ml for my 30gal.

and I know ppl favor ro/di units but my wallet does not at this very moment. I will consider that in the next few months. My recent move was costly so no money to spend on expensive equipment right now.

any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

imo - I would skip the AmQuel

Your Ph doesn't have to be right at a number... a Ph of 7.8 is fine & a Ph of 8.4 is also fine - stability is more important

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

My tank has been set up for a year now with no issues until I moved to Delaware and began using their tap water. Before I was using well water from Maryland and believe it or not I had ZERO issues

It is possible to have a water source that doesn't need any purifying, but it's much more likely to have problems, as you are seeing now.

You keep saying you are using AmQuel and I'm still trying to figure out why. The only instance in which AmQuel should be used is in a hospital tank with inadequate filtration to make the environment more livable. In an established reef tank, there should be no ammonia. If there is, you have major water quality issues (using tap water, for instance).

Any guessing we would be doing on water hardness (kH), water quality, or how to fix imbalances would be nothing more than guesses. You have a major unknown, your water source. You don't just have to be worried about ammonia/nitrite/nitrates in your water, there are harmful metals, mineral content (high kH will throw off almost every other parameter in your tank INCLUDING pH) and other nasties that are considered okay for us to drink that could spell disaster for a reef tank.

Not trying to beat you up, but you really need an RO/DI unit. If you had near perfect ground-purified well water, that's fine.. you don't anymore. You don't need to spend an arm and a leg for an RO/DI unit, I got my 6 stage reef unit from Pure Water Club and it's pumping out 0 TDS. The membrane is still going strong after almost 5 years. Not bad for < $100 shipped.

You have two options, you can keep battling a huge amount of unknown factors and never really know what's going on chemically in your tank, or you can get an RO/DI unit and know for a fact your water is pure. The choice is yours, but I was cheap and waited to get an RO/DI and I wish I would have sooner.

 

[misselle27]

I know I will definitely have to get a ro/di unit soon. Will water from the store like deer park or someone be better than tap for the next 2-3 months? I just looked at my bottles and realized the AmQuel was not the one that lowers oxygen. I use the AmQuel to help with the nitrates from my tap water. I actually used NovAqua Plus for the water conditioner...that was the one that says it can lower oxygen levels.

 

[sasquatch]

tap water isn't ideal as folks above have said, the problems with amquel are pretty well known and as stated good for qt, I really like the scientific statement from nova lol "When the pH is balanced by NovAqua Plus, the water will be at its natural pH level, whatever that is."
A great water conditioner that does the job without recreating the universe is Prime

 

[BigAl07]

I'm not going to re-hash all the very good suggestions above but I will tell you that there are a lot more items to worry about in municipal water than you can test for. The sooner you take control over your water the sooner you'll eliminate some of the Unknowns in your tank. Remember that WATER is the single largest and most important component of any tank and cutting corners could have the largest downfall here.

Be VERY hesitant about "Store Bought" water because many times it's "Vitamin Fortified". Water that's "just" water doesn't have a lot of "Taste" so manufacturers will add all kinds of things to improve the taste. I think with their low cost it's time you just went RO/DI and took your tank to the next level in control

 

[misselle27]

I went to my LFS store and the sell RO/DI water for $0.49/gallon all I have to do is bring the buckets. That is awesome for me. My fish dont have to wait for better water now. Thats even cheaper than me buying bottled water. They said they constantly are making it so they sell it.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Cheers ! That what is I did for a year (got my sw & topoff water from my lfs), before I bought an ro/di unit, your tank & fish will love it !

 

[DesertOrchid]

Good to hear that the problem was not with the Amquel. I've been using it for years and have never had a problem but then..... there is always a first.

 

[misselle27]

well the ph did drop, I used both AmQuel & NovAqua. They came together and the NovAqua claims to possibly drop oxygen levels. But everyone is thriving so Im not too concerned anymore. I wont be using that stuff anymore though. The ph drop was way to fast and I have a lot of water movement. I will only be using the RO/DI water from now on and thats it.