Low Alk, KH and pH

mps9506

mps9506

Well-Known Member
Woodstock said:
Many reefs are barebottom.
While it's true that crushed coral can trap ditritus and may attribute to a low PH by creating acids, having crushed coral or the lack of it or any other sand bed is not required to keep alkalinity & calcium balanced.
Click to expand...

Ding ding ding! :)
My last tank was barebottom with zero issues on the pH, Ca, or alk.
And FWIW crushed coral basically the same thing as aragonite sand.

Have you determined your target specific gravity, Ca and alkalinity yet?
Also have you tested your SW that you do your water changes with?
 
Rcpilot

Rcpilot

Has been struck by the ban stick
UPDATE:
I took a gallon of my tank water outside and dropped a small powerhead in. I did this to see if co2 would go out with agitation and thereby raise the pH. No joy. I am going to make a guess that my co2 is not too high in the tank.

I mixed up a couple gallons of fresh saltwater using my Oceanic salt mix. I ran all the tests I have. Alk came up low at around 4.00 and pH was 8.3+/- Calcium is around 325+/-

I have talked to a number of people about this and I may have it figured out. I was using the ESV 2-part kit (Alk & Calcium) to dose my Alk up. BUT--I wasn't using the calcium part. I thought I could only use 1 part of the kit and adjust one thing at a time. I found out that the 2 chemicals MUST be used together. They work as a total system and cannot be used individually to adjust only one part.

I've been adding both parts slowly. So far, the pH is rising and the Alk is rising. Calcium is still high, but dropping. My pH is 8.0 right now. Alk is 5.2 and calcium is 480.

I am going to oder some different salt. Possibly Coralife Marine or Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. I will combine that with the Oceanic salt I already have.

I've just dosed it again this morning with 7.5ml of both components and will wait to test parameters until about 5:30 tonight--just before the lights go off. I am raising things slowly. Don't want to go to fast and shock my inverts or fish. I might have to get it up to a saturation point--and HOPE it holds. My goal is to get it up to normal parameters and then monitor it to see how often it will require dosing.

I want to thank you all for the help. I will post back with results if/when the tank is stable.
 
tbittner

tbittner

Well-Known Member
I use ESV's B-Ionic two part solution and I use a doser. I'm dosing 30ml of alk and 100 ml of calc twice a day and my alk is pretty high (17) and my calc is 440. My ph is 8.2

Keep in mind that I have 570g in my system though. Personally, I love that stuff. Especially now that I've found a less expensive place to buy it and they are also an RS sponsor.
 
Boomer

Boomer

Reef Sanctuary's Mr. Wizard
Those things work for crap in seawater. AND ! you seem to be trying to sell things here, as in a rep or sales person from that company. Try this again and you will be booted off this forum.
 
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O

OHreefer

Member
My pH is a little lower than I'd like too, but I noticed that my test kit expires this month. One important thing is to make sure your measurement system is accurate, otherwise you can come up with false conclusions. I'm about to buy myself a pH meter. I'm sick of the little packets and vials and color matching!:scram:
 
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