ahhh 15 dkh.... How lower?

[George771177]

Okay big mistake i have been forced to use a ph buffer my ph was below neutral. By adding that i have sky rocketted my alakline level. I have a new bucket of water outside aerating to get some sort of ph in it with out adding the buffer. I need some cheto to control my ph i have had it. Iam going to put it directly into my tank on wednesday i dont care about it attaching to my live rock at this point. I just want to get a good ph so i dont kill LPS. Iam going to do a water change to get the the DKH down. It may be a hour before i can get the temperature and PH right.

Freaking out any words of wisdom out there??????

[Clownfish518]

I have also had my dKh go up that high by accident. I did not kill anything, so I wouldn't panic. Just do water changes and bring it back down slowly - it's what I did and everything made it through, including my Acroporas

[George771177]

Okay. well I want to change this water but the aerating of the water is doing nothing to the fresh water R/O i picked up. I dont want to add 5 gal. of zero ph water to my tank.

Does aerating water outside really raise the ph?

[George771177]

Well at least the ph is back to 8.3 in the tank with the buffer but i know this is only a temperary solution. Iam fusterated!!!!

[cbrownfish]

Originally Posted by George771177

Does aerating water outside really raise the ph?

That often will raise pH because the CO2 levels are lower outside. Elevated CO2 levels in our homes are the primary factor that keeps pH levels below ideal, assuming that your dKH is at acceptable levels. pH buffer is designed to boost alk and the product assumes that your pH is low due to low alk.

Stop dosing pH buffer and stop chasing a pH that you think is "ideal". The key with pH is consistency, not a specific number. Try to fluctuate no more than .2 during a 24 hour period. Natural sea water has a pH of about 8.1 and many run successful reef tanks at 7.8. Don't panic if your pH is consistently in the 7.8-8.0 range. It is fine.

[George771177]

my ph was at 7.9 with it being this low i lost a hammer coral head and my brain coral looks terrible. I shows its skeleton if the ph is around this level. I am going to stop the ph buffer. Iam thinking adding the chaeto to the tank will help reduce the high levels of co2 in the tank.

If i wasnt loosing LPS corals due to low PH i wouldnt be worried but iam.

When i get a good ph i have a bad DKH.

When adding a water change do you add anything or just leave you ater at a zero PH?

I want to do this water change but i dont want to screw the PH with a zero mix.

[cbrownfish]

You are NOT losing corals from a pH of 7.9. You either have a water quality issue, high alkalinity burning them, or allelopathy going on.

[George771177]

okay it may be allepathy. I have been getting a break out of green film alagae on the fron tof my glass which is almost to the point of overtaking the glass within a day of it being scrapped off. It could be high alkalinty also. Iam going to see f i can get the ph in my water change bucket up then do the change. Iam then going to get some cheato and throw it directly into the tank. Iam hoping the chaeto may help stop alage outbreaks and lower co2 levels in the tank

[George771177]

my 5 gal. bucket of R/O hasnt changed ph levels at all since i have had it outside aerating. Will a saturated kalkawasser solution raise PH?????

[George771177]

Saturated Kalk solution it is. I am going to add this solution half to my tank directly and half to my water change bucket..... This should raise my ph and calcium while not raising my dkh

[George771177]

kalk fixed my ph issue!!!!!!!! well i did a water change with a salt/kalk mix. Hopefully this will help reduce my DKH & hold my ph at a semi respectable level. i think i may have to rigue up a kalk drip for my tank.....

[cbrownfish]

What are you testing pH with? Liquid test? They are highly inaccurate. If you are not using a digital pH pen or pH monitor, then you are unlikely to see changes with any clarity.

You are also wrong about Kalkwasser. Kalk is calcium hydroxide and it does boost your calcium but it boosts your bicarbonate levels as well (alk/dKH). You are focusing WAY to much on pH and the constant fluctuations you are causing will continue to stress out your tank inhabitants. Without a pH monitor, you may not realize that your pH is going from from 7.8 all the way to 8.5+ when you dose pH buffer or kalk. The pH of a kalk solution is ~12, so you can spike your pH very easily if you are not slowly dripping the solution.

Sorry to come off strong but you need to sloooooow down. Nothing good happens FAST in a reef tank.

[George771177]

wow thanks for the Info. I do have a liquid test kit. I bet my ph was even lower than the test indicated. So i did the saturated kalk solution. My ph is now fine according to the liquid test at least. But right know i have an extremely high dkh around 16!!!!!! The coral all seems to be responding well to the water change with the kalk solution and the extra kalk solution i put in.
Now iam going to sit back and see how it goes. the hamer that looked like it was getting ready to bleach has started to come back out a little. The tissue already is starting to get back over the skeleton, but i fear for the one head that may have gone a little to long.

Thanks for the tips cbrownfish. Iam going to slow it down. NOt going to mess with the water for awhile now.
Hopefully my DKH will come down.

Going to add chaeto on wednesday

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Don't take this the wrong way, but you're fixin for a world of hurt. If you value your corals at all, you'll read up on water chemistry a bit more. It sounds like you're not too sure what exactly your test results mean or why you're dosing what you are. I'd put all the money in my bank account on the addatives or the green algae you spoke of irritating your corals than the pH.

[George771177]

I think iam gettin the green algae outbreaks becasue of a combination of high co2 in the water and old halide light bulbs. I think the chaeto whould help reduce the abundance of green nuissance algae