chemistry question

N

NikonSamurai

Reefing newb
My friend game me his tank he's had set up for 2 years. Durring the move we took all the water out except an inch or two in the bottom, putting the coral in 5 gallon buckets with the old reef water. When i set the tank back up i used the old water but did a 5 gallon water change for a 29g biocube. This past month i've had it the PH has continued to drop. I do the weekly water changes but they don't seem to help anymore and my scarlot hermit crabs are dieing off along with polys. So i started added Kent's feef buffer to increase the PH. After doing a full test today (minus calcium) the Ph was less than 8 which would explain why my zoo's are turning mushy/fuzzy and my fish are pecking at the fuzzy ones. Nitrites were almost non existant at .1, nitrates are at 0 amonia is at .1 and alcalinity is at 3.5. the test said alcalinity should not be more than 2.5 and with a low PH consistantly dropping that can only be CO2 concentrated in the water. My friend did not have a skimmer for the tank so i purchased the biocube skimmer with the air stone in the bottom. It will not be here for another week. I don't know if the water is going to hold up that long without adding chemicales. My question is will the small biocube skimmer be enough if the issue is CO2 and is there anything else i can do? how long could this take to clear up? Is the tank cycling all over again? I was thinking about getting a bubbler at walmart to put in the tank to help with airation but i have heard bubbles are bad for the reef? Anything thoughts would be very appreciated.

I was using instant ocean mix until last night when i read online IO is for fish only tanks and how many bad bags people have reported lately. I ordered oceanic this time and a calcium test kit.
 
Dont do the bubbles and im sorry but the biocube skimmer is worthless. I have one and it has done nothing for me. I dont know what would be making your PH drop like that
 
Did you leave the substrate in the tank when you moved it? If so, that can be a problem. Ammonia & nitrite are byproducts of a cycling tank. If you left the substrate in there just swishing around in a little water, you would have released all kind of crap back into the water.

Do not use any type of buffer to raise your pH. It will only raise it temporarily and can push your alk too high. IO salt is perfectly fine to use. It's been around forever and is used by many of the top reef experts and public aquariums.

Here's some reading for you to do.
The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 3: pH
and
Low pH: Causes and Cures
 
I'm thinking along the same lines as Capt.
That tank is cycling.So you've got dead and decaying matter in there which are releasing ammonia and other byproducts such as carbon dioxide.All that is causing the PH to drop.
My advice would be to take all the live stock out and have somebody sit them untill the cycles complete.
 
I agree with Yote and Capt. Moving the tank caused a cycle to start. Dropping pH is a result of the ammonia in the tank. You should try to do water changes to bring all your levels down to 0 again. But like Yote said, removing the corals while this is going on could save their lives.
 
That's really strange because I have moved my 80g 2 times across town and my 180 3 times substrate still in the bottom. No issues.
 
Also check out our articles section, you will find some items there that will help you understand the chemistry of the system, pH in relation to other levels, low and high pH. good luck keep us posted.
 
yesterday i went to walmart and tried 10 gallons of the RO water they supply. After the water change the levels tested perfect. The polyps are opening up, not as much as they were but more than the past few days. The salt level was way to high before the change. I have a thermomiter/hytro meter in the tank so i figured i could just keep an eye on that. I found it is very inaccurate. I'm wondering if the livestock i put in my tank a few days ago caused the crash. I ordered 4 frags of polyps, a torch, emerald crab and a coral frag. That night there was a horible storm and the shipping was delayed a full day. The animals sat at the airport for 24 hours durring the full 48 hour shipping. When i received them i did a 2 hour acclimation (one ounce every 10 minutes). All the creatures seemed to be in good health so i put them in the tank. The about 3 days later was when i started to notice crabs coming out of their shells and dieing. I did a water change right away. A day later the PH was low so i added buffer. I'm guessing that was my first mistake but after a water change the day before what was i supose to do? another water change? I'm guessing the buffer drove the alk up.

I've talked to several people online and read many forums on the biocube skimmer. It seems that those who think it dosn't work are often not setting the unit at the proper level in the water. The unit is bubble based meaning the level of the waterline can determin the level of success provided your stone is changed about once a month according to the directions. I guess i'll be finding out the hard way.
 
please help?

night before last i did a 10 gallon water change in my 29 gallon tank because the ph was below 8 and alk was 3.5. After the water change the levels appeared fine. Tonight the ph is down to below 8. The alk is high as is the salinity at 1.03. My yellow star polyps look green and not so healthy and my flaming clam is closed.

If i've already done a water change and i can not use buffer what can i do to save my lifestock?
 
Oops, salinity is a typo sorry. Should be 1.023. It went up .001 in 24 hours. The nitrate and nitrite are not showing up on the tests. Amonia is at .1
 
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