KH and pH

fc_uk

Reefing newb
Hey hey! Another issue!

I've started running a phosban reactor because my phosphates contain water (yes, I typed that right; my water is so loaded with phosphates, the phosphates are actually the carrier for the water).

Getting a little more serious...

My pH and alkalinity have dropped.

Back when I owned a pond, I would fix this by adding sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). That same thing apply to a salt water aquarium.

My pH is about 7.6 The alkalinity is about 100 ppm. Both a little on the low end.

If baking soda is the preferred method still, then anyone know how much to dose a 75 gallon aquarium to slowly raise it up? How quickly can I do this? Hate to ask and hate to put a timeframe on it, but due to an emergency I need to leave town in two days.

I have a clown, damsel, torch, frogspawn, brain coral (favia and worm), mushroom coral.
 
I would work on correcting your Alk, that will likely fix the pH issue. I just use an Alk dosing solution from my LFS, but this isn't something you can fix over night. Changing the Alk really fast is very dangerous
 
Oh, no worries there; I agree that this will not be fixed overnight. I should have been a little more specific: By the time I leave, I would like to see this starting to head back up as opposed to continuing to drop.

Hmmmmm... I was under the impression that sodium bicarbonate would raise alkalinity as well. Is that not the case?
 
You may try dosing with Reef Fusion #2...
What are the testing results... can you post them so the forum can see if there is a reason for this? Added any new "rock" that may be soaking it up.. like river rock?
 
As for other testing results:

specific gravity: 1.026
ammonia: 0
nitrate: just about 0
nitrite: 0
temperature: about 78F

I've not added rock for well over month now.

The newest addition would be phosban. Have been running pouches for a few weeks with no drop in alk/pH.

Setup a proper gfo reactor a few days(3) ago and the pH has dropped since then. I assume that is a cause, as pH/alkalinity issues can arise with a gfo reactor.

Lucky for me the business park in which I work also has a great lfs in it. I'm holding off on the sodium bicarb as neither of you seem to be a fan of it and will purchase with the folks at the lfs recommend tomorrow.
 
Chemistry And The Aquarium: Solving Calcium And Alkalinity Problems — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog


And, for what its worth, a lot of people have been having crazy alk issues lately, mostly low alk (not just on this forum but others as well). According to Yote (our resident LFS worker and moderator extraordinare), several salt companies have merged or changed the way they are mixing salts resulting in changes in alk levels right out of the bucket. Good luck getting back on track, I'm dealing with low alk myself and its driving me crazy!
 
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So did you drop the GFO off line? I have GFO and carbon reactors and seldom run them... I use them as a back-up to correct water purity problems. .. now realize.. I'm new to salt too. Due to the folk on here, my tank is really starting to pop.. :bounce:

My biggest issue to date was learning to wait, wait, wait,. .. and to keep my damned hands out of the tank. My hand are not allowed to touch the water.. they have been banned. I got me a pair of the long aqua gloves. ... and several kinds of reachy things. LOL .. my reachy thing collection is my incentive to stay out of the tank.
 
Unfortunately, I can not take the gfo off line; this is going to be a way of life. I setup pouches in my sump --- enough to treat 100 gal. Took three weeks to start killing and as soon as I had about a 90% kill of red slime, it all came back. I finally got smart and started testing my tap for phosphates. That was scary. Unfortunately, they appear to be bound phosphates, which an RO/DI will not remove via the DI ion exchange resin.

I hear you on the wait. I'm an impatient person to begin with. This is hard!

@Fishyreef: Thanks for that link. Dunno if you picked it up in my other threads, but being a chemist means that made a while lot of sense to me!

Speaking of which, today was take my aquarium water to work day:

Bound phosphates are on their way down, so that GFO is starting to have an effect.

Alkalinity: 7.638 dKH
Calcium: 327.5 ppm
Magnesium: 1297.3 ppm

So... bought Reef Code A and B. I plan to bring up alk by 1 dKH a day and Ca by about 10 ppm. Should set me straight in a few. We'll see if the sitter can handle dosing while I am gone. I am guessing not, so it will just sit those two days as I can dose in the morning and night I get back.
 
For your sitter...
Buy some syringes and fill them with the dosages... a pair per day. Have them squirt one each of one into the tank and one each of the other into the sump each day. Per the number of days you pro-rate out will be the right number of days each. Store them in a dark space.... but you know more about that than I.

.. so here we are again at the famous "Keep It Simple Stupid" method.... wink

...........and on the wait...... I hear you brother... I am the worst... "Well?...I AM trying" ... is my logo
 
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Poksal: you are a genius! That makes it just about as easy as you can get! The dosing to the tank and sump will likely get the mixing times right too.

I would have never thought of that in a million years ...

Thanks for that!
 
I'm actually not sure I would have your sitter dose. Unless you have a heavily stocked stony coral tank, your corals should not be depleting alk/calc that quickly. Several people have been having problems lately with alk/calc, and it might be due to changes in how companies are mixing salts. But once you dose and get it back into check then unless you have a heavily stocked tank it your levels should remain stable while you are away. It is very easy to overdose and I'd hate to see that happen while left in the hands of a sitter. I'd strongly recommend testing your tank daily to see how quickly your alk/calc are being depleted before deciding whether it needs to be dosed while you're gone.
 
+1 Fishy, especially because an alk overdose is super easy to do and can be so damaging. Alk burn is really bad and not fun to deal with.
 
You may want to look into Bulk Reef Supply's two part system as well if this is going to be a long term thing for you

I also recently started a GFO recator, but I have not seen it have any effects on my PH or Alk
 
I have the reef fusion 1 and 2 bottles.
My calcium is perfect, but my alk is very low..

Is it safe/ok to just dose for the alk?
I see where it says "2 part system" and I'm wondering if I HAVE to use the calcium buffer when I don't need to raise calcium
 
Treezer, take a read through the article that I linked to on the prior page. That should help you understand alk/calc imbalances better and gives information on how to respond to them.
 
Treezer, take a read through the article that I linked to on the prior page. That should help you understand alk/calc imbalances better and gives information on how to respond to them.

Was a nice and educational article to read, and answered all my questions as well.

Thanks!
 
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