alk/ph questions

[jimzin15754]

I'm not sure what I'm doin ! My ph is low 7.8-8 according to my API test kit. This has been the case for a few weeks that I have noticed and started when I started making my own water I think. So I bought seachem buffer but I didnt use it exactly to the directions. I tried to go a little slower since everyone says fast changes are bad. But the PH doesnt seem to be raising. This morning I got digging thru old supplies and found a red sea ALK test and it shows I am low as well, in the 0-1.6 range. Is this why my PH doesnt seem to be improving? And how do I raise ALK? Also I mixed the seachem to full strength instructions today and added so i will check PH again tomorrow.

 

[raynist]

My ph is always on the low side also and has been for years. Probably because of my calcium reactor. Is your water surface pretty calm or very turbulent? PH can tend to be lower in the winter when there is no fresh are getting into the room your tank is in. I keep a window cracked open in my basement even now to keep fresh air circulating so CO2 doesn't build up I the room.

As for alk, you can make a great buffer by baking baking soda for one hour in the oven and then adding 2.25 cups of it to a container and then adding enough ro/di water to make one gallon. You don't want to add to much alk at one time as it can greatly change ph.

Also, maybe you can use kalkwasser for your topoff water. This will keep alk/ca/ph up.

 

[jimzin15754]

thanks Raynist,about not adding too much at one time, do you have a guideline? my tsv is about 105 gallons

 

[raynist]

If you make that solution above you could probably safely add 20 - 30 ml a day without too much of a ph swing.

If I were you inwould look into using kalkwasser which is pickling lime mixed with ro/di water for your topoff water.

I take it your alk test is not dkh but meq/l right?

 

[jimzin15754]

yes your right, it say milli equivalents per liter on the color chart.

 

[raynist]

First thng I would do is get a titration alk kit to see how low it really is. Aquarium pharm makes one that is pretty cheap and will give you easy to read results. You add one drop of a solution at a time to 5ml of your water. When the color changes from blue to yellow you note how many drops you added and that us your alk in dkh. This kit should be around $7 at Elmer's or aquaworld. Salifert will give you a more precise reading, but costs 3x's as much.

 

[cloakerpoked]

You don't want to go up by more than .3 on the pH scale at any one time. The slower the better. Bulk reef supply recommends not boosting alk by more than 1.5 dKH in any one day, and even then I try to spread it out, because raising alk that much will raise your pH by more than .3 for sure.

 

[CleveYank]

An invaluble tool linked to this discussion as far as Alk addition and assisting in a targeted ballbark you want to shoot for. Which will increase the buffering capacity which will support more stable pH levels.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html


Once you get things rolling in the right direction, scan over the articles and forum for Randy Holmes Farley and his chemistry info on Kalk v 2 part addition, Alk and pH, correlations. The pieces will firmly fall into place.

 

[Drone]

Here's some good reading on PH, Alk and Calcium.

http://web.archive.org/web/20021221181313/www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/june2002/chem.htm

http://web.archive.org/web/20021127040526/http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

Some of the charts aren't working anymore but you'll get the idea.

Kevin

 

[Masterderrull]

May I also recomend making additional water changes with a focus on siphoning up decaying mater. Sometimes you PH will go down due to the fact that there is alot of organic waste in the water. Additionaly if you haven't done a water change in a long time maybe that's why your minerals are a little low. Just an idea.

 

[jimzin15754]

Thanks for all the input! The seachem buffer at full strength brought my ph up within several hours. Havnt been out to get a dkh or calc test yet but hopefully this weekend. I think Im gonna look into the kalkwasser. On water changes..I try to do 10% a week but it usually ends up about 3 times a month. But I bet your onto something there because theres brown stuff on my sand lately(diatoms?).

 

[cloakerpoked]

That couldn't be it by itself. I've got all kinds of brown algea (diatoms) on my sand bed but my pH regularly shifts between 8.0 and 8.2 depending on the time of day. Low alkalinity is almost certainly the primary problem here.

 

[jimzin15754]

Yeah, my pos test kit says alk is low so im definately gonna check that, and also thanks to the link droan sent me I could have an added issure... CO2, Theres an unvented gas heater in the same room that my wife has crankin most of the day. SO..gonna get better test kit and maybe run an outside airline to my skimmer as well.

 

[cloakerpoked]

Yeah, my pos test kit says alk is low so im definately gonna check that, and also thanks to the link droan sent me I could have an added issure... CO2, Theres an unvented gas heater in the same room that my wife has crankin most of the day. SO..gonna get better test kit and maybe run an outside airline to my skimmer as well.

If the CO2 composition of your water was that high, it would mean that your atmosphere would have the same unbalanced ratio, and that would mean it would be dangerous for human habitants as well. It's possible, but if your alk is low, that's a sure-fire sign that your pH will also be low due to the low buffering ability of the water. Until you get the alk problem solved, I wouldn't look any further into any kind of solutions. I'm betting that it solves the problem. If you have an alk up to 7 dkH and you're still having pH problems like a week later and it's steady, then it's time to start looking at different causes/problems.