Ball brand Picking Lime?

[Rogger Castells]

&ot

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10266245#post10266245 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jman77
;bake 300° 1 hour, mix with 1.5qt of clean ro/di water, mix wil mix milky and eventually clear, dose this slurry in 1/2 cup per day over a period "

Rogger, is she is talking about her 26g bowfront, that will shoot her ph off the scales .... 90ml's of baked backing soda will raise my ph around .40... and i have around 80g total volume.. I pretty much agree with what you said .... just watch how you dose it fox... be very careful

Good point, for some reason I thought she had a bigger tank, just do 1/4 cup at the time and meassure your alk (dkh) till you bring it up to 10

 

[SugarFox03]

Thanks everyone!! And yes, the tank is a 26 gal bowfront with 10 gal sump (approx. 33 gals total).

I will try the baking soda trick.

Thanks again

PS. My pH is getting better! It's just now at 7.98, so I am guessing it was higher during the day when I was at work.

 

[SugarFox03]

I was finally able to test my params today, here's the findings for alk & calcium...both tested with brand new Salifert Test Kits, expire 9-2011

Calcium: 430 ppm
KH in dKH: 9.9
Alk in mg: 3.54 mg/L

I also did a water change last night, 5 gals.

Everything is within a reasonable limit, right? Right now my pH is at 7.98 (which seems to be the norm now for this time a day!)

Any comments, does everything look ok? Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Rogger Castells]

Everything looks perfect, How are you testing your ph, Meter? if so, when was the last time you calibrated the probe?

 

[SugarFox03]

I am using a Pinpoint probe. It was calibrated when I put the Reefkeeper 2 on the tank about a month ago.

 

[coralfragger101]

I have a Pinpoint probe as well that seems to always read my tank water as a bit low even after calibrating. My probe right now says 7.94 but I can do a PH test with a kit and it will be dead on 8.3.

 

[SugarFox03]

That's not very reassuring!! I have a Salifert pH test, I'll check it in the morning. I got the probe thinking at least one thing would be easier! Thanks for the info!

 

[coralfragger101]

Your right - it's not because I don't know which to believe.

My tanks doing fine so I do nothing. I mainly added the PH probe to see what kind of swing I was getting which even if it's not accurately calibrated should be able to do that.

Equipment and test kits that are lab grade are way too expensive for the general hobbyist so we all rely on equpment/kits that "apparently" can be inaccurate/inconsistant/unreliable.

 

[Rogger Castells]

I clean & calibrate ph probes on a regular basis, it doesn't really take that long to do once you get use to and it also prolongs the life of the probe, I think if you make this part of your monthly chores you will definitely be on the safer zone, I am particularly picky with the probe inside the calcium reactor.

 

[SugarFox03]

I tested my pH this morning with my Salifert test, and that read approx. 7.85, while my probe read 7.70, Yikes! What's the best way to clean the probe? I'll do that on my next water change day.

 

[Rogger Castells]

Melody, the best way to clean the probe is with a soft baby toothbrush, (you may need to buy one, I find them in the soup all the time) just clean the electrode lightly rinse in fresh water and re-calibrate, Watch not to pull a little strip looking string on the side of electrode when you clean it, it needs this little piece on the side to read.
The best way to ensure that the probe is holding calibration is to re check it after a few minutes after you calibrate with any of your known reagents I usually have plenty of 7.01 so I remove from tank dip it in ro/di water shake it lightly and dip it in the 7 solution and see what it reads, it should go down to 7 you may need to shake it a little while in the reagent.

Good luck

Rogger