Need help Please, please....

[khangho05]

Hi all,

I just tested my water and found that the pH drops from 8.4 to 7.8 and dKH drops from 12 to 9.. I have noticed some of my corals are not very happy about it, especially my rose bubbles are changing color and not open up.
I just added a phosphate reactor couple days ago, due to my phosphate too high and now the phosphate is getting better. I also have a RO/DI unit installed and use my last RO water from the new unit to do water change.
here is my questions if you guys could help me.
1) is the Phosphate reactor create the dropping in PH and dKH?
2) is the new RO water needs to be tested? I tested the phosphate and is no phosphate.
3) I have been used same salt, so hopefully the salt will not be the issue, but will check on the date to make sure its not expired.
4) Is anyway to raise those pH and dKH back up?? any chemical please help on dosing as well.
This is my 120gal tank (standard 72" long) with a new 72"Aquatic life T5 HO 8bulbs 39w/each. 4 blues, 2 10k and 2 purple.

TIA..

 

[gohstwrighter]

to quikly rase the ph you can use baking soda as for the dkh you wood nead a good quality pickling lime or kalkwiser mix.check youtube for diy/home made reef dosing. also epson salt woorks for magnizium dosing and high grade vodka like greay goose helps with carbon dosing.
thats all my home made cures i have for now best of luck tonight.

 

[khangho05]

to quikly rase the ph you can use baking soda as for the dkh you wood nead a good quality pickling lime or kalkwiser mix.check youtube for diy/home made reef dosing. also epson salt woorks for magnizium dosing and high grade vodka like greay goose helps with carbon dosing.
thats all my home made cures i have for now best of luck tonight.

Thanks for quick reply Gohstwrighter. As for pH, could you tell me how much to use to raise from 7.8 to 8.4 in 120g tank.
I will do some research for DIY dKH dose. Any chance you think lfs would sell these to buy?

TIA again.
:beer:

 

[bertoni]

Many tanks see a 2-3 dKH drop per day in alkalinity. The phosphate reactor can cause some loss of alkalinity via precipitation, and if the phosphate level has dropped to a healthier level, coralline and coral growth might increase a lot.

Your tank likely needs daily calcium and alkalinity supplementation. This article might help:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

A 2-part like B-Ionic is an easy way to get started, although it might get expensive over time. Some baking soda is fine in the short term. This calculator will help with a dose:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html

It requires a guess as to the actual amount of water in the tank, so I'd start with a 1 dKH dose, and see how that goes. Please ignore the part about "balanced calcium".

 

[khangho05]

Many tanks see a 2-3 dKH drop per day in alkalinity. The phosphate reactor can cause some loss of alkalinity via precipitation, and if the phosphate level has dropped to a healthier level, coralline and coral growth might increase a lot.

Your tank likely needs daily calcium and alkalinity supplementation. This article might help:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

A 2-part like B-Ionic is an easy way to get started, although it might get expensive over time. Some baking soda is fine in the short term. This calculator will help with a dose:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/ch... only couple months into this reef addictive.

 

[bertoni]

Yes, baking soda (not baking powder) from the grocery store is fine.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

When you say rose bubble, do you mean an E. quad. anemone, or a bubble coral?

I'd be surprised if the things that you mentioned (pH 7.8 to 8.4 and alkalinity from 9-12 dKH) were a cause of apparent problems with either of those. I kept both for years and never noticed an effect within that range.