Water chemistry in main tank starting to get a little off

[tkimmons85]

So I have been out of the loop for a while when it came to the club,this site, and my tanks. I was doing the minimum to get by and have had alot of stuff come up lately. Nothing drastic has happened but the water chemistry has got a little off in my main tank. I use bulk reef supply two part to dose my calcium and alk. Well I gradually started to notice a rise in ph over time (it stays around 8.4 at night and 8.8 during the day) So I stopped dosing, waiting for it to come back down. So turns out Im not a chemist and now the ph hasnt changed, my calcium is below 370, and my alk is 6.4 kh.

What would be a good plan of attack to solve this issue. Besides buying a calcium reactor(which is hopefully soon).

 

[NeedBiggerTank]

I'm no chemist either - I thought Alkalinity and PH were tied together. Not sure how 6.4KH with a PH of 9 is possible. If it were total alkalinity or carbonate alkalinity that were 6.4, that would make sense. What is your salinity (SG)?.

 

[zef004]

How are checking your ph. With a prob if so recalibrate the prob if it still high then you can add sodium bicarbonate this bring alk back up without bring up your ph. But with ph that high your coral will die.

 

[zef004]

If you need some sodium bicarbonate I got some you come and get it at my work tomorrow.

 

[tkimmons85]

I just retested the alk and it came out the same. Im using a fairly new salifert test kit and I got the same result dead on both times. I just tested my salinity and it was 1.024, maybe its time to recalibrate my ph probe?

 

[zef004]

Just let me know by 8:30am tomorrow so I can bring that stuff for you to work.

 

[tkimmons85]

I may take you up on that zef. I need to calibrate my probe first though. I still have coral growth happening. Though some of the corals colors have faded.

 

[zef004]

I'll bring it to work anyways. I'm sure your prob is out of whack.

 

[tkimmons85]

Yup, the probe was out of whack. Just ran over to John's house and he graciously let me use some of his probe calibration fluid. Its reading 8.33 after the cleaning and calibration. Thanks for the offer anyway zef !

 

[commonstranger]

There are two different types of two part on there. One will raise the ph and another will lower it (or not raise it as much) Go to bulk reef supply and you'll see what Im talking about.

 

[CeeGee]

most salts have a relatively high alk. I would start by doing frequent water changes to get that alk up and once it is at an acceptable level use your 2 part to make final adjustments and maintain levels from that point on. If high pH is your problem check into the other type of alk supplementation like Rhett recommended. Hope that helps.

remember you don't want to raise alk too quickly.

 

[tkimmons85]

Yes I saw that rhett, Im gonna mix up a batch using the lower PH recipe.