High pH ??

[Lana]

Hello all! I just set up a 46g bowfront with RO/DI water, 60 lbs LR, 35 lbs aragonite and 15 lbs Arag-live sand. The rock is fully cured and the tank is now cycling. I have a Hagen test kit that I'm using daily and everything besides the ammonia and nitrite is well within range. My only problem is that my pH is high - off the charts high. My test kit goes to dark blue, but this is purple! Is this a byproduct of cycling that I should leave alone, or should I be worried? And if I should be worried, what do I do to fix it? Most of the products and comments I've seen deal with low pH. HELP!!!! :?

[R.Allard]

first take a big deep breath (btw WELCOME) and yes my tank did alittle of the same thing but it wasnt due to a high PH it was a Bad Test kit. when my tank was new my pH was alittle high 8.5-.6 something like that.
i wouldnt worry to much about it.
It takes about 2-3 months IMO for a tank to "cure" and you will still get some alge blooms and such.
i would get a second test kit and if you can afford it a electronic PH meter they sell hand held ones in S.A. @ analitical scientific on bandera Rd.
hope that helps... :)
Robert

[Lana]

Thanks Robert,

You mean I have to BREATHE too? I'm sure that wasn't in any of the books I read! :-D I really just wanted to know if anyone else had experienced this. I think I'll take a water sample to my LFS and see what their tests say.
Thanks again for the reassurance.

Lana

[manny]

Same thing happened to me. I've had my tank for about a month and I recently checked the ph and my test came out a purple color also. I just thought the card didn't match the results well or I wasn't seein the right color er somethin. I added a ph buffer, which I know is supposed to bring up ph, but it seemed to bring it down a little to 8.5 when I tested again. This time you could actually see the blue result that matched the card so I guess that might help you...?

[matt]

Sounds like a suspect test kit to me. Borrow a ph probe if you can. I can't think of any reason a new tank would have a really high ph unless you've been adding KW, but in all honesty, I'm sure there are lots of possibilities I don't know about.

[manny]

Thats exactly what I think I did Matt. I added too much kalkwasser too fast. I didn't know it had to be dripped. :?

[Tim Marvin]

Manny, how much kalk did you add???????????? That can rack up your PH!

[manny]

I put a teaspoon of kalk into a gallon of ro water and POURED it to top off my tank instead of dripping :?

[Tim Marvin]

Hmm, that doesn't sound like it would cause a big problem. I've done that before.

[manny]

Nah, wasn't too bad. Ph eventually went back down from bein in the purple. Do you think it went down cause of the buffer? Can buffer even bring down ph?

[Lana]

I haven't added any Kalkwasser to my tank. What else could cause a high pH? I'd like to know the cause so I can prevent it in the future (when I actually have fish 8) )

[Lana]

Manny - how long did it take for your pH to come down?

[Jimnorris]

Lana,
Hello!
What is the PH of your RO water?
Jim

[manny]

It only took me a couple of days

[matt]

Lana;

Until you buy or borrow a ph probe, or at the very least confirm your test kit with another, I really wouldn't worry about it too much. I suppose it's possible that the presence of ammonia could be drastically affecting the accuracy of your test kit. Why don't you wait until your nitrogen cycle is over, which will give you some time to find a probe, then test it again? BTW, how high are you talking here? I honestly don't think it's possible that your actual ph is higher than around 8.5, if all you have is R.O. water, commercial salt mix, and live rock/sand in the middle of a cycle. I could be missing something, though

[Lana]

Jim,

Hello yourself! I assume you're talking about the pre-salted water? I don't remember exactly what it was, I believe it was on the high side but still measurable. I'll check when I get home today. I bought the water at Wal-Mart. They have one kind of drinking water that is RO/DI. I use it for my FW tank and the pH is well within normal limits. All my other parameters are where they should be:
Phosphates- almost non-existent
Calcium 420
Ammonia -decreasing
Nitrites and nitrates -rising
Salinity - 1.024
Temp - 80
KH - within limits

Do you think I should be using additives to bring the pH down or just wait it out?
Thanks for any input!