PH issues....

[mathias]

Whats good practice to reduce ph?

[GaryP]

Reduce pH? Did you over dose with Kalk or something? What is your pH?

You can drip in vinegar if you are way to high. However, chances are that you are better off letting it come down on its own unless you are way over 9.0. The natural trend of pH is downward. Also, I would make sure your test is accurate before doing anything drastic.

[cpreefguy]

Yeah, make sure you have a good test kit before you do anything. How do your corals look? If you have any Xenia, it is a wonderful indicator of where your pH is.

[mathias]

well my xenia was closed up so I tested it and it was at 8.8


might be from over feeding. How long before I should test again?

[GaryP]

8.8 is OK, I wouldn't do anything. Let it fall on its own.

I would borrow someone else's test kit and re-test it.

[cpreefguy]

Also, are you testing during the night, morning, or afternoon?

[GaryP]

I have pushed my pH over 9.0 in the past to control dinoflagellates.

[snoop]

If you run a refugium Try reverse photo piriod to keep everything more srable too

[matt]

Check your ph probe calibration, if you're using one. If not, get ahold of one, calibrate it, and test again. Test it in the morning just before the lights come on, and then again late in the afternoon when the lights have been on all day. There should be a difference; I guess a typical reading would be 7.9-8.0 in the morning and 8.3-8.4 in the afternoon. Do that a few times, calibrating the probe before each test. Another thing is that sometimes I found my probe would give strange readings when I just dunked it the tank. It's better to take out a sample in a clean glass. I'm guessing this has something to do with stray electrical interference from the lights and/or pumps.

8.8 is pretty high; if you check it the way I described and you still come up with that and you're not dripping KW or dosing something with a really high pH, the only other thing I could think of is maybe there's ALOT of photosynthesis going on, like lots of corals and macroalgae. If that's the case, the suggestion of a reverse photo period for your macroalgae is a good one, but my bet is that either your reading is wrong or you're going a little heavy on the KW.

[mathias]

I do have a couple corals here and there and my MH are on about 12 hours...

but I tested at night got 8.8 then went out got another test kit and got same thing.....


Im just going to not feed as much and start spot feeding I heard thats the better way to do it then just dropping it in :)

[Marlin]

Don't mean to hijack your thread, but I also have high PH and alkalinity. Just tested with a Salifert test kit. Readings were 10.4 dKH and 3.71 Meq/L. I'm running a Korralin Calc reactor. Seems like I'm putting too much calcium in from the reactor. I don't add any other chemicals for PH control, just the calc reactor. Any suggestions Gary? Probably need to just slow the drip rate from the reactor.

[matt]

10.4 dkh is not particularly high, in fact it's pretty good, and calcium reactors tend to keep tanks at a nice high dkh. Usually they cause a tank to run at a slightly low ph, or at least don't contribute to high ph.

Mathias, I'm certain too much feeding is not raising your ph; if anything, it would cause high dissolved organics, which would lower ORP and possibly with it ph. If your ph is really 8.8 after the lights have been out for several hours, something else is causing it.

[Marlin]

I guess I don't understand dKH, meq/L and PH. I tested for PH with a dip tab and it seemed normal. Then I tested for PH and Alk with a Red Sea test kit and it seemed to be normal for both tests. Then I tested with the Salifert kit and it said tht natural sea water is 8 dKH and 2.9 meq/L so I assumed that mine is too high.

[JimD]

Check the Ph right before the lights come on, thats usualy when it will be at its lowest. I dont think feeding is responsible for the elevated Ph either.

[jap1]

Since pH is lowest in the morning and highest in the evening, is it best to get a reading at both times and use the average to get the most accurate picture? Or is there such a small change that it doesn't really matter?

[GaryP]

I guess I don't understand dKH, meq/L and PH. I tested for PH with a dip tab and it seemed normal. Then I tested for PH and Alk with a Red Sea test kit and it seemed to be normal for both tests. Then I tested with the Salifert kit and it said tht natural sea water is 8 dKH and 2.9 meq/L so I assumed that mine is too high.

What is your calcium level? The important thing is to make sure your calcium and alkalinity is in balance. You probably also need to test for magnesium. I'm not sure what the dip test considers "normal." I would sugget investing in a better pH kit that gives you a numeric value.

[Marlin]

Calcium level is at 400. I agree about the PH test kit. The Red Sea kit is one that you compare the color of the test vial to a color chart. It's very difficult to get an accurate measure from that. Can you recommend a good test kit for ph?

[GaryP]

Salifert or the Seatest 4 in 1 kit (pH, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite).

[matt]

If your calcium is steady at 400 and your carbonate hardness (alk) is steady at about 10dkh, then your reactor's working fine and it's unlikely you'll have any ph problem. You should drip the effluent into a high flow area; the best is either right where your tank drains into the sump or right near the skimmer input. This will help dissipate the low ph of the effluent before it affects your tank. You really should get a hand held ph probe, here's a link for a decent cheap one:

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/834

You should use this to test both your tank ph and the ph of your effluent. The ph of your effluent should be between 6.5-6.8 and the effluent should have a dkh of at least 20, higher is better. You can use the salifert alkalinity test kit to measure this; use the low resolution mode and double the result. If you check the alk and ph of both the reactor effluent and your tank in the morning every day for a few days, then once a week or so, you'll know if your reactor is adjusted right to keep your levels steady. Then, at some point when the reactor media is half gone or your corals have grown to the point where your calcium demand is higher, you can easily readjust your reactor. BTW, if you just slow down the effluent drip but don;t also turn down the CO2, your effluent ph will drop and you might start having ph problems. For now, though, from what you say it seems like everything's working great.