Ive dosed 2 of the 3 treatments for redbugs with interceptor. Ph has never been a problem. I have my skimmer pulling its air from outside. Ph has been 8.4-8.1. I noticed the ph dropped slightly after first treatment and after the second its 7.7-7.9. Cleaned the probe today and recalibrated but nothing changed. I use an extra milwaukee i had for the readings. any thoughts?
Interceptor treatment dropping ph?
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seth the wine guy
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Interceptor is killing things. A lot of things you can't even see. Dead things decompose, causing an increase in CO2. Increased CO2 drops PH.
Or, maybe you just need a new probe.
Or, maybe you just need a new probe.
If he is seeing a drop in tank pH from decay of kill off from the Interceptor, then the decrease in pH is from the release of hydrogen ions, with a corresponding release of ammonia ions. CO2 introduced into the tank water, outside of room air/water level equilibrium or reactor gas is from cellular respiration, not decay.
OP: I would test your water for detectable ammonia if you are concerned it could be from die off. And if you can detect it, then a couple large water changes with siphoning of anything dead you can find would be in order, along with fresh carbon in a reactor to get rid of the Interceptor.
But, if you had enough die off to drop your tank pH that much, you must be overdosing the heck out of the tank to the point you are killing large crustaceans and they are just sitting there rotting. You'd probably be looking at an ammonia related tank crash if that were the case. But I bet that is not the reason for the pH difference.
Also the three treatment Interceptor regimen is a bit outdated, as I understand it, as red bugs do not lay eggs, but have live young. For most people, one treatment does the trick.
Follow the one large breed Interceptor pill per 380 net gallons rule for dosing Interceptor, and you shouldn't have to worry about collateral crustacean death, particularly to the point of killing enough to drop your tank pH through decay. Interceptor treatment at a higher concentration than what I have described really is of no benefit, and can do harm to other crustaceans in your tank besides red bugs. Larger stuff like shrimp and crabs with thousands of times the body mass of a tiny red bug are not hurt at Interceptor concentrations that kill red bugs, but needlessly overdose Interceptor by a lot and you can kill larger stuff like desirable shrimp and crabs.
And after all that, it could also just be a defective pH probe, as was previously stated, or many other non- related causes that just happened to occur when you are treating with Interceptor.
OP: I would test your water for detectable ammonia if you are concerned it could be from die off. And if you can detect it, then a couple large water changes with siphoning of anything dead you can find would be in order, along with fresh carbon in a reactor to get rid of the Interceptor.
But, if you had enough die off to drop your tank pH that much, you must be overdosing the heck out of the tank to the point you are killing large crustaceans and they are just sitting there rotting. You'd probably be looking at an ammonia related tank crash if that were the case. But I bet that is not the reason for the pH difference.
Also the three treatment Interceptor regimen is a bit outdated, as I understand it, as red bugs do not lay eggs, but have live young. For most people, one treatment does the trick.
Follow the one large breed Interceptor pill per 380 net gallons rule for dosing Interceptor, and you shouldn't have to worry about collateral crustacean death, particularly to the point of killing enough to drop your tank pH through decay. Interceptor treatment at a higher concentration than what I have described really is of no benefit, and can do harm to other crustaceans in your tank besides red bugs. Larger stuff like shrimp and crabs with thousands of times the body mass of a tiny red bug are not hurt at Interceptor concentrations that kill red bugs, but needlessly overdose Interceptor by a lot and you can kill larger stuff like desirable shrimp and crabs.
And after all that, it could also just be a defective pH probe, as was previously stated, or many other non- related causes that just happened to occur when you are treating with Interceptor.
Yep. I did have my protein skimmer and uv off during both treatments for 12 hours each time. i left my biopellet reactor running. After each treatment i ran carbon for a few days and 10% water change. no more red bugs after the first treatment as far as i could tell and the corals are much happier. my TWV is around 280 so i used 3/4 of the large pill.
Im thinking its the probe so ill get another and see. Checking it with a salifert test kit, it appears to be around 8.0 but who knows with a color chart.
I have a couple of red leg hermits i keep in the sump and theyre still alive, so im wondering if taking the others out was necessary with the correct dosage as you mentioned.
Im debating the third treatment because ill be out of town on the 7th day after the second treatment.. i can do it the 6th day but everything i read said between 7-10 days.
seth the wine guy
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Leaving my skimmer off for 12 hours or more drops my PH 10-20 points easy. My twv is in the same ballpark as yours and we run the same skimmer. The PH usually rebounds 100% after a couple days though.
seth the wine guy
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I recall only doing two treatments on my tank about a year and a half ago. Never seen a bug since. I had a third dose ready but, as Dave mentioned, new info on their reproductive cycle kept me from feeling the need.
Another thing is if the Interceptor was dropping your pH, then you would have seen it during treatment one as well as treatment two. Same thing goes for a pH drop due to you not running your skimmer. You'd have seen that as well during treatment 1, which you stated did not happen, assuming I am reading your first post correctly. This assumes it is not from a die off of crabs, shrimp, etc.
I actually saw a drop after the first. maybe 8.0 at lowest where it usually never got below 8.2. Everything in tank looks a lot better after the treatment so ill get the shrimp and hermits back in today and let it go. Thanks for the replies.
