pH is creeping up

[michael grady]

Hi Guys,

I've noticed my pH is creeping up and wondering if I should tweek it a bit lower.

225 mixed reef. Ca reactor running. Everyone seems pretty happy:

Ca around 450-500
Alk 2.5
pH - just re calibrated my apex - 8.67

What do you think?

Thanks everyone!

Michael

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Ya that is a pretty high ph! I would not want to be too much higher than 8.4. You running a reactor or any type of supplement?

 

[wildernets]

Alk really 2.5? Should it be 8 dkh or 200 ppm? Could cause ph to go whack.

 

[ringo®]

wildernet;937064 wrote: Alk really 2.5? Should it be 8 dkh or 200 ppm? Could cause ph to go whack.

Probably meq/l

 

[heathlindner25]

How old is the ph probe ? I'm betting its bad.

 

[wildernets]

Ringo®;937073 wrote: Probably meq/l

And I just got a handle on dkh to ppm conversions. ugh....

 

[dawgface]

heathlindner25;937077 wrote: How old is the ph probe ? I'm betting its bad.

+1


Increase in PH is much rarer than a decrease in our aquariums. Only thing I can think of outside of the likely bad probe is possible upset to the nitrogen cycle and uncycled ammonia raising the ph.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

DawgFace;937122 wrote: +1


Increase in PH is much rarer than a decrease in our aquariums. Only thing I can think of outside of the likely bad probe is possible upset to the nitrogen cycle and uncycled ammonia raising the ph.

Or a crap ton of Bicarbonate or Kalk or something. But that would make it snow in the tank before it got up to almost 8.7.. My bet would be on bad probe or bad calibration.

 

[michael grady]

Hmmmmm..... The probe is about a year old. It's part of my Apex system. I just re calibrated it last pm, and it reads fine (7.0) in RODI water.

I have been using kalk to kill off some aptasia and Majano.

Assuming that's a correct reading ( I'll get another probe) should I reduce the pH, and by what method?

Thanks!

Michael

 

[heathlindner25]

The kalk will also give you high ph readings!
lower your dosage see if it goes down....

 

[michael grady]

If it is high from over use of kalk- and the probe is reading correctly, should I do something to lower the pH?????

 

[heathlindner25]

michael grady;937184 wrote: If it is high from over use of kalk- and the probe is reading correctly, should I do something to lower the pH?????

discontinue kalk paste and see if it will go down naturally.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Good water change will help but you also do not want to PH shock the livestock. So I would do a 50% water change about 10-15% at a time. Wait an hour between changes and repeat.

Vinegar in a high flow area or in the sump will work too... No more than about 15ml at a time (1 TBS). You might need to do this several times to see any change but i would not do it more than about 90 minutes between doses... You might see some bateria bloom from it but the water changes will help with that.

Then you need to figure out the cause. Did your pump suck up the kalk solid? Or are you adding your Kalk to your ATO and your have too much top-off going into the tank?

 

[xyzpdq0121]

I would highly recommend double checking your probe calibration first though (either by a different packet of solution or by another method such as a portable probe). If you try to correct from 8.7 down to 8.2 AND it was never really 8.7 then you are going to have a worse mess on your hands!!!

 

[michael grady]

good thoughts...thanks.

I'm not adding any kalk at all, except where I used it to kill the aptasia. Perhaps I just used too much? I shut off the Ca reactor last PM, and will do a water change tomorrow. Those never hurt anyway.

In the mean time, I'll get a new pH probe and make sure, as you say, I'm not making a non-problem a BIG problem.

Michael

 

[rodriguez]

i have the same problem my PH is been rising from 8.25 to 8.69 in the last two weeks on my new neptune system probe so i have order some more calibration fluid so i can calibrate again and see if it is working properly

 

[michael grady]

now for the rest of the story....

Tonight i bought a new pH probe and new calibration solutions. Now reading 8.1 !!

Thanks for the good advice!

Michael

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Great to hear. Figured as much given the high reading and still healthy tank. While it possible to have a ph that high with a cal and alk at those numbers, it is not likely. Indicates that test should be wrong. Best to check twice and correct once, I make the mistake myself of not doing that from tine to time.