Used Baking Soda and Kalk...now what?

[genesisblue]

Hey all,

I haven't been loving my tank like i should have for about the past week and today my pH and kH came up really low...kH was at 4 and pH was pushing into the upper 7s. And I had just done a 10% water change yesterday. So i mixed up some baking soda in RO water and added a good splash (i have a 120 gallon) and did the same thing with the kalk. Now my parameters are perfect with kH at 11 and pH around 8.4...Sooooo, I guess im asking,is there anything else i need to do? All my reef people are happy and this just seemed too easy. Thanks in advance

 

[genesisblue]

Just finished checking the Ca and its at 550+ and the ammonia levels are around 1.25...

 

[genesisblue]

Well, I had recently started dosing vodka into the tank (about 2.5 weeks ago) and I started to notice a slide...I did add some dry lava rocks (throughly washed and soaked, of course) maybe around 10-15 lbs. All my fish seem to be doing well..no heavy breathing or weird behavior. Some white stuff has settled on the glass, but Im assuming thats Ca...It kinda seems like the lava rocks are the problem, eh?

 

[skriz]

Lava rocks are inert, so they shouldn't cause any issues. If you're dosing vodka, then you should be skimming out some really nasty stuff. Are you?

And you never want to adjust your levels that quickly; the best way to return to an equillibrium is via water changes rather than baking soda, etc. You're safer doing some large water changes since it will not only pull out contaminants from the tank, but also adjust everything equally.

 

[genesisblue]

I am skimming so nasty crap while using the vodka...I actually didn't think that the amount of baking soda and kalk I added was all that much, but I guess I learned differently

 

[skriz]

ya, jumping from 4 to 11 is HUGE to say the least. The ph jump is pretty big too.

Generally speaking, elevated or depressed levels aren't as bad as sudden changes and huge swings.

 

[dannybradley]

Before you dose baking soda, refer to this page for proper amounts.
http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html">http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html</a>

Careful about just dosing kalk, also. A super saturation percipitates magnesium. If you bottom out your Mg, your Ca and KH will be in a world of hurt. You should mix kalk, let it settle, and then drip in the clear water.

Reef1973 is right about ammonia being toxic at a higher level, but let me be specific as to why:

pH is a measurement of hydrogen and hydroxide ions dissolved in the water. The more hydrogen you have, the more acidic your water is, and the more hydroxide you have, the more basic.

When hydrogen is present ammonia(NH3) picks up the an extra hydrogen ion and becomes ammonium(NH4+), which is not toxic. So the less hydrogen(higher pH), the more ammonia you have present.