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Viewed: 279 -- Replies: 6 | ||||||||
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| Posted | ph and alk trouble |
| 27-09-2006 19:28 by PAULSAI |
Hi,
having problem with ph and alk at the moment if alk goes up and I lower it back down again with tmc alca balance my ph seems to drop if i bring my ph back to normal then the alk goes high again can not seem to get them both to stay any one else had same problem any ideas |
| 27-09-2006 19:45 by trik |
what are your readings before and after , if you bing your KH upto hi your PH will crash.and what time of day with lights on are you doing the tests , ph will be low fist thing after lights go on and higher before lights out. did you log on to UR ? |
| 27-09-2006 20:20 by trik |
also have you checked for dissolved oxgen (O2) good water circulation is a key, as oxygen is drawn mainly from intrface between air and water , dissolved oxygen also effects PH , good circulation in the tank upto 40x is very good and should stable your PH. |
| 27-09-2006 22:43 by PAULSAI |
trik,
yes I did log on to ur thanks for that I do a water test twice aweek first on wednesdays and the second on sundays I do them first thing in the morning between 10:00 am anf 12 noon the lighs go off around 23:00 hrs and don't come on till around 18:00 hrs in the evening also have checked test kit date all ok and in date |
| 27-09-2006 22:48 by PAULSAI |
trik
as for readings when I get the alk down to about 9.0 and then i bring the ph back to its level and the alk will go up to 16.00 can not seem to get them to both level |
| 28-09-2006 11:57 by Alan |
Arghhhhhh!
Nightmare. What is the ph and alk of the water used for water changes? Are you adding according to the instructions with the additives? The balance of the water sounds as though it is totally off the ball this normally happens after to many various additives are used or there is a build up of waste in the tank driving up nitrate and phosphate nitrate being acidic and driving down ph. Also another thing comes to mind are you dosing with kalkwasser? If so I suspect you may have over done it when you over do kalkwasser you end up with ph and alk all over the shop and very little will rectify it long term. This is what I would do to try and rectify it. Over a week carry out a series of water changes using a high quality salt such as TMC pro reef or reef crystals I prefer pro reef but it is more expensive but I have found gives better results. Aim to get the salinity between 1.024 and 1.026 this will insure you are using the maximum buffering potential of the salt mix plus you will be closer to replicating the salt water environment natural sea water has a sg of about 1.026 it varies slightly depending on environmental conditions such as climate proximity to delta's the shore reefs etc. Once you have done this you should in theory have a good baseline for alk and ph that should match the mixed water before being added to the tank. Then over a few day monitor the levels on a day by day basis and don't add anything for a few days unless the results dictate you must this will enable you to work out the daily consumption figures for your system for carbonate hardness calcium ph and the like and will enable you to work out how much you need to dose daily to maintain it. I would suggest you go for a 2 part calcium and carbonate buffer these are dosed in equal parts and should maintain a more natural balance in your system. Hopefully doing this would rectify the problem. At the same time make surte water turn over is efficient there are enough grazers in the tank and there is nothing decomposing in there such as detritus. I would suggest you don't use alca balance if at all possible it will play havoc with your water chemistry as you are seeing look for another cause of the alk rising you are treating a symptom not a cause hence your repeating failure. |
| 28-09-2006 11:59 by Alan |
Incidentally what is your ph level should be around 8.2 to 8.3 I would also consider an alk of 9 kh the minimum to adequately buffer the ph but I would agree that a kh of 16 is excessive I would consider 14 a max I would be comfortable with but nothing more. |
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