Raging. About to take a hammer to the tank (pH correction problems)

[drtechno]

Hi all,

I am hoping against hopes that people can help me on my pH issue.

I, unfortunately, appear to have been afflicted with dinos.. In the process of attempting get rid of them, I have tried the pH elevation method, as mentioned in the ReefKeeping online magazine. In doing so, I have encountered a problem- I cannot raise my pH at ALL.

So its a 65 gal tank, established for a long time, with maybe 12 gal sump volume. I have left the tank room doors open and am running PC fans across the surface of the water, which is being agitated secondarily by my MP40's

My base pH seems to read about 7.8 during the day, dropping to 7.6 ? at night. I am dosing Ca and Alk (soda ash) via a dosing pump. I am topping off with RODI water. I am also running GFO.

I began trying to raise the pH by using Kalkwasser, upto 2 tsp per 1.5/2 gal of topoff water. Nothing budged. Based upon the reef keeping article, I switched over to their "kalk slurry" method, where I have been dissolving 1.5 tsp of kalk in a small amount of water and adding to a high flow area of the tank. This affects the pH by raising it to 8.1-8.2 (from 7.8). However, this lasts maybe 12-24 hours. The next day, the pH is back to 7.8.. This has been going this way for 2 weeks now, with daily corrections.

Anyone know what on earth is going on ? And why the tank is being bufferred at such a low pH ? And why kalk slurry cannot even raise the tank pH, even with increased aeration ?

Very very frustrated.

edit- Kalk I am using is the Kalk +2 with strontium (brightwell)

[Vinny Kreyling]

Some tanks just run a low PH, especially in the winter months when everything is closed up. Mine does this, in spring & fall when windows are opened it comes back over 8.
PH will normally drop @ night, that's why many run a refugium on a reverse light schedule. If the inhabitants are happy then nothing to worry about.

[Scorpius]

I run 7.8-8.0 ph all year long and everything does fine. Your ph is fine. Chasing ph is like trying to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It's never going to happen.

[blasterman789]

Calcium hydroxide reacts with co2 or carbonic acid and precipitates out as yellowish stuff that will sit on live rock or pump heads. The reaction is fast, and will cause pH to climb, but only for 12 to 24 hours because an established tank produces huge amounts of carbonic acid. If your dkh and calcium levels stay normal then youre doing it right. Back off kalk if they start diving. Dont be surprised if corals start growing better. Mine do, which is why i dose a bit of kalk nightly and keep my dkh lower and ignore pH.

[dkeller_nc]

First and most important, how are you assessing your tank's pH? It generally can't be done accurately with a test kit. A controller with a pH probe or a stand-alone pH meter will work well, but they must be carefully calibrated with newly opened pH buffer solutions to be accurate.

If that's the case (you're measuring with an accurate pH probe), the only way you're going to substantially affect the pH is by off-gassing CO2. That can be done by running an airline to your skimmer whose other end is placed outside, and it can also be done by routing air to the skimmer that's been scrubbed of CO2 by the use of soda-lime media.

[drtechno]

Hi all..

Thanks for the responses. I don't ordinarily chase ph/parameters, but remember the important point of my post:

I have dinoflagellates... Raising pH is one of the methods to eliminate them, which is all that I have left to try. (blackout didn't work) So I do have to get my pH up somehow. My real frustration is with getting rid of the dinos, and pH adjustment is what I think I need to do. But I am being thwarted :P

To answer another question- I am measuring pH with a hand held Hanna meter, which is accurate.

[csammis]

I have dinoflagellates... Raising pH is one of the methods to eliminate them, which is all that I have left to try. (blackout didn't work) So I do have to get my pH up somehow. My real frustration is with getting rid of the dinos, and pH adjustment is what I think I need to do. But I am being thwarted :P


Have you read and posted in the dinoflagellates (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2307000) thread? "Blackout" and "raising pH" aren't the only two options available.

[bertoni]

Given what you've said, I don't think you'll be able to raise the pH in the tank unless you add some sort of carbon dioxide scrubber or air exchanger to the tank room. I'd look into other approaches. You might want to work on getting fresh air to the tank because 7.6 is rather low for pH, but I wouldn't count on raising it high enough to reach the target levels for killing dinoflagellates without a lot of effort.

[Mark426]

Throw the pH kit away. Vent your skimmer to the outside if possible. Dino's ...thats another problem I would attack for different direction. But artificially raising pH is a losing game.

[drtechno]

Have you read and posted in the dinoflagellates (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2307000) thread? "Blackout" and "raising pH" aren't the only two options available.

Once again, thanks for your help all!

So, yes, I started with the ReefKeeping dinos article, which claims good success with pH elevation. I also thought it would honestly be a lot easier to raise it, but I guess I was wrong. I did peruse the dinos thread, and looks like I need to go to study it in more detail, as the pH elevation method appears closed off to me.

So the summary of all of this would be that I shouldn't worry too much about my pH assuming everything is doing well, and instead focus on other ways to eliminate the dinos ?

[oblio]

throw the ph kit away. Vent your skimmer to the outside if possible. Dino's ...thats another problem i would attack for different direction. But artificially raising ph is a losing game.

+1

[jrp1588]

I used AlgaeX plus a blackout to finally kill off my dinos. Going bare bottom helped a lot too.