PH problems please help

[derick75]

I am having a problem keeping my PH levels up. 8.04 during the day and 7.7 at night. I used marine buffer to try and raise the ph to 8.3 which is does, but quickly falls back to 8.0. My akalinity was 2.7 and after a week i was able to raise it to 3.6 steady. But my Ph has not raised. I started dripping kalk at night, i am on my 3rd night with not chganges in PH.

I use DI water for top off and makeup water

I let the kalk stand for 5 hours but i never see a "crust" on the top, just the chalky stuff on the bottom and my kent doser always clogs up on me. I try not to get the chalk mixed in but it is never clear not sure what i am doing wrong . I dose 1 teaspoon per gallon of water. I need to test my calcium but i lose the directions to my red sea test have to times by five or some dumb thing. will have to get another. so i am not sure where clacium lies at this time. Anyone have any ideas as to what the problems could be?

75 gallon reef 5 months old. nitrite 0 ammonia 0 nitrate 5ppm akalinity 3.6

[bertoni]

Marine Buffer isn't recommended for reef tanks. It contains a lot of borate, which will displace carbonate for alkalinity if you're dosing by total alkalinity.

Buffers almost never work for pH problems, for the reason you state: aeration drops the pH back fairly quickly, and because alkalinity gets too high in a lot of cases.

I would do some large (25%) water changes to clear out the Marine Buffer. Then, this article describes an aeration test:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.php

How much lime per gallon is in the mix, and how much limewater is being dosed per day?
The aeration test will determine if high CO2 is the problem.

[bertoni]

Oops, meant to add that the pH measurement device or kit might be off. That problem crops up fairly regularly, so getting a second opinion might be useful.

[derick75]

just calibrated my probe it is dead on. like i said i add 1 teaspoon per gallon and does 1400ml a night i am on my 3rd night with no gain in PH. All windows in the house have been closed for 3 weeks straight and just the AC on due to heat wave, so i know that does not help, but PH has always been low.

[bertoni]

Oops, sorry, should have read more carefully.

I would add that meters are sometimes influenced by electrical equipment, so measuring away from the tank, preferably on batteries, might be interesting.

Without a calcium result, I'm a bit worried about suggesting changes, but more lime in the mix might help. The alkalinity is okay. Are you adding any other alkalinity supplement now?

[derick75]

no the buffer raised my alk from 2.7 to 3.8 so i am good there my calcium test just showed 450ppm but im sure they are not very accurate.

i mixed my kalk with distilled water let stand for 3 hours was completly clear but no crust on top.

i mix it with DI water and it does not mix well and cloges my doser go figure?

[bertoni]

Kalk tends to leave some precipitate at the bottom of the container. Is that the issue? Strange that it should clog the doser. Is the problem evaporation at the output?