Low PH problems

[jeremywe]

I've been testing my water regularly and reading up quite a bit only to find that the numbers i have are quite unusual.

Tank size approx 90L of water and 4 months old. Has 2 clowns, 1 mandarin, 1 royal dotty back, 1 purple goby, 1 peppermint shrimp. 1 mini hammer, a frogspawn, a bubble, 2 GSP, 3 tubes, a small blasto, a sea fan, a few zoa, a super sun and an open brain. Running a skimmer and about 1kg of biohome and about min. 10kg of LR. Chiller set at 26c. Good all round circulation in tank.

PH = 7.8

Alk = 7.5meg/L (This is way higher that the acceptable range) I use the Seachem testkit and have rechecked using reference solutions, nothing is wrong with the test kit.

Cal = 440

No3 = 5-10

LS behavior:

Fishes are all eating well.

Most corals are doing fine and opening, with the exception of a mat of GSP which opens really really slowly (about 1-2 hours after tank lights on). It is constantly covered with a layer of light brownish algae which i have blow off every 3 days.

Heres some detailed information on what i dose in my tank on a fixed schedule:

Mon: 2.5ml Grotech A, 2ml Purple up.

Tues: 2.5ml Grotech B

Wed: 2.5ml Grotech C, 2ml Purple up

Thurs: 2.5ml Grotech A

Fri: 2.5ml Grotech B, 2ml Purple up

Sat: 2.5ml Grotech C

Sun: 10% water change with distilled water and tropic marin pro reef salt. After the water change, a multi strain bacteria culture is dosed.

Here are what i dose in my tank on a where required basis:

- AZNO3 approx 0.5-1ml - if NO3 is above 10. avg of 0.5ml every 3 days

- Alkalin8.3 to raise my KH and PH. But stopped after i realized KH was way too high. I used about 2ml everyday for about 5 days last week (13/04 to 17/04) to bring up my PH. Recommended dosage was a max of 4ml per day for my tank. ad-hoc 10% water change was performed on the 15/04 to help bring levels closer to normal (but little effect).

- Previously was using Seachem PH buffer to increase my PH, but to no avail, so i tried the Alkalin8.3 to aid in my KH and PH. (ok, i admit i didnt check my KH before using this.)

So, in short, my problem is the constantly low PH even with the use of different PH buffers. I find it a little confusing to comprehend the relationships between PH, KH (alk) and Cal. But it seems that usually when KH is high, Cal would usually be low, but not in my situation. And also, from what i read, i gather that when KH is high PH would normally be more acceptable at 8.2 and more stable (as opposed to a low KH), but again, not in my case.

My question is that will that super high KH be a serious problem? Will it be fine to let it slowly fall naturally, or force it down by major water change?

Ultimately, my goal is to try to solve my PH (and KH) problem and understand what this is happening. Am i not understanding something correctly or doing something wrongly?

Apologies for the super load of reading above. Thanks in advance to all for your inputs.

Cheers!

[sherman]

What is your MG level?

Try to mintain MG around 1380

[MbmC]

As above, other than calcium, magnesium is the other major determinant of KH in an aquarium. So check it as well.

The other anions that might affect KH are hydroxide, borates, silicates, and phosphates. Not often tested, but I'm wondering if there is anything leaching silicates into your water?

[jeremywe]

Never check my MG. Will get a testkit soon and check the levels.

[markietan]

what test kit are you using for KH? some test kits are more accurate than others... and make sure the ones you have are not expired. =)

also i went for a round the island hunt for salifert mg test kit last week. couldn't find it in the east side farms and AM Kayu... C328/Polyart also don't have MG test kit. reefdepot next!

[Thexder]

I'm using Tropic marin Ca /Mg test kit. Can get from ML. Tests for both Ca and Mg without getting 2 separate test kits.

[MbmC]

Heheh...that's what I use as well.

But I find it difficult to use. The colour change is almost imperceptible at times. Gotta use the test kit in the right kind of lighting!

[FuEl]

If you mention everything is doing fine then don't get too worried about it. While a pH of 7.8 is not optimal, it is ok for normal reef aquariums without sensitive corals like SPS. Your tank is less than 30 gallons so it is not a big quantity of water. Just do regular 10-20% weekly water changes and it will keep your parameters stable. It will be cheaper than dosing additives and buying the test kits. I don't even test pH, I just change water.

[jeremywe]

what test kit are you using for KH? some test kits are more accurate than others... and make sure the ones you have are not expired. =)

also i went for a round the island hunt for salifert mg test kit last week. couldn't find it in the east side farms and AM Kayu... C328/Polyart also don't have MG test kit. reefdepot next!

I use Seachem kits for my PH and KH. I also use API for PH too.

Anyways, back to my problem. I've read some articles on the internet, and if my KH is very high, am i not supposed to have a low cal level?

Back to the topic.. anyone knows how a high KH would affect the system?

[jeremywe]

If you mention everything is doing fine then don't get too worried about it. While a pH of 7.8 is not optimal, it is ok for normal reef aquariums without sensitive corals like SPS. Your tank is less than 30 gallons so it is not a big quantity of water. Just do regular 10-20% weekly water changes and it will keep your parameters stable. It will be cheaper than dosing additives and buying the test kits. I don't even test pH, I just change water.

Thanks FueL for your inputs.

So in your opinion, if i simply change 10% every week, its not recommended dose the mag, cal, etc.? Will dosing additives together with weekly water change screw up the numbers?

Cheers!

[FuEl]

Thanks FueL for your inputs.

So in your opinion, if i simply change 10% every week, its not recommended dose the mag, cal, etc.? Will dosing additives together with weekly water change screw up the numbers?

Cheers!

I don't see a need for you to dose Mg and Ca as the organisms you keep are not fast consumers of these elements. Fast consumers of such elements would be clams, sps, coralline algae. Dosing additives can be done as long as you follow the dosage instructions. If you want to avoid the hassle and cost of such additives just change more water per week, maybe even up to 20-30%. This is the advantage of small tanks. You can maintain your parameters just by regular water changes. Instead of adjusting each parameter at a time, changing water will set things right for most of the parameters.

[jeremywe]

I don't see a need for you to dose Mg and Ca as the organisms you keep are not fast consumers of these elements. Fast consumers of such elements would be clams, sps, coralline algae. Dosing additives can be done as long as you follow the dosage instructions. If you want to avoid the hassle and cost of such additives just change more water per week, maybe even up to 20-30%. This is the advantage of small tanks. You can maintain your parameters just by regular water changes. Instead of adjusting each parameter at a time, changing water will set things right for most of the parameters.

Thanks Fuel! Roger that. I'll cut all the additives and try your suggestion to at least get my numbers back on track.

Initially, wanted to act smart and learn/practice about the little details as i was preparing to upgrade to a bigger tank.

Cheers!