zvargulis Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 hey i have a very low PH and for a while could think of the cause, now very obvious its my ATO system, its just strait RO water. What do i do to make this water reef safe? i have read about using kalk i have heard about using just a buffer? i am not sure what is correct since so many people do different things. has anyone experimented and found then best thing to do?? Link to comment
bdare Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 hey i have a very low PH and for a while could think of the cause, now very obvious its my ATO system, its just strait RO water. What do i do to make this water reef safe? i have read about using kalk i have heard about using just a buffer? i am not sure what is correct since so many people do different things. has anyone experimented and found then best thing to do?? Pure RO water will not be the cause of your low Ph. What is the current Alk in your tank? If you alk is higher than 8 low Ph is problably going to be caused by 1 of 2 things. 1) Not enough surface adgitation. If you have a build up of CO2 Ph will drop. If you don't have a method to let the CO2 escape from your tank and add more oxygen then this will bring Ph down. 2) Perhaps your tank is cycling or something died? If something is rotting in your tank then the acid produced by the decay will also drop Ph. Check out these articles and please use Kalk as a last resort. It does work, but you should also know what effects it will have on your tank. What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm The Self Purification of Limewater (Kalkwasser) http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2003/chem.htm The Degradation of Limewater (Kalkwasser) in Air http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-0...ture/index.htm Low pH: Causes and Cures http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm High pH: Causes and Cures http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.htm Link to comment
zvargulis Posted August 30, 2010 Author Share Posted August 30, 2010 hey sorry for late reply hehe i just got my ALK test kit in, so after testing tonight my PH is <7.5 and alk is 14.4dKH or 5.14meq/L im not sure when you said alk is higher than 8.... did you mean in dKH or meq/L?? cheers Link to comment
nano427 Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 Im sure he meant dkh. I'd also recheck your 14.4 that would be extremely high Link to comment
zvargulis Posted August 30, 2010 Author Share Posted August 30, 2010 tested again 12.8dKH thats with lights off as t is night time here.... i even tested the reference to make sure i was testing correctly and got correct results... so things i am aware of.... i had a coral beauty die in the last 5 days? maybe its rotting even though my ammonia is zero... i dont run a skimmer.... hmm Link to comment
ulver982 Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 What are your CA levels at? Link to comment
zvargulis Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 hmm i dont own a CA test kit, but i did do a little experiment. i took a cup of water out and ran a air stone in it for 40min. before the test the ph was at <7.5 and after 40min it was up to 8.1ish KH or alk didnt change though. i was thinking cause i dont run a skimmer, the water doesnt get airated as much as normal? anyideas? Link to comment
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