PH problem

[Mad Reefer]

Have a high PH reading for about a week (8.6) Have done a water change of 20 gal on 155 gal tank. Alk is at 2.5 have tried to boost back to 3. Have been using ProBuffer by Kent.

How can I get ph down and alk up?

[R1Bill]

Mad,

Have you verified your test kits? Whose are you using? If indeed your test kits are reading correctly, you will need to do a lot more than a 20 gallon water change to make a difference on a 155. I would verify my test results, do more water changes and keep adding buffer. How did your pH and Alk. get out of wack in the first place?

Good Luck,

Bill

[Mad Reefer]

Using Milwaukee digital. Check the calibration and it was right on the money.

Never had pH problem. Recently have experience a good growth spurt and alk usage shot up. Started supplementing alk and got it up to 3ml. This stabilized my pH witch had always ping ponged between 8.2 and 8.5. For weeks it had stayed an even 8.3.

Now it has shot up to 8.7 during the day and 8.5 at night. Have a Kalwasser Reactor that I cleaned over the weekend and 25-gal refugium that stays lit 24/7.

[Spanky]

Mad

this might help

http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache...hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[Casie]

Have you considered timing your refugium lighting to burn opposite of your tank lighting? It may help control your ph and it has been suggested that your refugium algaes need the down time to grow successfully.

And like Bill mentioned, I'd hit it with a nice water change and see if your numbers settle down. =)

Just make any changes slow, and watch your critters. They will let you know if they are being stressed. =D

[tdwyatt]

Personally,I would be suspect of either the power source for your probe, the probe itself, or the electrode (most likely the electrode). Even though you have recalibrated the probe, it still can be the source of errors, especially if it is used with continuous immersion in the water column. Try cleaning the probe and then recalibrating it.

There is the possibility, especially in a system that gets supplementation with buffer builder and a 24/7 light schedule, that your pH could go as high as 8.7 or so, but unusual (those buffer additives that use large amounts of Sodium carbonate in relation to sodium bicarbonate would be problematic here). Try lighting your refugium for 12 hours a day for a while and leave off any buffer additives, and although this will reintroduce the 12 hour pH up and down cycles (heh, much like some ocean bays), it should reduce your pH if it is indeed high. If you use Seachem Salts , the high amouny of borate/boric acid may be contributing as well, although I doubt it would be significant in most water systems.

Just curious, do you do regular water changes? If so, what amount and what schedule?

[Mad Reefer]

Have cleaned the probe and tested with chemical test kit that came up with the same reading (8.6).

Have cut the light on ref down to 12 hours. Did a complete chem check last night:

T: 77 Alk: 2.5 pH: 8.6 N02: 0 N03: 0 NH4: 0+/- Ca: 500
P04: .1 Mg: 1500 SG: 1.024 O2: 8 ORP: 357

Do a 10 to 15 gal water change a week usally 50 gal a month.

[tdwyatt]

Ouch! Ride it out, particularly if the corals all look good. Alkalinity is a consumable in closed systems, so much so that getting the pH up that high is often duifficult without special conditions being met.

Of course, no alk additives, no bicarb, continue to do large water changes, and watch your corals. If it is really getting to you, you might try adding just Ca for a while (as chloride sawlt) but short of that, as long as the corals look good, I wouldn't do a thing (Check out Randy Holmes column for the last few months on Reef Central, he has a column that addresses this in the chemistry forum (as well as the last few issues of "Advanced Reefkeeping")

HTH

[Mad Reefer]

The corals look great and seem to like the condition. Everything is out and opened nice and full and the SPS looks as if its growing.

Just never had pH problem, all the others yes. PH was the one constant.

[R1Bill]

Mad,

Are you using DI water? Usually when the DI column is worn out, the pH goes very high. Water changes could be causing the problem in this case. I run my refuguim at opposite times of my normal lights. This keeps my pH at an almost constant 8.4 Also, You may want to test your water with your pH probe away from your tank to check for electrical interference. Or, maybe, if you don't already have one, a ground probe may help.

Good Luck,

Bill

[Mad Reefer]

Use RO/DI and recently changed all the cartridges. Would the pH test on the RO/DI water?

Cut the light to 12 on and 12 off on the ref.

[R1Bill]

Mad,

Normally DI water is so pure that taking a pH test of it is useless since the smallest impurity will skew the results. However a worn out DI will dump enough ions, can't remember which - i'm a EE not a chemist , that you can measure a high pH. Wish I knew what the problem is. You often hear about people having problems getting their pH up. Mine pretty much stays at 8.4 Tom is probably right, I'd be inclined to suspect the probe. Maybe you cal solution is bad?

Bill

[Mad Reefer]

What should I use to clean the probe to make sure there isn't any build up on it, before I consider a new one?

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by Mad Reefer
What should I use to clean the probe to make sure there isn't any build-up on it, before I consider a new one?

pH probe cleaning and calibration

[Mad Reefer]

The firewall dosen't like the link that you provide. You have a way around it?