High PH

[Twizted1]

Not sure what to do. My ph is 8.91. Not sure what's got it so high. Any idea on what to do?

[Twizted1]

Was just getting ready to do a chemi clean treatment. Wondering if I should do it one or not? Maybe fix 2 problems in 1 shot?

[Steve]

What are you checking your PH with and what are your other parameters?

[Twizted1]

What are you checking your PH with and what are your other parameters?

Checking with a pin point meter. Just calibrated it not to long ago.
Alk=9dkh
Cal=430ppm
Mag= 1280ppm

Been shooting for
Alk=10
Cal=440
Mag=1300
Been checking every night for a week now and dosing accordingly.

[Steve]

Doesn't make much sense, but chemistry is not my strong suit. Seems like it would be going in the other direction with the houses being closed up and all. I believe I would have it checked with a different meter or test kit just to make sure.

[Twizted1]

Doesn't make much sense, but chemistry is not my strong suit. Seems like it would be going in the other direction with the houses being closed up and all. I believe I would have it checked with a different meter or test kit just to make sure.

Don't really have anything else to check it with. Did a 30 gallon water change and it brought it down to 8.85.

[lazylivin]

I haven't seen any PH probe that is portable worth a stick. If it isn't always in water/storage solution it changes from day to day. You can calibrate them and next day it is off. When you get your Apex with the probe always in the water then you will get some good readings. For now just control your Alk daily and your PH will be just fine.

[Twizted1]

I haven't seen any PH probe that is portable worth a stick. If it isn't always in water/storage solution it changes from day to day. You can calibrate them and next day it is off. When you get your Apex with the probe always in the water then you will get some good readings. For now just control your Alk daily and your PH will be just fine.

Ok thanks Brian. I won't worry to much about it then.

[lazylivin]

The only exception I can think of where PH gets to high is if the tank is in a greenhouse or barn where it is getting lots of fresh air. That situation can lead to excessive ph and can be dealt with by using non baked baking soda for Alk supplement. The other exception that comes to mind is using lots of kalkwasser. If either of those apply it may be a bit of a concern.

[Twizted1]

Neither do. I have been keeping my levels in check more this week than I ever have. So maybe I have over dosed on my alk when I start the week off? I brought it up slowly. Same with my mag. I have been dosing a lot though.

[lazylivin]

Have you gotten to your maintainence dose yet or are you still working on determine what that is.?

[Twizted1]

Still trying to figure out what it is. Last week I just focused on getting everything wher it need to be. Didn't want to raise my mag or alk to fast. Starting to get an idea though. Things are closed up and don't look happy. Seems like I dose a lot of mag though. The brs calculator call for 24 oz to raise my mag from 1260 to 1300. So I drip that. Alk has been about 7 oz a day. And I just dump that in the sump slowly. I keep my meter running since I got it. And has always been in the water. But I dose in the bible trap and that's where my probe is.

[Wall_Tank]

Dose downstream of your meter, but affects of dosing would only be temporary on the meter.   24oz of mag dripped is not a big deal.   Just curious what brand the meter is....most portables have junk electronics in them.

[lazylivin]

Alk has been about 7 oz a day. And I just dump that in the sump slowly.

Is that correct? 7oz per day and all that in one sitting? That seems like an awful lot. I haven't seen your reef lately so maybe it has that many corals consuming that much. Even if you do that is a lot of alk to add at one time which will cause the PH to spike dramatically. 7oz is 200ml. If you need that much consider dosing 50ml 4x per day; which is still a lot at one time. Time to get some dosers....

[Twizted1]

Dose downstream of your meter, but affects of dosing would only be temporary on the meter.   24oz of mag dripped is not a big deal.   Just curious what brand the meter is....most portables have junk electronics in them.

I will change it to down stream. The meter is a pinpoint.

Is that correct? 7oz per day and all that in one sitting? That seems like an awful lot. I haven't seen your reef lately so maybe it has that many corals consuming that much. Even if you do that is a lot of alk to add at one time which will cause the PH to spike dramatically. 7oz is 200ml. If you need that much consider dosing 50ml 4x per day; which is still a lot at one time. Time to get some dosers....

Yes 7 oz is what it's been calling for, daily. Thats what I don't understand, I am down to only a few corals and 3 clams. I don't know where it's all going. I don't have but a fraction of the coral I see in tanks half my size. Looks like the coral I do have, are not happy at all.

[Wall_Tank]

Unless they changed their design in the last couple of years, Pinpoint monitors are junk.

A bit of a blast from the past........when we had a couple of EE hacks around.

http://www.ohioreef.com/index.php?topic=7185.msg60286#msg60286

[Twizted1]

Ok so my mag kit may have been a little old. Maybe close to 2 years old. So I ordered the Red Sea mag refill kit for my test kit set. Got it in today, tested my mag and it is off the charts. From what I can figure it is 1660 ppm. Wow have I got things messed up. I checked it twice. Same reading both times. Checked again with the old ones twice, and got 1280 both time with it. Would the old ones be that far off? Or could I have gotten a bad test kit? I am pulling my hair out here!

[lazylivin]

It can be off. Some of the solutions tend to evaporate out over time even in the sealed bottles. It makes them less diluted, skewing the results. It is good you found this. It will take quite some time for the Mag to come down.

[Twizted1]

Could that raise my ph? Or maybe my ph is fine and mag that high is what is aggravating the coral? 

[cbenner]

Joe,
I've ran into similar issues like this in the past. Yet I've never had my ph up that high. I've never really taken ph super serious due to the probes and meters are not the best.
If you have fresh test kits and your parameters are spot on, I gage things by how my livestock is looking.

After reading through the thread and hearing that your coral is closed up not doing the best. I would take  a water sample to a store or friend with fresh test kits.

I would also check perimeters on your water change water and prepare to do some major water changes over a few days/weeks to get things back into check.

A few months back I was having a chemistry issue also. My sps was doing fine but I was losing lps.
I also dose using the BRS system all controlled with my apex. I came to find out my refractometer was bad and the dosing had raised my salinity over the coarse of a few months up to 1.029.

The BRS system is known for raising salinity, so its something to watch out for.

   I was able to get things under control via 5 gallon water changes daily for a few weeks.  The sad thing was a few of my prized sps could not handle the drop and rtn'd others held on and are doing fine.

Point is,sometimes when your chemistry gets really out of whack.  Good old water changes can get things back on track.

Good luck

Happy Reefing   

[Marine_freak]

When you have problems it is never happy reefing! 

[Twizted1]

I do 30 gallon water changes weekly. And have been doing so for 2+ months straight. Should I do more?

[Marine_freak]

Try using small doses of white vinegar....... Truly if your ph is that high........ Start with a teaspoon and go up from there..... Just a thought .