And now what?

[kattz]

My tank's been doing great; corals growing, chemistry good, and so forth.  Came home last night to pH over 9 and alk over 13.  No doser issues AFAIK.  The pH has been creeping up over the past 5 days, but staying under 8.45.  Normally runs as high as 8.2, so not too worried at the time.  Alk has been hovering at around 11 DKh, which is normal for my tank.  Everything else is OK.  Nothing added to the tank, not dosing or trating with anything other than two-part.  Used vinegar to run pH and alk back down to normal levels, but is rising again.  Lost two corals already.  Maybe one more in the works... 

Ideas???

[Boonjob]

Have you been running your heater in your house with the windows closed?

[kattz]

Not really.  I think that CO2 causes depressed pH, not high levels.  However, I will check it out and appreciate your idea.

[Wall_Tank]

Not really.  I think that CO2 causes depressed pH, not high levels.  However, I will check it out and appreciate your idea.

If your coral growth has slowed for some reason, the Alk consumption would slow.   If your doses didn't back off, you could creep up.   Is you Ca and Mg still in proper balance.

I would also verify your pH probe calibration.    Would be good if you could check with a different pH probe

[Boonjob]

Yes you are correct kattz I am sorry... that what i get for playing forza and posting at the same time derrrr

[kattz]

pH probe cal ok.  Have seen fluctuations in the alk consumption before, so maybe consumption slowed and doser pumped up the parameters in a bad way.

[lazylivin]

Same thing here Kattz. Unbelievably high PH last 5 days. It is the atmosphere. It has dropped finally today with my heater running due to cold temps. However my Alk was never affected.

[micki]

And my PH is running extremely LOW!  Could you share a little and we can both be balanced? 

[kattz]

I think I might've messed up...  I turned off the calcium side of my reefdoser and now the levels have stablized.  It's possible that I put alk solution in the wrong container.

I'm going to empty all containers and make frresh solution tonight and restart my system dosing at lower levels.  Or as Brian said, it could be the weather.

[lazylivin]

I'm going to empty all containers and make frresh solution tonight and restart my system dosing at lower levels.

If your pour calcium in the tank it is clear and Alk will be milky.

And my PH is running extremely LOW!  Could you share a little and we can both be balanced? 

That is likely because now that it cooled you are running heater but a few days ago when it was warm I bet it was high.

[micki]

Brian, actually it's been running low for a while now.  We haven't even turned our heat on yet!  Is there a home made solution to check the PH probe?

[lazylivin]

I think there is but you would need some solution to check it against. What is your Alk running right now?

[micki]

I don't know, I haven't tested for anything in... Well, I really don't remember when!   

[CoralBeauties]

dont know if you have read this article but it is really good.  I noticed 2 of my corals had stn from the base up today and my ph was at 8.47.  I dosed my tank with vinegar and turned up my co2.  Sorry to hear about your coral loss.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.php
Jeff

[coral ranch]

We used  20 mule team borax to help check ph probes. I think you can find the how to on Reef Central. I can not remember exactly how much to add to ro water to make the solution but it was very easy.

[micki]

cool thanks for the info!

[coral ranch]

I just noticed the link JJoos99 posted has the how to on it for the 20 mule team borax