PH emergency

[bob`_your_dog]

Hey, I've recently set up my FOWLR tank i carted the water from the sea, so i assume the PH was fine. It's been running for just over 3 weeks now and i had water tests done yesterday, And to my horror my PH is 7.6! and nitrate 0.3 (i'm hoping it's on the way down from the cycle)

I have 25 Kgs of crushed coral in there and i was hoping that i would help hold my PH. I was told that i could use Bi-carb to take thew PH up, but i'm not sure if this is very safe or how much to use if it is.

Now My red sea clown who's been in ubout 3 days seems to have two pimple like marks on him, they look almost like ick but are much larger and are raised above his skin, he paid a visit to my cleaners who tried to eat them off and also picked in his mouth. They didn't really get it off tho.

Now if i cant use Bi-carb how can i raise the PH, and will it constantly be dropping like this every 3 weeks, or is there some marine secret to maintianing a healthy PH? I'm really worried about these guys, especially my cleaner shrimp who i also just added.

 

[Navarre]

I would not have used coral sand, aragonite is a good PH buffer.

How much liverock do you have? this should keep ph stable also

 

[bob`_your_dog]

Hey I've got 22kgs of live rock and 25 kgs of crushed coral. Cant afford to change to aragonite now that i broke the bank on all this allready. Any ideas?

 

[Great Lakes]

To help with ph, we really need to know your hardness and calcium levels.

These factoes must also be in balance and will determine what you need to do in order to bring it all in line.

GL

 

[bob`_your_dog]

i will get them tested tomorrow, but for now i have started adding super buff and did a partial water change. Does the hardness and calcium help keep ph stable/ instable?

 

[Navarre]

They all effect each other and too much of one will effect the rest.

 

[ostrow]

Don't add anything more until you can test all three.

For pH and alk, best bet for quick adjustments is to bake baking soda at about 400deg Far for an hour (spread it over a cookie sheet). this turns it into Soda Ash (washing soda). Store it in a jar and to use it, mix in water and add to the tank according to the formula here:

http/www.kademani.com/reefchem.htm