tank emergency !!!!!

[S-B]

this morning I find my regal tang breathing hard . So I start checking
all levels in my 40g tank . I find my PH is Way Low ........I mixed up some new water and tested it .......and the PH in it is Low too ?
So I tested another tank I have , and the PH is fine .

How do I get the PH up ? or should I just take from my 20g for now ?

[Willow]

easiest way to increase ph is to use ph buffer.

something like this.. http://www.jlaquatics.com/cgi-bin/shopping/jalstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=k-mab0250

[danny zubot]

Did you mean that the new water you just mixed had low PH? Or the 40g was still low after adding new water? Either way, don't panic, the worst thing you can do is start changing lots of water, (well, not the worst thing.) but if you adjust the PH too rapidly it will stress the fish even further.

I would change out 10 or 15 gallons to begin to correct the PH and then find out why it is too low. What are your calcium and alkalinity levels at? Do you use buffers or additives at all?

[Willow]

btw i should add in the long term you can help your ph by dripping kalkawasser, this will add calcium and stablize your ph.

[S-B]

danny zubot
The 40g and the new water I just mixed up both have such a low PH , is
doesn't even register/match any color on the chart .
I was going to swap out 10g of old from the 40g with 10g of newly mixed water in hopes this would help bring the PH up some . But when I test both
waters .....the PH is realy low . So to make sure my test kit was ok , I tested water from a 20g I have , and that water tested PH 8.2

So now I'm thinking , maybe I should remove 10g from my 40g and replace it with 10g from my 20g that tested ok ?

do you two think that is a wise idea or not ?
btw .....there is just sand in my 20g right now , as I've given away the crab and live rock I had in it .

[S-B]

easiest way to increase ph is to use ph buffer.

something like this.. http://www.jlaquatics.com/cgi-bin/shopping/jalstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=k-mab0250

Thanks Willow ......I'll be picking some up today.

just to let you all know , I've swapped out 10g of water . I used 10g from
my 20g tank that all tested out fine . maybe for the next few days I should do a 10% water change ?

[Quinster]

do a slow Kalk drip to up the PH...if you need some let me know...I have lots!!

[Skimmerking]

the best way is to drip kalk like quinster, says its good because it will keep the
PH up and steady to help your tank.

mike

[Willow]

here is a RFH ph article that might be helpful

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

[S-B]

Thanks everyone for the great help !!
just to update you all ...The 10g water swap has made a big improvement
on my tank . My PH is up at 8.3 and my regal tang is looking "ALOT" better tonight !! :biggrin:

I will be putting a kalk drip together so this doesn't happen again .

I told my wife she can look at the tank now .......she was upset this morning and thought we would loose the tang .


Thanks

[mark]

Wondering the pH of your water before mixing.

I use store bought ro/di and found is 6.8 or lower. If I add the salt immediately, pH would only be around 8.1 so would be behind from the start.

Found aerating for a day brings the pH to 7.0, so when I add the salt, the mix then tests 8.3.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Any chance you just switched to a new bucket or bag of salt? I've seen that before on here where people use the same salt but one bag is no where near the other for buffering or Ca levels. I got into the habit of always testing the pH of my water I was going to add during a water change and I had a surprise or two.

Doug

[S-B]

Any chance you just switched to a new bucket or bag of salt?
Doug

in my case , no , it's still the same container of salt .

OK , now I feel stupid . :redface:
I went to two stores yesterday and explained to them what happened to me and told them what I was going to build ( kalk drip ) and they looked at me like I was ???
one guy told me to leave my tank alone , it should stabilize on it's own (PH) . ( bull ) I say .

so I'm stuck .
all I have is the container made for the drip , and thats as far as I can get
where do I purchase the chemical , in winnipeg ?

[phreezee]

You can get Kalk at stores like Fish Gallery, and Salt Water Connection. You can make a dripper out of a 1 liter water bottle, some tubing and a valve.

Try Baking Soda to increase your alkalinity and Kalk to bring up the pH.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Only other thing I can think of is any chance you have alot of CO2 in your water? that would drop the pH but aeration should remove the excess CO2

Doug

[Beverly]

Try Baking Soda to increase your alkalinity and Kalk to bring up the pH.

Baking soda will increase alk, but at the same time decreases pH. Use both baking soda and kalk at the same time, but from different containers. Putting them in the same container causes precipitation.

My recipe is:

- 1 teaspoon baking soda mixed well in two cups of tankwater
- 2 1/2 cups kalk

Increase in alk with that recipe in my 67g is 1.5 dKH, with a minimum change in pH.

Yesterday, I adjusted alk in our three tanks, pouring in small amounts of both baking soda mixture and kalk in at the same time. Have a pH monitor which measured increase/decrease of pH. pH remained relatively stable. Don't know if others use this method, but have used it several times in the past with no ill effects on fish, corals, inverts.

BTW, kalk recipe is 3/4 teapsoon kalk powder in 4 litres RO/DI water mixed well in a clean milk jug. Let this mixture sit 12-24 hours before using. Discard any water where kalk powder has precipitated at the bottom of the jug.