Help needed. extreme low pH high alkalinity high nitrate high phosphate - Page 3

Blue spot · 04/10/2016, 02:21 PM

Hey champ. Hope your doing well. Just thought I had better let you know (in case you do add it) I've just turned my co2 scrubber off! Found out it can be linked to algae blumes ! sorry to give you duff information but I've only just found out that the concentrated oxygen co2 level can give this problem although it does raise your ph level. Back to the drawing board for me aswell then.

champion6sigma · 04/10/2016, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue spot

Hey champ. Hope your doing well. Just thought I had better let you know (in case you do add it) I've just turned my co2 scrubber off! Found out it can be linked to algae blumes ! sorry to give you duff information but I've only just found out that the concentrated oxygen co2 level can give this problem although it does raise your ph level. Back to the drawing board for me aswell then.

Thanks. Doing OK today. Been busy with family. My grandmother's bday.

That's too bad about the scrubber. I had read more on them and they have helped a lot of people , but they do have their costs. Sorry to hear about the algae.

Theres my current shot. Ph made tiny drop overnight still way better than past history. I was able to open front door and get some fan air flow for maybe 1.5 hours. I got back up to 7.85 before I closed house again. I don't know if 7.85 is max I can get to with the fresh air without additional additives or supplements or if just need more time to displace the air in home. I'm guessing if I could aerate house for 24 hours straight with both fans circulating I might be able to make a bigger impact.

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champion6sigma · 04/10/2016, 11:54 PM

Did ALK test and its my best reading in months. Was a 0.45 on salifert. I'm finally in the 8's! Weird how the salifert instruction sheet a 0.45 is slightly lower than the neptune auto fill in for salifert....

PH is at 7.78 presently....after previous night which was hovering around 7.82 (highest of day 7.85 it went back to 7.85 during day (was able to open doors and had fan on just for a small amount of time) then returning home late evening....started doing a slight drop to its current 7.78. Hoping it goes no lower and evelates back up to 7.85 at least.

I'm wondering if now i'm at the point where i need to do another 5 or 10 gallon alk change with some cheap(er) salt (don't know what my dd2 salt is really doing to my levels)

wait until alk is dropped slightly below normal....and then do a buffer (now that I know how it affects my tank) and raise my pH and alk at same time....and THEN that combined with some temporary air fixes on my part until I come up with the permanent air exchange displacement solution...then my pH will be high, stay high, and I can just work on maintaining magnesium...calcium...and periodic checks of alk...

I don't think with the little I have...dosing is an important thing for me yet.

Plus resume my dd2 reef salt once the levels of water are right...since this salt should replenish anything the tank needs hopefully.

I guess what I'm saying is that maybe my bad home air has been neutralized and that the my 7.85 pH high reading is the best the tank can do with the help of just fresh air....and that like many others who are low from reasons other than air...a supplement or buffer is needed?

champion6sigma · 04/11/2016, 12:02 AM

My other thing I'm thinking of is getting some sort of a CPU type cooling fan that takes out hot air....somehow placing one in tank....a quiet one...and keeping that going to expel inner sump air from tank...and perhaps placing one in rear of sump behind stand openings to push air in....something like that...maybe my stand is so enclosed that it needs some circulation....

my hose for the air stones is too small to fit over hose from skimmer line...maybe I can still try to run something outside stand through stand openings in back...

Plan is still to get an air purifier to be used in main living area with tank...

This upcoming week will be scheduling an air service/ac company to check out system, attic, circulation...etc...and I'll see if they can do air quality testing or if i should rent something to test air...

but unfortunately( for the testing) I've already been displacing air so much in two days that even if I did do a test monday or tuesday....the readings have to be off.

Over the two days even in limited use i pushed millions of cubic feet..based on the calculations of the 4500 cfm over a few hours....

Thats more than I've done all year 2016 probably from just having the doors open to let the dogs outside every now and then.

Happyschneider · 04/11/2016, 01:33 AM

Sounds like you are making progress!

Don't worry about pH 7.85 that is good enough! pH varies a lot, for the health of your animals, the other parameters seem to be more impartant, at least as far as I read on here. Maybe you will not have the fastest grwoing SPS at that level, but there are beautiful tanks just using softies...

It will be interesting to see what happens now that you will have more air circulation. Maybe the pH can raise even further. In any case, I would strongly recommend not to add any pH buffer where you do not know what is in the mix. Buffers are a strange animal and you don't want to add something that might keep your pH in check but messes with any of your other important values.

The fan for your stand is an interesting idea to further improve air condition around the skimmer intake. Could work but you run the possibility that you will have more evaporation from your sump! Can't you get an adapter for your skimmer or a bigger hose? that would allow you to move the skimmer intake outside which definetly would improve your situation as it seems from your experiment with your fans!

champion6sigma · 04/11/2016, 01:22 PM

I tried a tunze fan last night . Ph dropped to 7.72 over night . Fan didn't help in fact not sure if it made it worse since previous night we didn't have low ph drop much and I didn't use fan.

So this morning around 10 or 11 turned off sump fan, turned on fans opened doors a few windows got to 7.89 now at 2:20 pm. In few hours have best reading ever!

But I had to raise ac temp so ac doesn't turn on and try to offset hotter outside air. Tough part of Texas. I think I can resume once house cools down or this evenjng when cooler outside. We had rain last night and was cool, not sure if that affecting ph.

Talked to a technician he thinks we should just aerate house all week. Then do periodically

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champion6sigma · 04/11/2016, 01:44 PM

Amazing how air quality affects tank. I've added no supplements or water changes since a simple 5 gallon one about 6. Or 7 days ago

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champion6sigma · 04/15/2016, 01:47 PM

Guys not sure what to think. My ph was 7.6 last night. I put my intervention of home air on hold. This morning around 11 am I addedsome rodi water. Opened back door and turned on one fan and the tank jumped to 7.9 it's been rising steady I only had fan on about 2 hours. It's still rising. I did a 10 gallon water change on Tuesday night. I cleaned my mp40's and skimmer completely with vinegar water and took them apart on Tuesday. I added some purple up every other day just a little.

I don't know why such a high jump from last night.

I still want an hrv device but I'm still amazed at today current reading with minimal intervention today. Wife had a bedroom window open for a while yesterday. Was nothing noteworthy.

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ljosh · 04/18/2016, 09:04 AM

These numbers look promising

04/10/2016, 11:54 PM	#53
champion6sigma Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: texas Posts: 538	Did ALK test and its my best reading in months. Was a 0.45 on salifert. I'm finally in the 8's! Weird how the salifert instruction sheet a 0.45 is slightly lower than the neptune auto fill in for salifert.... PH is at 7.78 presently....after previous night which was hovering around 7.82 (highest of day 7.85 it went back to 7.85 during day (was able to open doors and had fan on just for a small amount of time) then returning home late evening....started doing a slight drop to its current 7.78. Hoping it goes no lower and evelates back up to 7.85 at least. I'm wondering if now i'm at the point where i need to do another 5 or 10 gallon alk change with some cheap(er) salt (don't know what my dd2 salt is really doing to my levels) wait until alk is dropped slightly below normal....and then do a buffer (now that I know how it affects my tank) and raise my pH and alk at same time....and THEN that combined with some temporary air fixes on my part until I come up with the permanent air exchange displacement solution...then my pH will be high, stay high, and I can just work on maintaining magnesium...calcium...and periodic checks of alk... I don't think with the little I have...dosing is an important thing for me yet. Plus resume my dd2 reef salt once the levels of water are right...since this salt should replenish anything the tank needs hopefully. I guess what I'm saying is that maybe my bad home air has been neutralized and that the my 7.85 pH high reading is the best the tank can do with the help of just fresh air....and that like many others who are low from reasons other than air...a supplement or buffer is needed? __________________ My initial build page - soon to be updated when its not an embarrassment :) http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2538593

04/11/2016, 12:02 AM	#54
champion6sigma Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: texas Posts: 538	My other thing I'm thinking of is getting some sort of a CPU type cooling fan that takes out hot air....somehow placing one in tank....a quiet one...and keeping that going to expel inner sump air from tank...and perhaps placing one in rear of sump behind stand openings to push air in....something like that...maybe my stand is so enclosed that it needs some circulation.... my hose for the air stones is too small to fit over hose from skimmer line...maybe I can still try to run something outside stand through stand openings in back... Plan is still to get an air purifier to be used in main living area with tank... This upcoming week will be scheduling an air service/ac company to check out system, attic, circulation...etc...and I'll see if they can do air quality testing or if i should rent something to test air... but unfortunately( for the testing) I've already been displacing air so much in two days that even if I did do a test monday or tuesday....the readings have to be off. Over the two days even in limited use i pushed millions of cubic feet..based on the calculations of the 4500 cfm over a few hours.... Thats more than I've done all year 2016 probably from just having the doors open to let the dogs outside every now and then. __________________ My initial build page - soon to be updated when its not an embarrassment :) http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2538593

04/11/2016, 01:33 AM	#55
Happyschneider Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Basel, Switzerland Posts: 350	Sounds like you are making progress! Don't worry about pH 7.85 that is good enough! pH varies a lot, for the health of your animals, the other parameters seem to be more impartant, at least as far as I read on here. Maybe you will not have the fastest grwoing SPS at that level, but there are beautiful tanks just using softies... It will be interesting to see what happens now that you will have more air circulation. Maybe the pH can raise even further. In any case, I would strongly recommend not to add any pH buffer where you do not know what is in the mix. Buffers are a strange animal and you don't want to add something that might keep your pH in check but messes with any of your other important values. The fan for your stand is an interesting idea to further improve air condition around the skimmer intake. Could work but you run the possibility that you will have more evaporation from your sump! Can't you get an adapter for your skimmer or a bigger hose? that would allow you to move the skimmer intake outside which definetly would improve your situation as it seems from your experiment with your fans! __________________ My build thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2517452 180 liter, sumpless reef, no skimmer for the moment. Current Tank Info: Juwel VISION 180, currently only invertebrates, planning to have low bioload as I have no skimmer and no refugium for the moment.

04/11/2016, 01:22 PM	#56
champion6sigma Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: texas Posts: 538	I tried a tunze fan last night . Ph dropped to 7.72 over night . Fan didn't help in fact not sure if it made it worse since previous night we didn't have low ph drop much and I didn't use fan. So this morning around 10 or 11 turned off sump fan, turned on fans opened doors a few windows got to 7.89 now at 2:20 pm. In few hours have best reading ever! But I had to raise ac temp so ac doesn't turn on and try to offset hotter outside air. Tough part of Texas. I think I can resume once house cools down or this evenjng when cooler outside. We had rain last night and was cool, not sure if that affecting ph. Talked to a technician he thinks we should just aerate house all week. Then do periodically Sent from my BlackBerry PRIV using taptalk __________________ My initial build page - soon to be updated when its not an embarrassment :) http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2538593

04/11/2016, 01:44 PM	#57
champion6sigma Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: texas Posts: 538	Amazing how air quality affects tank. I've added no supplements or water changes since a simple 5 gallon one about 6. Or 7 days ago Sent from my BlackBerry PRIV using taptalk __________________ My initial build page - soon to be updated when its not an embarrassment :) http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2538593

04/10/2016, 02:21 PM	#51
Blue spot Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: England Posts: 590	Hey champ. Hope your doing well. Just thought I had better let you know (in case you do add it) I've just turned my co2 scrubber off! Found out it can be linked to algae blumes ! sorry to give you duff information but I've only just found out that the concentrated oxygen co2 level can give this problem although it does raise your ph level. Back to the drawing board for me aswell then.

04/15/2016, 01:47 PM	#58
champion6sigma Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: texas Posts: 538	Guys not sure what to think. My ph was 7.6 last night. I put my intervention of home air on hold. This morning around 11 am I addedsome rodi water. Opened back door and turned on one fan and the tank jumped to 7.9 it's been rising steady I only had fan on about 2 hours. It's still rising. I did a 10 gallon water change on Tuesday night. I cleaned my mp40's and skimmer completely with vinegar water and took them apart on Tuesday. I added some purple up every other day just a little. I don't know why such a high jump from last night. I still want an hrv device but I'm still amazed at today current reading with minimal intervention today. Wife had a bedroom window open for a while yesterday. Was nothing noteworthy. Sent from my BlackBerry PRIV using taptalk __________________ My initial build page - soon to be updated when its not an embarrassment :) http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2538593

04/18/2016, 09:04 AM	#59
ljosh Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: B.C. Canada Posts: 354	These numbers look promising