what to do???

[TRUKINGNY]

just did a water change on monday i do a 30 gallon change every 2 weeks have a little hair algea nothng serious only if you really look for it you will see it and i havent had much luck with SPS one that was doing good for me is starting to form white types and i know its not growth these are my readings:
NITRITE-.03
ALK- 6.4
PHOS-.19
CA-480
MG-1410
NITRATE-5(on salifert color chart)
SALINITY-1.025
PH-8.4
TEMP-78.3
a question i have is i dose 2 part esv ALK once a day before i leave to work at 6am(i do not dose the CA part because my CA is fine) when PH is the lowest i stoped because my PH is hitting 8.5 towards the end of the light session MH stay on for 6 hrs.. so how do i raise my ALK without my PH going up to high... one more question is anything with these readings stopping my SPS from growing.... sorry for the long / all other the place thread

 

[Boomer]

Well, Truk, first we need to clarify something here.

ALK- 6.4..........8.5 pH

First, Is that Alk as meq / l or dKH amd second, is that pH of 8.5 with a pH test kit or a pH meter ?

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

Raise that alk if in dkh
your ph seems wrong if alk is 6.4

 

[DrHarryLopez]

phos is whats killing your SPS n your crazy high pH
Ca n Alk MUST be dosed in equal parts, or you will create a chem imbalance
You'll probably need to do a dose adjustment of the ALk (assuming its dKH) then start dosing the two part in equal proportions

 

[TRUKINGNY]

Well, Truk, first we need to clarify something here.

ALK- 6.4..........8.5 pH

First, Is that Alk as meq / l or dKH amd second, is that pH of 8.5 with a pH test kit or a pH meter ?

6.4 is in DKH i use a salifert test kit and the PH is measured with my apex controller the ph probe is in my sump so i guess give or take from display..

 

[TRUKINGNY]

as we speak right now my apex says 8.48 and i have the red hanna hand held ph meter that says 8.3 dont know if matters that my probe is in the sump

 

[DrHarryLopez]

the probe should not be moving around in aggitated water. the sump is fine if its in a quite area of the sump. So it appears that you tank runs high in pH. What is the sine wave of the pH (he hi and lows?) can you post a pic of it?

 

[TRUKINGNY]

here is graph from apex light cycle it LED-1200, T5-1300, MH-1400 then they go off MH-2000, T5-2100, LED-2200(military time on apex)

 

[DrHarryLopez]

ok what are you dosing exactly?
How much?
What times?
whats your tank size and water volumn?
how long has your tank been up?
also wat are your readings over the last few testings?

 

[DrHarryLopez]

how long are you running your lights?
what type and how much flow do you have?
Any dead spots of flow?
How much and what do you feed your fish?
Are you also spot feeding the coral?
how much fish do you have and what are they?
how old are your test kits?
Did you ck your water with some one else?
when was your pH meter last calibrated?
Are you using RO/DI water?
Do you put any additives or buffers in your tank?

 

[TRUKINGNY]

ok what are you dosing exactly?
How much?
What times?
whats your tank size and water volumn?
how long has your tank been up?
also wat are your readings over the last few testings?

*iam only dosing ALK from the 2part esv 20ml at 6am
*i have a 120 gallon tank with i believe 30 gallon sump 160 pds live rock and 3 inch sand bed
*i have had my tank up since march of this year
on 12/2/10
NITRITE-.05
ALK-6.4
PHOS-.13
CA-450
MG-1380
NITRATE-5

on 11/21/10
NITRITE-.05
ALK-7.0
PHOS-.34
CA-460
MG-1500
ran out of nitrate so couldnt test

 

[DrHarryLopez]

which salt mix are u using?

 

[DrHarryLopez]

if ur testing is accurate, i'd do a alk adj'mnt of about 150ml of alk over an hr or so, then test. dont dose again until a few days, then test.

after a few days you'll see the consumption and demand of your tank and you can start dosing to maintain the demand

 

[TRUKINGNY]

how long are you running your lights?
what type and how much flow do you have?
Any dead spots of flow?
How much and what do you feed your fish?
Are you also spot feeding the coral?
how much fish do you have and what are they?
how old are your test kits?
Did you ck your water with some one else?
when was your pH meter last calibrated?
Are you using RO/DI water?
Do you put any additives or buffers in your tank?

*i have to MP40 at half power
*feed fish flakes,cycops,rods,mysis shrimp all on different days
*FISH- pair mid-night clown,1 picasso clown,1 kole tang,1 salifin tang, 1 sallowtail angel,1bellus angel,1 green coris wrasse, 1 leopard wrasse,pair anthias fat heads,1 foxface, 1 royal gramma TOTAL=13
*do not spot feed corals and get good growth on lps
*PHOS,NITRITE are hanna checkers..... ALK,CA,MG are salifert... PH is apex and hanna handheld never calibrated apex PH probe
*yes use RO/DI water
*no dont add any additives or buffers
*use ESV salt

 

[Boomer]

Your probe has algae growing on it which raises the pH at the probe algae interface. You need to soak it in vinegar over night and then scrub it wil a Q-tip and then rise it well in RO/DI or Distilled water and then recalibrate it. You can only get a pH that high 5 ways,

1. Dripping in to much Kalk or sodium hydroxide
2. Lots and lots of algae in the tank.
3. Algae on the probe. 99 % of all such readings are false readings from algae on the probe
4. Bad probe
5. Needs recalibrating.

 

[TRUKINGNY]

thanks everyone for all the advice i dosed alk last night at 150ml in 4 sections 20 min apart and now i alk is up to 9.3 and i cleaned and calibrated my probe and it was off by .46... just one more querstion how often should i calibrate my apex ph probe

 

[Boomer]

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