pH 2.17!!!????

[jcdeng]

Ok, yesterday I got home from work and take a look at my tank, to my shocking surprise the Hanna pH checkers reads 2.17 on the display (it has always been 8.7). All the creatures in the tank are fine and happy. So I jump to the conclusion that the device must be faulty, then I put it in regular faucet water, it went back up to 8.1...WTF!?

First off, wouldn't everything in the tank die at a pH of 2.1??? I mean, if the water is so acidic it will burn my hand if I stick my hand in.

Ok, so I immediately grab my test kits and tested the alk, its at 7.5, cal is 458. really don't understand what is going on here.

The only changes that I made to the tank before the magic pH drop are:
1. added a protein skimmer the night before the change.
2. added a MP40 to replace my hydros.

after all these happened last night I thought to myself maybe I should dose the alk since its on the lower side of the range so I added 10ml of alk buffer to my 55g tank. This morning, pH checker reads 2.0....

could it be the skimmer? should I toss the hanna pH checker and get a more reliable one and recheck since the tank is no way at pH 2.0.


Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[rambler67]

I would sat duble check with a different test kit get like a salfert or some thing and try it out. I would think if it was that big of a drop that fast the live stock would be suffering and showing sings of stress. im sure some ne else will chim in on this.

 

[smoq]

This is not physically possible, a ph of 2.17 would be a strong acid that melts concrete Check your tests and I strongly advice to invest in ph monitor, it's much better to know ph all the time.

 

[jcdeng]

the Hanna pH checker is like a monitor, I think it uses electrode to read the pH in water and somehow it got mess up probably due to other ions in the water or flow (since I added the vortech and its next to where I put the pH checker) so thats why I want to buy a test kit to just look at the colors to get a rough idea of what my pH actually is.

Which pH test kit offers a wide range and not just from 6.5 to 8.7? cuz my pH might be slightly higher than 8.7

 

[smoq]

the Hanna pH checker is like a monitor, I think it uses electrode to read the pH in water and somehow it got mess up probably due to other ions in the water or flow (since I added the vortech and its next to where I put the pH checker) so thats why I want to buy a test kit to just look at the colors to get a rough idea of what my pH actually is.

Which pH test kit offers a wide range and not just from 6.5 to 8.7? cuz my pH might be slightly higher than 8.7

Yes, but a true ph controller monitors the ph of your water constantly so when it drops out of your known range, you have an early alarm that's something's wrong, fe. when it drops it may be that something died in your tank or when it's too high it may be that your alk is too high as well. There are many ph monitors on the market, from Apex and Digital Aquatics controllers to stand-alone units like pinpoint ph controller. I find color ph tests not accurate to me, the color difference between ph 7.8 and 8.4 is usually hard to spot. Maybe I'm just slightly color blind though Salifert makes a wide range ph test. I don't think your pH can be higher than 8.7, remember that ph scale is logarithmic, which means that ph 9 is ten times more alkaline than ph 8.

 

[jcdeng]

thanks, I will go get a salifert kit tmr, I said my pH is 8.7 or above b/c thats the constant reading that the Hanna gave me before it went haywire. Or maybe its already off to begin with when I first got it lol.

 

[smoq]

thanks, I will go get a salifert kit tmr, I said my pH is 8.7 or above b/c thats the constant reading that the Hanna gave me before it went haywire. Or maybe its already off to begin with when I first got it lol.

I would suspect it's giving you false reading. Do you see any changes in your corals? High pH usually means high alkalinity.

 

[jcdeng]

no change in corals, the only acan that died was because the next door neighbor attack it full force lol.

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

this is not physically possible, a ph of 2.17 would be a strong acid that melts concrete check your tests and i strongly advice to invest in ph monitor, it's much better to know ph all the time.

1+

 

[Boomer]

jcd

Try changing the batteries and re-cal it.

 

[jcdeng]

jcd

Try changing the batteries and re-cal it.

I might give that a try, I didn't think of it since the display color didn't fade, but it is possible.

 

[Boomer]

It is no differnt than many watches. The display time is there but as soon as you hit the mode button to do other things or processes things, those things come up wrong/funny.