PH Issues (1 Viewer)

[Niko5]

I had started dripping kalk into my tank from my kalk reactor at 150 ml per hour and after about 2 weeks my ph was going up to 8.8 and 8.9 so thats bad... Iv stoped dripping kalk but my PH is still staying right around 8.6 to 8.7. What can I do to lower it? Also im not quiet sure my PH meter is accurate... its cheep and I dont have a way to calibrate it. I tested my top off water and it is right at 7. Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

Calibrate it to start off with. You can get calibration powder pillows only or maybe from an LFS for farely cheap. Are you dripping kalk at night only?

 

[Niko5]

I was dripping 24 hours a day but right now im not dripping any at all. Does anyone know where to get calibration stuff for a ph probe?

 

[Guest]

I was dripping 24 hours a day but right now im not dripping any at all. Does anyone know where to get calibration stuff for a ph probe?

I couldn't find any locally, so I just ordered 10 packets of each (you need 2 to calibrate it) from Premium Aquatics. Calibrated my pH meter this weekend for the first time in 4 months, and it was off by about .2 - pretty significant. Does your meter have a way to be calibrated? Mine has 2 screws on it, one to calibrated it to 7 and the other for 4 or 10.

Assuming your pH is really that high and it's not just a measuring issue, then one thing you can try is adding vinegar to your kalk mix. The acid in the vinegar will help to bring down the pH of the kalk. That's the only thing I've read about solving high pH problems - it's much more common to have problems with low pH than it is to have it too high.

Here's a good article to check out:

http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/june2002/chem.htm

 

[Niko5]

someone told me you could put in baking soda and it would lower the ph slightly at first and then within 24 hours it would buffer it to 8.3. Anyone know if this is true and how much to add? That article talks very shortly about doing that but doesent say how much or how to do it.

 

[Guest]

Assuming your pH is really that high and it's not just a measuring issue, then one thing you can try is adding vinegar to your kalk mix. The acid in the vinegar will help to bring down the pH of the kalk.

I'm not sure about the lowering of the kalk pH but adding vinegar does help. What it does is adds CO2 to the mixture, which helps dissolve the Calcium hydroxide. This way, when you drip it, it is already better dissolved, which means that it will use less CO2 that is dissolved in your tank water , which means your pH will not rise as much because CO2 helps to lower pH.

Also, I would only drip it at night.

You can make a farely cheap buffer using baking soda(sodium bicarbonate) and soda ash(can get from pool supply store). Mix it up in a 6 to 1 ratio (6 parts sodium bicarb to 1 part soda ash). I can't remember the dosage off hand, but if you want I can find it out for you.

HTH

 

[Guest]

You can make a farely cheap buffer using baking soda(sodium bicarbonate) and soda ash(can get from pool supply store). Mix it up in a 6 to 1 ratio (6 parts sodium bicarb to 1 part soda ash). I can't remember the dosage off hand, but if you want I can find it out for you.

Soda Ash is also called Washing Soda (sodium carbonate) and you can make it by baking baking soda. Washing Soda tries to bring the PH to 9.0 and Baking soda tries to bring the tank PH to 8. Thus a 6 - 1 Ratio gives you a PH of 8.16. You can adjust the recipe for any PH between 8 - 9 by changing the ratio if you so desire.

Since my tank maintains a PH of close to 8 I don't worry about the washing soda and add straight baking soda to my tank (it gives the clowns a nice fluffy texture).

Recipe for Baking Baking Soda
Pre-heat oven to 300 Degrees
Spread Baking soda on to a Cookie Sheet
Bake Baking Soda for one hour to remove all moisture

 

[Niko5]

OK so baking baking soda makes a 9ph mixture and striate baking soda makes a 8ph mixture. So ited probably be find for me to just add the baking soda to bring my ph down out of the high range correct?

 

[Guest]

If you add baking soda you will raise alk though too possibly getting you alk and Ca balance out of wack. I think the best thing you could do is put airstones in the water to bubble out some of the dissolved co2 and leave it be for a little while.

 

[Guest]

I think the best thing you could do is put airstones in the water to bubble out some of the dissolved co2 and leave it be for a little while.

That would raise the pH.


Your main goal here is to both lower the pH and increase your buffering capacity which will in turn stabilize your pH, thats why I suggested the 6:1 ratio, which is what many public aquariums throughout the country use.

And yes, baking soda = sodium bicarbonate and soda ash = sodium carbonate.