ph drops i add soda ash it’s fine for a day then crashes again

[cputecch]

hi, i have a 125 gallon saltwater tank with fx6 canister filter i just clean out/ deep clean and after my ammonia spiked, so i added some instant remover to it no i have .25 ammonia, .25 nitrites , 52 nitrates ph 7.6 ish. i’ve been dosing small amounts of soda ash to raise the ph but it crashes within a day again. any help please i’m freaking out. also tanks been up with reverse osmosis water and reef salt for 6 months no ugly phase what’s up with that?????

 

[blaxsun]

How often are you rinsing/cleaning out the media in your canister filter?

 

[Nano_Man]

The tank looks very new there won’t be anything stable
6 month tank it looks like it was set up yesterday but at six months things should be stable. Do you test your ph at the same time each day you know your ph rises and falls through day light and night . What is all your water parameters for your tank Alk ect so other members can help you. For that age of tank there shouldn’t be ammonia or nitrite readings this tank looks to clean for six months imo

 

[Nano_Man]

@Randy Holmes-Farley
Might be able to give you info

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Going to remove the emergency tag. pH 7.6, whether real or test error, is not an emergency.

The nitrate is not that high. The nitrite (if accurate) is interfering and causing a false positive.

Instant Remover means what to you? Stop adding it. The ammonia is likely not real, and if it is, is not high enough to be a big problem.

How are you measuring pH?



What is the alkalinity?

Don't dose soda ash or anything else to boost or maintain pH unless you need alkalinity because they are all alk supplements.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

There are many ways to raise pH, typically involving either consumption of CO2 in the water (growing macroalgae, dosing hydroxide for alk, etc.) or aerating with lower CO2 air (in the room air, a skimmer inlet from outside or a scrubber, etc.)

This has more:

pH and the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION

by Randy Holmes-Farley For many aquarists, pH is not something that they have much experience with aside from their aquarium. For many, pH is almost a black box measurement: something to be considered, but whose physical meaning makes little sense to them. This article will Read more here...

www.reefedition.com

 

[cputecch]

How often are you rinsing/cleaning out the media in your canister filter?

never

 

[cputecch]

The tank looks very new there won’t be anything stable
6 month tank it looks like it was set up yesterday but at six months things should be stable. Do you test your ph at the same time each day you know your ph rises and falls through day light and night . What is all your water parameters for your tank Alk ect so other members can help you. For that age of tank there shouldn’t be ammonia or nitrite readings this tank looks to clean for six months imo

like i said this is crazy, infact i did setup february 3 i used 83 pounds of live rock 43 pounds of live live rock, live sand and paid 2.30 a gallon for water. i don’t have a recent alk test last about a month ago it was good but i do 20 gallon water changes every 2 weeks i get it from someone who cycles the water through his system. i’m at a lose on what to do now. i just keep testing ph every 5 hours then do small doses to keep up with the drop in ph

 

[cputecch]

Going to remove the emergency tag. pH 7.6, whether real or test error, is not an emergency.

The nitrate is not that high. The nitrite (if accurate) is interfering and causing a false positive.

Instant Remover means what to you? Stop adding it. The ammonia is likely not real, and if it is, is not high enough to be a big problem.

How are you measuring pH?



What is the alkalinity?

Don't dose soda ash or anything else to boost or maintain pH unless you need alkalinity because they are all alk supplements.

this is what i mean about instant neutralizer, i use a hanna (pic below) to measure nitrates so i hope that accurate enough…. please explain false positive, i watch a lot of brs and never seen anything about false positives for high nitrates. also i’m lost a frag and if that’s not an emergency then i don’t know what is. also i’m using a reef master test kits (pic below) to all tests beside nitrates and density. i’m not going to stop dosing until i can figure out what’s going on and or my tank doesn’t look healthy anymore.

 

[cputecch]

There are many ways to raise pH, typically involving either consumption of CO2 in the water (growing macroalgae, dosing hydroxide for alk, etc.) or aerating with lower CO2 air (in the room air, a skimmer inlet from outside or a scrubber, etc.)

This has more:

pH and the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION

by Randy Holmes-Farley For many aquarists, pH is not something that they have much experience with aside from their aquarium. For many, pH is almost a black box measurement: something to be considered, but whose physical meaning makes little sense to them. This article will Read more here...

www.reefedition.com

i’ve tried bringing my 2 scrubbers intakes outside and opening a door at night but it only seems to make things worse or not helping. any ideas keep them coming i’ll keep trying-testing everything

 

[Garf]

this is what i mean about instant neutralizer, i use a hanna (pic below) to measure nitrates so i hope that accurate enough…. please explain false positive, i watch a lot of brs and never seen anything about false positives for high nitrates. also i’m lost a frag and if that’s not an emergency then i don’t know what is. also i’m using a reef master test kits (pic below) to all tests beside nitrates and density. i’m not going to stop dosing until i can figure out what’s going on and or my tank doesn’t look healthy anymore.

Never seen that ammonia remover before, maybe a bogus claim, dunno though.

i’ve tried bringing my 2 scrubbers intakes outside and opening a door at night but it only seems to make things worse or not helping. any ideas keep them coming i’ll keep trying-testing everything

you got CO2 scrubbers? Or do you mean skimmers, or both?

 

[Nano_Man]

Ask Randy your questions and he will help you this man knowledge is bang on . If you can understand his answers you’re problem will be solved

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’ll add the emergency tag back since you seem to want it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

like i said this is crazy, infact i did setup february 3 i used 83 pounds of live rock 43 pounds of live live rock, live sand and paid 2.30 a gallon for water. i don’t have a recent alk test last about a month ago it was good but i do 20 gallon water changes every 2 weeks i get it from someone who cycles the water through his system. i’m at a lose on what to do now. i just keep testing ph every 5 hours then do small doses to keep up with the drop

i’ve tried bringing my 2 scrubbers intakes outside and opening a door at night but it only seems to make things worse or not helping. any ideas keep them coming i’ll keep trying-testing everything

I expect the pH is not accurate. The linked article shows how to diagnose this with an aeration test.

 

[blaxsun]

never

Well, this at least explains the high nitrates...

 

[Garf]

i’ve tried bringing my 2 scrubbers intakes outside and opening a door at night but it only seems to make things worse or not helping. any ideas keep them coming i’ll keep trying-testing everything

Wouldn’t surprise me if your salinity is Off. Seems to be a running theme.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

this is what i mean about instant neutralizer, i use a hanna (pic below) to measure nitrates so i hope that accurate enough…. please explain false positive, i watch a lot of brs and never seen anything about false positives for high nitrates. also i’m lost a frag and if that’s not an emergency then i don’t know what is. also i’m using a reef master test kits (pic below) to all tests beside nitrates and density. i’m not going to stop dosing until i can figure out what’s going on and or my tank doesn’t look healthy anymore.

The ammonia is not high enough to be a problem and the neutralizer probably wouldn’t help anyway.

Nitrite acts as a false positive with nitrate kits, showing as uL to 100x the nitrite level as nitrite. But since the nitrite result itself is prone to some error, the nitrate may well be substantial but us not killing corals.

The nitrite is also not any tox concern. At that level or any level up to 100 times that level.

 

[cputecch]

t

hi, i have a 125 gallon saltwater tank with fx6 canister filter i just clean out/ deep clean and after my ammonia spiked, so i added some instant remover to it no i have .25 ammonia, .25 nitrites , 52 nitrates ph 7.6 ish. i’ve been dosing small amounts of soda ash to raise the ph but it crashes within a day again. any help please i’m freaking out. also tanks been up with reverse osmosis water and reef salt for 6 months no ugly phase what’s up with that?????

hank you all for saying my tank looks new

Never seen that ammonia remover before, maybe a bogus claim, dunno though.

you got CO2 scrubbers? Or do you mean skimmers, or both?

i have 2 protein skimmers no co2 but i thought the protein did the same kinda stuff?!?!?

 

[cputecch]

Wouldn’t surprise me if your salinity is Off. Seems to be a running theme.

my refraction test says i’m at 30 on the dot

 

[cputecch]

The ammonia is not high enough to be a problem and the neutralizer probably wouldn’t help anyway.

Nitrite acts as a false positive with nitrate kits, showing as uL to 100x the nitrite level as nitrite. But since the nitrite result itself is prone to some error, the nitrate may well be substantial but us not killing corals.

The nitrite is also not any tox concern. At that level or any level up to 100 times that level.

so your saying wait a week before freaking out. as long as my coral and fish are doing ok now i’ll continue to do what i’m doing now (very little) and wait to see.