- Joined
- Dec 6, 2018
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- 118
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I know this has been discussed to the ends of the earth, and it seems simple to get PH under control. But Ive been battling High PH. My PH would stay around 8.2 to 8.4 for long periods, months. Then it starts climbing. I do not have a way do get co2 into the water. I have been dosing vinegar to get it down but it goes right back up by the next day, sometimes faster. Right now my PH is 9.0+ .
Also I am dosing BRS 2 part and was using soda ash for alk. I found that was probably the issue with rising PH so I switched it to sodium bicarbonate just over a week ago. I do think this was the issue but now Im fighting to get the ph down again.
Its a 75g mixed reef. Fuge with Chato thats doing great and a skimmer. I also started running a GFO reactor to control some green algae I was having an issue with. I can does it with 50 to 70ml of vinegar and it drops the PH to about 8.7 to 8.8 . By the end of the day or next morning, the PH is back up so I dose again. It just not coming down and staying down. I do a 10gal water change every weekend.
Coral info and what they are doing. Lighting is a Reefbreeders 48" Photon V2. Still messing with getting PAR just right but it ranges from low 100 to about 260 depending on location. Corals are placed where they should be based on requirements. I will post a pic of the tank with all par levels shown.
Green birdsnest doing great.
Orange digi is all bleached with decent polyp extension and shows green where it is growing. Just no base color.
2 monti caps doing great.
1 Acro has good ( not great ) color and mid range polyp ext.
1 Acro has good color and no polyp ext.
1 indonesia sps has browned out some and should be dark purple, no polyp ext.
Shrooms and Ricordia are doing great.
Zoas are doing well. Some are stretching out which says they need more light. Ill move them eventually. Some are perfect. And the worst is the Rainbow incinerators. I bought it with 2 heads, less than a year later I had 7 heads. Then they started shrinking and melting. Lost 2 polyps. Ive been moving them trying to find the right light and have been able to keep the 5 polyps but they arent as big as they should be and arent really too happy.
Last weekends parameters are here. I will test it all again this weekend. I only check Ca and dkh every couple of days to make sure the dosing is correct. Ive been trying to get the dosing correct and it seems to be right now.
PH was 8.8 and now is 9.0
Ca 410
Alk was 9.0 and now its 8.4
Ammonia .15 I think this kicked up due to some different coral feeding I was doing. Normally its 0
Nitrite .01 due to feeding and is normally 0
Nitrate estimated .5 normally its about .2
Mag is always over the chart 1600+ , I never dose it and it never comes down.
Iodine .07 This text is a red sea and it states it should take about 5 minutes to read correct. Mine always reacts instantly. If I let it sit for 5 minutes, it shows low levels.
Potassium less than 320 . I have ordered a supplement from Brightwell that will be here today.
Phosphate .05 tested with a Hanna
SG 1.26 and is normally 1.25
Temp 77-80 using 2 temperate mechanical thermometers.
I know this is a lot of info in one post. So if you have advise on PH, Lighting, corals etc please let me know. Im not new and had a 180g many years ago that did pretty well but Ive never had a perfect system. There are always some type of issue I am fighting. Im no chemist nor reef expert. So I do seek help when it gets to a point that I cant figure it out on my own with some research. So i thank you guys in advance.
The pics here is when i first got the tank going. I will post other pics that were taken a week ago. Most pics need to be resized and wouldnt load. But here are a few.
![20190107_180222.jpg 20190107_180222.jpg](https://www.reef2reef.com/data/attachments/1159/1159861-63fae3fa91ecd77b6f3aad8135fb7b10.jpg)
Also I am dosing BRS 2 part and was using soda ash for alk. I found that was probably the issue with rising PH so I switched it to sodium bicarbonate just over a week ago. I do think this was the issue but now Im fighting to get the ph down again.
Its a 75g mixed reef. Fuge with Chato thats doing great and a skimmer. I also started running a GFO reactor to control some green algae I was having an issue with. I can does it with 50 to 70ml of vinegar and it drops the PH to about 8.7 to 8.8 . By the end of the day or next morning, the PH is back up so I dose again. It just not coming down and staying down. I do a 10gal water change every weekend.
Coral info and what they are doing. Lighting is a Reefbreeders 48" Photon V2. Still messing with getting PAR just right but it ranges from low 100 to about 260 depending on location. Corals are placed where they should be based on requirements. I will post a pic of the tank with all par levels shown.
Green birdsnest doing great.
Orange digi is all bleached with decent polyp extension and shows green where it is growing. Just no base color.
2 monti caps doing great.
1 Acro has good ( not great ) color and mid range polyp ext.
1 Acro has good color and no polyp ext.
1 indonesia sps has browned out some and should be dark purple, no polyp ext.
Shrooms and Ricordia are doing great.
Zoas are doing well. Some are stretching out which says they need more light. Ill move them eventually. Some are perfect. And the worst is the Rainbow incinerators. I bought it with 2 heads, less than a year later I had 7 heads. Then they started shrinking and melting. Lost 2 polyps. Ive been moving them trying to find the right light and have been able to keep the 5 polyps but they arent as big as they should be and arent really too happy.
Last weekends parameters are here. I will test it all again this weekend. I only check Ca and dkh every couple of days to make sure the dosing is correct. Ive been trying to get the dosing correct and it seems to be right now.
PH was 8.8 and now is 9.0
Ca 410
Alk was 9.0 and now its 8.4
Ammonia .15 I think this kicked up due to some different coral feeding I was doing. Normally its 0
Nitrite .01 due to feeding and is normally 0
Nitrate estimated .5 normally its about .2
Mag is always over the chart 1600+ , I never dose it and it never comes down.
Iodine .07 This text is a red sea and it states it should take about 5 minutes to read correct. Mine always reacts instantly. If I let it sit for 5 minutes, it shows low levels.
Potassium less than 320 . I have ordered a supplement from Brightwell that will be here today.
Phosphate .05 tested with a Hanna
SG 1.26 and is normally 1.25
Temp 77-80 using 2 temperate mechanical thermometers.
I know this is a lot of info in one post. So if you have advise on PH, Lighting, corals etc please let me know. Im not new and had a 180g many years ago that did pretty well but Ive never had a perfect system. There are always some type of issue I am fighting. Im no chemist nor reef expert. So I do seek help when it gets to a point that I cant figure it out on my own with some research. So i thank you guys in advance.
The pics here is when i first got the tank going. I will post other pics that were taken a week ago. Most pics need to be resized and wouldnt load. But here are a few.
![20181219_071312.jpg 20181219_071312.jpg](https://www.reef2reef.com/data/attachments/1159/1159858-1fdadc7ddf0bb3e605e1485287946443.jpg)
![20181219_080413.jpg 20181219_080413.jpg](https://www.reef2reef.com/data/attachments/1159/1159859-b0f2b1ec4a8fb6092938a237b4833027.jpg)
![20181219_080427.jpg 20181219_080427.jpg](https://www.reef2reef.com/data/attachments/1159/1159860-69e137be414e51fb606b5d6d971e5f5c.jpg)
![20190107_180222.jpg 20190107_180222.jpg](https://www.reef2reef.com/data/attachments/1159/1159861-63fae3fa91ecd77b6f3aad8135fb7b10.jpg)