Help with Ph and kh requested

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Hi all need a bit of help with my PH and KH and all help will be greatly appreciated

On Sunday I tested the Ph at 13h00 and it read 8.1 then tested again at +/- 20H00 again and it tested 8.47 a bit af a big ph swing.

Dkh tested and the reading 6 am doesing Pure Reef suplements ( kh buffer) but with no luck at getting kh to 8 and keeping it there. I need to get kh up and Ph down a bit and with not such big swings.
 
Dose bicarb daily approx 1.50litres ro to half tsp bicarb. For a week bicarb settles tank at 8.3 if needed increase or decrease dosage over time but do dose
 
Pete -

There are 2 main reasons for pH fluctuating in a marine tank environment:
1) at night-time, when the plants and corals start excreting CO2, instead of excreting O2 - CO2 in water become carbonic acid, which lowers the pH
2) die-off and "rotting" of organic material

No (1) only happens at night-time, and no (2) can happen during day- and night-time.

Check that you don't have some food, or perhaps a fish or any other creature, that have perhaps died.....

The thing is - in normal situations, the dKh, and pH is directly related. The theory is that IF you pH is high, you WILL struggle with the dKh, and vice versa....... The same with the calcium levels....

I do indeed too dose sodium bicarb, but only once a week - on a weekend...... I dose kalkwasser 5 to 6 times a week.....
 
Thanks for the input going to try the bicarb do I have to mix it to r/o or can I take some mix water as I need to lift my SG aswell
 
Hi Pete try bicarb mixed with RO dripped in slowly, it wont have an effect on the PH but raises DKH and should help with the PH swing.
To raise your SG use salt water for your daily top up of evaporated water.
What is your DKH at the moment and what test kits are your using to test both Ph and DKH?
 
Hi Alan my Dkh is on 5-6 tested with the API test kit and the ph is tested with a hand held ph pen (calobrated before test) And should I go on the quantity given above
 
Hi Pete i use reefbuilder(seachem) to raise the kh and reefbuffer to raise the ph it works very well ,the advantage of reedbuilder and reefbuffer is that it is very hard to raise your ph higher than 8,3 so you dont need to worry about over dosing
 
Thanks Imarine was looking at getting reefbuiler where did you get and at what price as nobody in pretoria sells it. I know one off the sponsors was going to sell it but I to replace the filters on the ro unit so never ordered.
 
Other thing Imarine is I am sitting with a Ph of 8.47 - 8.5 at night so need to get that under control
 
Imarine, give Pete, Obi-wan's details, he has all the Seachem products and delivers anywhere :thumbup1:
 
Hi Pete call liyakat ********* and do a water change 50lts to bring your ph down,then dose reefbuilder and reefbuffer you see seachem will tell you how many tsp to use to raise you ph,cal,kh etc it is the best around
 
Sorry guys, just reading through again. Pete i would have those readings double checked it is very unusual to have a high PH with a low DKH, not impossible but very unusual.
 
Thanks Alan did a reading last night again Ph 8.43, Dkh 5-6 , Cal 430 , Mg 1040 so trying to get magnesium up with epson salts first then will try increase Dkh checked the dkh with two diff test kits
 
Okay, just double check that PH reading aswell, personally i am not a big fan of the PH pens as i have had 2 of them in the past and both went faulty after a very short time.
 
Sorry Alan another thing is my Ph in the morning is 8.1 and in the eve it is btween 8.43 and 8.5 a bit of a big swing.,.
 
Yeah that is a fairly large swing, bringing your DKH up to the 7 or 8 mark should reduce that.
 
i have just recently got a deltec calcium recator(2nd hand) with a PH controller and the Ph stays at around 6,5 on the reading.
is thats correct? pls let me kno?
 
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