High pH! What do i do?

[Jonathan lee]

I have a Hanna PH checker and it did the same thing, it said my PH was in the 9's and some of my corals were closed up too. Your PH is most likely high, but not at 9.5 like others were saying. I re-calibrated mine a couple of times as it sat dry for a while and it can mess with the bulb as they have to be hydrated. Did you just get this PH checker or did you sit it for a while like I did with mine? Also to drop PH make sure you are mixing your water for water changes as long as it says on the box. This will help stabilize the PH in your mixed water therefore dropping the PH in your tank. I would definitley recommend a water-change as soon as possible to bring it down though.

My ph checker is pretty old like 3-4 years old i think. Sat dry for awhile cause honestly i didnt bother checking ph for a year or so until now when i see my corals bot opening up all the way. I just randomly checked and bam 9.5 haha. I left work on emergency drove 50 mins to get Pinpoint 7.000 calibration liquid to check my checker and turns out yea it was reading 8.1 or something in the calibration liquid. I tuned it to 7.0 and rinsed it off then tested the tank again and got 8.6. But thats after a 25% water change and distilled vinegar.

 

[Jonathan lee]

Same salt I use.. No reason it would give you a major ph bump via alkalinity due to being between 8.5-9dkh for newly mixed salt.

My suggestion is to never make changes due to pH reading alone. I always do a full suite of tests before making any radical changes (alk, ca, mg, no3, po4, temp, salinity).

I tested my nitrates and phosphate and got 0 and 0.3. Salinity 1.026 temp 26 degrees celcius. I do not have a calcium and magnesium test kit. Maybe i should get them.....

 

[Ariel V Rosa]

The vinegar is effectively a carbon dose, I would not bother doing anything to counteract it in the meantime as it will be consumed in the next 24 hours then things will go back to where they were altou gu h with tons of skimmate. Just make sure you keep the are ventilated.

 

[Jonathan lee]

The vinegar is effextuvle a carbon dose, I would bother doing anything to counteract it in thw mean time as it will be consumed in the next 24 hours then things will go back to where they were altou gu h with tons of skimmate. Just make sure you keep the are ventilated.

If it spikes again tomorrow like above 9(touch wood), what can and should i do to bring it back down to 8.2? Tbh ive never had my ph go above 8.4 in this tank. I check maybe once every few months so maybe i dont notice but everytime i check i get 8.3-8.4. Im gonna guess my ph has been above 9 for 3 weeks now as the last time i checked the ph was 3 weeks ago and it was 8.4.

 

[jda]

It isn't real. Get a better checker or just ignore it. Unless you are dosing something, then it is not at 9.

Muratic Acid is safe to lower pH. If you can handle it safely, then it is safe on all inhabitants without adding in organic carbon (vinegar) which can cause other issues. Just a drop can work to lower the pH pretty well. If you are sloppy and cannot handle kalk or other noxious chemicals, then Muratic Acid is not for you.

 

[Ariel V Rosa]

If it spikes again tomorrow like above 9(touch wood), what can and should i do to bring it back down to 8.2? Tbh ive never had my ph go above 8.4 in this tank. I check maybe once every few months so maybe i don't notice but everytime i check i get 8.3-8.4. Im gonna guess my ph has been above 9 for 3 weeks now as the last time i checked the ph was 3 weeks ago and it was 8.4.

You should be fine with spikes, PH is never going to be a static number, there is always something in and around the tank that will cause it to change. Generally PH going low is the battle and rarely unless you have dosed something does PH just into the high end of things. 8.6 is not real cause for alarm either as it can happen for short runs during photo period time. I would much rather you keep track of an average over 24 hours and base your changes on that average.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1331650

 

[emilios_reeftank]

Just like Ariel V Rosa pointed out the PH will swing during the day and now that you know it is 8.6 nothing to really to worry about. I would just do a water-change to lower it if you really wanted too.

You should be fine with spikes, PH is never going to be a static number, there is always something in and around the tank that will cause it to change. Generally PH going low is the battle and rarely unless you have dosed something does PH just into the high end of things. 8.6 is not real cause for alarm either as it can happen for short runs during photo period time. I would much rather you keep track of an average over 24 hours and base your changes on that average.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1331650

 

[Pete Horwath]

People get bad batches of salts sometimes. I’d make a batch of new from that bucket and test it.

 

[Jonathan lee]

It isn't real. Get a better checker or just ignore it. Unless you are dosing something, then it is not at 9.

Muratic Acid is safe to lower pH. If you can handle it safely, then it is safe on all inhabitants without adding in organic carbon (vinegar) which can cause other issues. Just a drop can work to lower the pH pretty well. If you are sloppy and cannot handle kalk or other noxious chemicals, then Muratic Acid is not for you.

I calibrated my checker. This morning i tested my ph and got 8.3. Last night it was 8.6.

 

[Jonathan lee]

People get bad batches of salts sometimes. I’d make a batch of new from that bucket and test it.

I tested a new batch and got a ph of 8.6. It says it mixes to a ph of 8.3 on the tub. This reading was after i calibrated the checker.

 

[Jonathan lee]

Just like Ariel V Rosa pointed out the PH will swing during the day and now that you know it is 8.6 nothing to really to worry about. I would just do a water-change to lower it if you really wanted too.

Water change was done. Tomorrow or the day after i will do another small water change. My corals and bta are finally opening up again and bubbles are forming on the bta once again after my ph was brought down. My bta looked like a ball of angel hair noodles yesterday. Its finally filling up once again

 

[Gerry1563]

I suggest you check your alkalinity. As in my experience alkalinity affects PH. Higher the alkalinity higher the PH.