About two months ago, my wife mistakenly added 5 gallons of saturated Kalkwasser directly to the aquarium, liquid as well as the remaining slurry, since I was gone and the return pump was sucking air & freaking out the fish.
Prior to this I was using a low strength solution (1tbsp per 5 gallons) of Kalk to my ATO going through about 15 gallons of top off solution per week.
I’ve since stopped adding Kalk to my ATO water hoping the pH & Alk would drop then stabilize. The Alk was 10.2 prior to this Kalk fiasco. It’s now 11.4
Within the last month, the pH has been high 8.6+ with the highest reading of 8.71. I wasn’t concerned with the rising pH until I starting having polyp bailout on several euphyllia as well as a Duncan.
All below values are tested with Hanna checkers except magnesium (Aquaforest) or calibrated Hanna pH & salinity meters:
Alk-11.4
Ca-443
Mg-1470
NO3-17
PO4-0.02
Salinity-1.025
I’ve been adding 60ml acetic acid three times per day (9am, 3pm, & 9pm) but when I stop for a day, the pH rises back up to mid 8.6 again.
Tank is a Cade 1800, 171g, 35g sump volume, two Radion XR30s, no skimmer but a large refugium full of Chaeto & Pom Pom with a Kessil H80 running opposite the tank lighting schedule. Tank Lights are on 12 hours a day with a 2hr ramp up & 2hr ramp down. About a dozen small fish, mostly LPS & softies so minimal biological load. I have the Cade net top and pretty good surface aeration with the wave makers and return pump.
The refugium keeps up with waste too well (I’ve nearly bottomed out NO3 & PO4 several times but add food grade KNO3 & KH2PO4 when needed) and I’m debating cutting back on the fuge lighting so I can stop dosing the KNO3 & KH2PO4.
Do I continue dosing the acetic acid or should I start aeration to lower the pH? I suppose I could do a water change. I’m using Brightwell’s Neo Marine which should help lower the Alk & pH a bit or should I not worry about the pH & polyp bailout?
I’m mostly concerned with the polyp bailout at this point.
Prior to this I was using a low strength solution (1tbsp per 5 gallons) of Kalk to my ATO going through about 15 gallons of top off solution per week.
I’ve since stopped adding Kalk to my ATO water hoping the pH & Alk would drop then stabilize. The Alk was 10.2 prior to this Kalk fiasco. It’s now 11.4
Within the last month, the pH has been high 8.6+ with the highest reading of 8.71. I wasn’t concerned with the rising pH until I starting having polyp bailout on several euphyllia as well as a Duncan.
All below values are tested with Hanna checkers except magnesium (Aquaforest) or calibrated Hanna pH & salinity meters:
Alk-11.4
Ca-443
Mg-1470
NO3-17
PO4-0.02
Salinity-1.025
I’ve been adding 60ml acetic acid three times per day (9am, 3pm, & 9pm) but when I stop for a day, the pH rises back up to mid 8.6 again.
Tank is a Cade 1800, 171g, 35g sump volume, two Radion XR30s, no skimmer but a large refugium full of Chaeto & Pom Pom with a Kessil H80 running opposite the tank lighting schedule. Tank Lights are on 12 hours a day with a 2hr ramp up & 2hr ramp down. About a dozen small fish, mostly LPS & softies so minimal biological load. I have the Cade net top and pretty good surface aeration with the wave makers and return pump.
The refugium keeps up with waste too well (I’ve nearly bottomed out NO3 & PO4 several times but add food grade KNO3 & KH2PO4 when needed) and I’m debating cutting back on the fuge lighting so I can stop dosing the KNO3 & KH2PO4.
Do I continue dosing the acetic acid or should I start aeration to lower the pH? I suppose I could do a water change. I’m using Brightwell’s Neo Marine which should help lower the Alk & pH a bit or should I not worry about the pH & polyp bailout?
I’m mostly concerned with the polyp bailout at this point.