bang guy
Moderator
Originally Posted by The reef
protine skimmer that removes about 2 cups of the waist watter.
What does this mean? I don't know what protine or watter is and what does it have to do with your waist?
If Carbonate is successful in raising your PH then your problem is rotting detritus, probably due to insufficient waterflow or a mechanical filter that needs to be cleaned more often.
Adding alkalinity will mask that problem for a few months. After that your tank will have an "unexpected" ammonia spike.
You are on the wrong track. Alkalinity can only mask a PH problem for so long before a worse problem comes along.
How high are you willing to raise your ALK?? 12dKH? 14dKH? 16?
It's so much better to address the problem than to just paint over it.
Just a little chemistry for you:
CO3-- ( carbonate) uses H+ (acid) to convert to Bicarbonate (HCO3-). This happens when something is rotting in your tank and producing acid).
If you don't get rid of the rotting material and decide to add Carbonate instead then the Bicarbonate will convert to carbonic acid (H2CO3).
So what happens is you add carbonate, PH rises then falls. So, you add more carbonate, PH rises then falls. So, you add yet more carbonate. Ph rises and holds steady for a while. You think "problem solved"! Then PH unexpectedly drops through the basement and your animals die. You look for all kinds of reasons but you neglect to point the finger at yourself for sweeping the problem under the rug with Carbonate instead of fixing the problem by getting rid of the rotting material.
protine skimmer that removes about 2 cups of the waist watter.
What does this mean? I don't know what protine or watter is and what does it have to do with your waist?
If Carbonate is successful in raising your PH then your problem is rotting detritus, probably due to insufficient waterflow or a mechanical filter that needs to be cleaned more often.
Adding alkalinity will mask that problem for a few months. After that your tank will have an "unexpected" ammonia spike.
You are on the wrong track. Alkalinity can only mask a PH problem for so long before a worse problem comes along.
How high are you willing to raise your ALK?? 12dKH? 14dKH? 16?
It's so much better to address the problem than to just paint over it.
Just a little chemistry for you:
CO3-- ( carbonate) uses H+ (acid) to convert to Bicarbonate (HCO3-). This happens when something is rotting in your tank and producing acid).
If you don't get rid of the rotting material and decide to add Carbonate instead then the Bicarbonate will convert to carbonic acid (H2CO3).
So what happens is you add carbonate, PH rises then falls. So, you add more carbonate, PH rises then falls. So, you add yet more carbonate. Ph rises and holds steady for a while. You think "problem solved"! Then PH unexpectedly drops through the basement and your animals die. You look for all kinds of reasons but you neglect to point the finger at yourself for sweeping the problem under the rug with Carbonate instead of fixing the problem by getting rid of the rotting material.
