Need help with PH?

[tailgate1979]

I can not get my ph to keep from going way up to way down. I have started a kalw drip for a week now. I know the ph will rise with lights on and drop with the lights off, but I seem like Im not doing something right. I mix my drip one gal of fresh ro water to 1 tsp. of kalw. and I do have it on a pretty fast drip. Im trying to get it steady around 8.6 when the lights are on to help with my dino alge. Any questions or comments on what could leed me on how to fix the problem.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Could you describe in detail the method you use for mixing and dosing your tank with kalkwasser?
How old are your test kits?
How large is your aquarium and estimate the total volume?
Dripping kalk will definitely increase your pH, but you might crash your tank if you do it incorrectly. Aiming for an impossibly high 8.6 constant pH will crash your tank quicker than anything.
There are better methods of dealing with dinoflagellates - such as siphoning them out at every water change, cleaning your substrate, removing and treating the afflicted areas, using chemical filtration like phosban in a phosphate reactor. A refugium lit 16 hours a day while your display tank lights are out will help balance pH and remove nutrients from the tank which is causing dinoflagellates.

 

[tailgate1979]

My test kits are new. I have a 75gal with a 30gal sump, working on a alge scrubber. Sump comes on at 10pm and turns off at 1230pm. Im running phosgaurd that I have changend every 3 days with new and change my carbon. I have tried everything that I know to get rid of this crap im my tank, lights off for a week, sucking it out, scrubbing the rocks, water changes bout everyother day with ro water, put all new sand in tank, cover the tank were no light would get in at all, not feed in a month which I dont have nothing in it left but a few crabs, if you ask im sure I have tried it but please do ask. As far as dosing I got my kalkwasser mixed in a gallon jug with a lid on it that I have silconed air line tube after I drilled a hole in it, ran the line to a air regulater that lets it slowly drip or fast drip in the sump. Im bout to go to walmart and get some bleach and pour it in.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Are you letting your kalkwasser settle for about two to six hours before adding it to your tank? You should only be dosing the clear water in between the top film and the bottom muck.
If you don't have a skimmer, get one. An algae scrubber will definitely help. Switch your salt mix to something like Instant Ocean regular and do a few large water changes with it and then quit doing water changes for a long, long time.
It sounds like you have non-photosynthetic dinoflagellates since you have blacked out the tank for a month to no avail. In that case, starve it for nutrients with an algae scrubber - and by not doing water changes.

 

[tailgate1979]

No im not letting the kalk sit for a period of time, didnt know I needed to. I have a skimmer bout it dont really pull nothing out no matter how I adjust it, I havent done a water change in about two weeks the last time I was going to do a water change I noticed I belive diatomes all on my glass but there gone now. I use instant ocean salt. How does it feed it when you do water changes?

 

[snakeblitz33]

excess minerals and trace elements in the new salt water have been known to feed dino.
You absolutely need to let the kalkwasser settle for a minimum of two hours. Preferably until the mixture settles out the muck at the bottom with the crust on the top and the clear in the middle. You only want to drip in the clear liquid inside your tank - at a rate no faster then your evaporation rate.
Get that skimmer working efficiently or get a new one. Having one running that doesn't work is just wasting electricity. Look into an Octopus skimmer. They also have one that hangs on the back for a 75g aquarium. Look in to it... You would be happy with it, in my opinion.

 

[tailgate1979]

I have been wanting to get a new ski,,er and MH lights for the tank.