Need some advice

[coblat blue]

I have a 24 gallon AquaPod reef tank , the top is open no glass. SunPod 70w metal halide lighting which has been up and running since 2004. I have about 30 pounds of live rock and about 1 inch of sand on the bottom . Currently I have no fish in it due to a recent outbreak of Brooklynella so it will be approx 6 weeks until I reintroduce any fish . The live stock in the tank are numerous snail nitrite, turbo snails, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 brittle star. I have mushroom corals, star polyps, frogspawn, 1 small Derasa Clam. Filtration is a in tank media basket with elite chemipure, puregin, filter floss, running three Korela power heads inside the tank and one larger power head that pulls water from the tank resevoir. My latest readings are as follows ph 7.8, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 0.ppm, calcium 520, phosphate 0.0ppm. Last night I added 1 teaspoon of Kent Marine Supperbuffer-dkh mixed in 1 cup of ro water to start raising the ph . I tested the water tonight just for ph and it was 7.9 so I again added 1 teaspoon of the same product but made the mistake of using 1 cup of my tank water instead of ro water. Should I worry or should I just wait and see what the ph is tomorrow night ?

 

[bang guy]

Using just a cup of tank water isn't going to have much effect. With the high concentration of Carbonate in the cup it would strip out all of the Calcium from the water in the cup. Since it was only a cup of water the effect is tiny.

You need to do another test - Alkalinity. It's risky dosing alkalinity without testing the results. Alkalinity is very very important to your Clam and corals so you need to know what it is and keep it at a good level.

If your Alkalinity turns out to be low (probably) I would suggest adding the Alkalinity booster to your topoff water. That way you can gradually replenish the Carbonates every time you topoff your water.

Your Calcium level is pretty high. It can be maintained at 520ppm but not easily. I would suggest letting it drop naturally to the mid-400's.

 

[snakeblitz33]

pH buffers do not fix pH.

Don't add a buffer unless you know what your alkalinity is.

pH usually suffers when your tank has a lot of organics built up in it - nitrates, phosphates, muck, yuck, detritus and other gunk. So, start by removing as much of it as you can safely out of your system by stirring a little up and doing a water change and replacing one of your filters. Doing regular 30% water changes weekly will get your system back on track, as long as you are removing the solid waste from your system at the same time.

Another good idea is to add a powerhead that blows across the top of your water - not up at it, but across it. It will increase gas exchange which will let CO2 off gas and your pH will increase.