thankgod4fish
Member
bumping my thread back up to the top... at least that's the way I understood it 
New hobbyist- need help with pH
- Thread starter thankgod4fish
- Start date
thankgod4fish
Member
You wont believe this.. The water was at a steady 8 dKH for a few days and had finally cleared up. Of course the pH was terribly low but the salt is supposed to mix it to 8.2 or 8.3 from what I understood. I put in the salt and turned the heat up to 81 to ensure it all desolves. Now, 24 hrs later, the water is crystal clear with 16 dKH and 7.8 - 7.9 pH. What gives? It's just salt. The dKH was fine before. I CAN say, though, that the water is too salty... it's at about 1.024 - 1.025. I figured that could possibly be it. I guess I'll top off with a little fresh tonight to bring that down, but can you offer any thoughts so far?
Man, if I can get this right, I'm just dumping the whole thing and buying an RO/DI unit next month. I'll start over then....
TG4F
Man, if I can get this right, I'm just dumping the whole thing and buying an RO/DI unit next month. I'll start over then....
TG4F
mykgillespie
Member
Hey TG4F,
How have you been? Sounds like your still having some trouble. Did you use the TWP this time to fill the tank? If so, you should have had a 0 dKH reading before you added the salt. Also, nothing wrong with your S.G. reading, 1.024 to 1.026 is perfect unless your trying to get rid of parasites. Hope everything works out well for you with your aquarium as I may not be around much longer to hear about your progress, I may be getting activated soon (Marine Corps Reserve) and wont be able to visit here for quite some time. Anyway good luck and keep working on this, it will all pay off when you have a thriving tank full of happy fish.
Later,
Myk.
How have you been? Sounds like your still having some trouble. Did you use the TWP this time to fill the tank? If so, you should have had a 0 dKH reading before you added the salt. Also, nothing wrong with your S.G. reading, 1.024 to 1.026 is perfect unless your trying to get rid of parasites. Hope everything works out well for you with your aquarium as I may not be around much longer to hear about your progress, I may be getting activated soon (Marine Corps Reserve) and wont be able to visit here for quite some time. Anyway good luck and keep working on this, it will all pay off when you have a thriving tank full of happy fish.
Later,
Myk.
thankgod4fish
Member
Whoa, good luck. I dont know if you want to go or not, but like I said.. good luck either way!
Didn't use the TWP, wanted to give the tap one more try since it tests 9 dKH untouched. Anyway, topped off w/more tap and the SG dropped to 1.023, dKH to 12. pH is a little low, but I'll take it slow.. Dont want to add buffer right now. I'm gonna try just letting it sit for a few days and slowly top off and see if the pH goes up.
I'll keep trying!!
Didn't use the TWP, wanted to give the tap one more try since it tests 9 dKH untouched. Anyway, topped off w/more tap and the SG dropped to 1.023, dKH to 12. pH is a little low, but I'll take it slow.. Dont want to add buffer right now. I'm gonna try just letting it sit for a few days and slowly top off and see if the pH goes up.
I'll keep trying!!
mykgillespie
Member
I'm still concerned about that tap water, there has to be something pulling down that pH with the KH reading that you're getting. Try running a poly-pad for a few days, just to see if you get any changes, curiosity. With a KH of 12 under normal conditions, your pH should be more like 8.5 8.6 so the tap must be causing some type of reaction. Either that or something in the tank is causing the problem. Have you tried that substrate test yet? Let me know, I'm not gone quite yet!
thankgod4fish
Member
Actually, haven't tried it yet, but I will!! I'll report back.
I'm not really that worried about the pH too much... when I took a sample to my LFS before I restarted, he tested it @ 8.1 when I was finding 7.8.. I may be reading it wrong? I'll give it a little time. Definitely don't want to start killing everything w/buffer though.
TG4F
I'm not really that worried about the pH too much... when I took a sample to my LFS before I restarted, he tested it @ 8.1 when I was finding 7.8.. I may be reading it wrong? I'll give it a little time. Definitely don't want to start killing everything w/buffer though.
TG4F