Not Again what the heck

porkchop48

porkchop48

Member
SO I am sitting there enjoying my peanut butter and sugar sandwich and I look over and notice my tank is a bit cloudy.
I start looking a bit more and notice every one is breathign heavy. Out come the test kits
Ammonia 0
PH 8.2
Alkalinity 11 meq
Nitrites 0
Nitrates <5
asny suggestions on what is going on
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Have you don't any maintenance cleaning lately? It may be a bacterial bloom. Do a water change with well aged water, and check all of your equipment.
 
porkchop48

porkchop48

Member
I have the sea chem test and I am pretty sure it is 11 meq.
Which I am seeing is bad?
What would cause that?
How do I fix that?
I have been doing regular 10 gal water changes once a week some time more. I had a massive ph crash about 2 weeks ago and again a week ago
I have two power heads going in opposite corners of the tank along with a cannister filter and a filter called the freedom filter.
 
porkchop48

porkchop48

Member
Since I started this post hubby has added a hose to the one power head, putting more oxygen bubbbles in the water and now every one is breathing normals and swimming around like nothing in wrong.
Once again
What the heck?????
 
porkchop48

porkchop48

Member
I did about a week ago because i had a ph crash. ( which I do believe was cause by macros going asexual) I was using instant Ocean Sea buffer.
How do I fix this?
I just did a water change sunday after noon. The extra oxygen seems to be helping. Do I need to do another water change?
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
Are any of your power heads pointing at the surface. Maybe try that for more surface movement
 
porkchop48

porkchop48

Member
both of them move the water a good bit.
I can move one and agitate the surface more if need be, What does that do?
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
I would suggest continuing to do water changes over the next few days to stabilize water chemistry, which apparently is your problem here. Leave out any added buffers. Be sure your water has been well mixed, using a pump, for 2 days before adding it to display.
What was your pH and what is it now?
 
porkchop48

porkchop48

Member
My ph is now 8.2
when I had the ph crash a few weeks ago it was below 7.0 not even registering on the chart.
The last two water changes I did I did not use the buffer because I bought new salt and it was testing at 8.2 after mixing for 24-48 hours. So I figured I did not need to add the buffer any more.
I dont understand why the fish were gasping but the corals and the inverts all looked perfectly fine.
I am going to do another 10 gal change today after work and then another on thursday.
 
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