Ph Crash

[porkchop48]

SO for some unknow reason I had a massive PH crash.
Last saturday night I noticed the fish acting a bit funny. Went to sleep and woke up sunday morning to a cloudy tank all shrimps dead, coral cal dead, and ever one else on their sides gasping for breath. I had 3 hours before I had to be at a reptile show.
Adding a few power heads for some extra circulation and began testing water.
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10
SO i do a 10 gal water change and by the time i get home from the show ever one is looking better. Everything is back to normal
Never thought to check Ph.
Get home from work last night same thing. This time after adding new carbon to all the filters and wrapping power heads in carbon ( would rather have too much than not enough) I decide to check the water again
this time
ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates - barely detectable
PH - not even registering a 7.0
So off to get some buffer. Dosed the tank according to direction to bring up the ph a bit at a time so I dont do Ph shock.
This morning every one is doing fine but now on to my question
I have a few mushrooms ( they have spread I am so happy), some palys, a purple gorgonia and soon to be a kenya tree and some GSP
Being that I went over board on the Carbon do I need to add any kind of trace elements to the water for my corals or test for anything else?

 

[perfectdark]

Whats your alkalinity, magnesium and calcium?
Test before you dose... if you think you need to, make sure you know where you are at before you dose for it. If your pH went that low there is an issue somewhere and finding out what it is, IMO is very important.

 

[porkchop48]

Well I can not answer that question. I have not tested for those ( oh please please dont yell at me)
I will stop on the way home and get the test kits .

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by porkchop48
http:///forum/post/2591739
Well I can not answer that question. I have not tested for those ( oh please please dont yell at me)
I will stop on the way home and get the test kits .
All relate to eachother and when one is that far off, its pretty safe to say that something else is very far off too.
What is your salinity at? and are you measuring it with a hydrometer or a refractometer. Do get test kits for the above and post back with the results. Good Luck.
What else is in your tank? Do you have macro algae like Caulerpa?

 

[porkchop48]

I have cheato in my tank. and some blade caulerpa but the tang keeps them pretty well trimmed. Will that cause things to go that out of wack. I only keep stuff like that in my tank for the tang to graze on.
My salinity is at 1.023 I use a refractormeter for that
I think part of my issue may be my sand. I do not have nearly a good enough clean crew to keep the sand stirred.
I will hopefully pick up the test kits today.

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by porkchop48
http:///forum/post/2591767
I have cheato in my tank. and some blade caulerpa but the tang keeps them pretty well trimmed. Will that cause things to go that out of wack. I only keep stuff like that in my tank for the tang to graze on.
My salinity is at 1.023 I use a refractormeter for that
I think part of my issue may be my sand. I do not have nearly a good enough clean crew to keep the sand stirred.
I will hopefully pick up the test kits today.
I think a macro algae went sexual on you... IMO. That is a very big change in a little time. I dont think its your sand at all if it were holding detritus your tests would indicate traces of trites and trates, but at the very least nitrates.

 

[porkchop48]

Would that

[hr]
up the Ph?

 

[porkchop48]

Sorry would that mess up the ph?
Could that be why my tank is also cloudy?
Any ideas how to fix it if that is the problem?
YOu have been so helpful so far... Thank you very much

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by porkchop48
http:///forum/post/2591803
Sorry would that mess up the ph?YES
Could that be why my tank is also cloudy?YES
Any ideas how to fix it if that is the problem?WATER CHANGES AND GET RID OF THE CAULERPA
YOu have been so helpful so far... Thank you very much
Just note that this is an assumption based on the information available... it is still strongly recomended that you test all of your water perameters.
I dont have experience in this type of algae, but I know right now the best thing you can do is a series of water changes to stabilize your water. IMO every 2 days do a 20% WC change, you dont want to bring your pH up too fast.

 

[porkchop48]

I will still get the other test kits but I am going to do a water change when I get home.
I will still post the results of the test as soon as I get them
Thank you so much

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by porkchop48
http:///forum/post/2591839
I will still get the other test kits but I am going to do a water change when I get home.
I will still post the results of the test as soon as I get them
Thank you so much

No problem I hope that was the cause... good luck.

 

[porkchop48]

well the LFS did not have any of the test I needed. I bought them off of a person on here. My lfs could not get them in till Friday so I am hoping I get the ones from here sooner.
My Ph is back to normal at between 8.2 and 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitartes <5
Fish are looking great and the water is crystal clear again
I will post the rest of the test results as soon as I get them

 

[porkchop48]

Ok calcium is 350ppm
alkalinity is 11
I dont have a magnesium test yet. I am working on it.
How bad are those test results?

 

[tizzo]

Your alkalinity being at 11 looks like your already adding buffer.
As I am reading through this thread, the only questions that I have are...
What is your circulation like?? You said you have the macro algae and where I'm going with my thoughts that helps but...
Carbon dioxide pulls pH levels down, your fish, their waste, among other things puts the co2 in your water. Your macro algae would help to convert it to oxygen, thus reducing the ill affect on your pH.
But what is your light schedule and what do you have in the way of circulation...

 

[porkchop48]

I have two Aqua clear 70 on opposite sides of the tank along with a occilating powerhead in the back of the tank.
I have the output from the cannister filter and the freedom filter both pointing out in the back corner in opposite directions
My lights are on from 8 am until 7 pm
All macros have been pulled from the tank. I had some codium that did not do well and I think may have been dying off causing some of the problem