pH Still not right

[reefeel]

I got my new pinpoint pH moniter for X-mas and it agrees with my drip tests that my pH is only 7.9 in the day and 7.8 at night. My alkalinity is fine, my general hardness is fine, salinity, no ammiona or nitrites, and 15 nitrates. I have Arag-Alive Pacific Black Sand, use Supper Buffer dKH, and tried Pro Super buffer dKH in liquid form, a airstone to increase oxygen, and I have 2 Chemi-Pures in my filtration. All of these are supposed to have it at least at 8.0. Any ideas of what I should do?

 

[tony detroit]

You could start dripping kalk.
Do you run a skimmer?

 

[reefeel]

Yes I got a new one for X-mas a AquaC Remora.

 

[reefcrzy]

Do you have any liverock? I notice you are not using a calciferous sand and having calcium abundant in the aquarium greatly buffers your alkalinity.

 

[bang guy]

My guess is that you're adding alkalinity but no calcium... if that's true then that's your problem.
What are your Alk & Calcium levels?

 

[reefeel]

My alkalinity is 120 and my calcium is at least 600 I got up to 30 drops and still no color change.

 

[bang guy]

Where's the Calcium coming from?
ALK of 120ppm indicates a precipitation even has already occured. In my opinion something is wrong with one or more of the following:
Your Ca test kit
Your dosing schedule
or your Salt mix.

 

[reefeel]

My salt is Oceanic and my dosing schedule is once a week.

 

[bang guy]

I still can't figure out where the Calcium is coming from.

 

[reefeel]

My sand is sopposed to have tons of calcium in it. My pH now has gone up a bit to 8.0 during the day and 7.9 at night.

 

[bang guy]

Your sand is Calcium carbonate and won't add Calcium unless your PH gets really low.
Do you test your new saltwater before doing a water change? What's the ALK & Calcium there? You really need to find out where the Calcium is coming from, it's not the sand. Are you using RO water?
The high Calcium is supressing your ALK in my opinion so you need to lower your Calcium.

 

[reefeel]

I checked my tap water to see if it is high there but it only reached 60ppm and I think that may be taken out by my deionizer. The first time this appeared is when I dosed too much kalkawasser in my water holding tank under my main tank to let water sit for a week. I later cleaned the entire mixing tank out so is it possible that their is calcium deposites stuck to the glass- the glass is all cloudy but not the water. The other possiblity is I also use Essential Elements. Thanks for the help>:joy:

 

[reefeel]

Ohh and I can never get my pH higher then 7.8 in my mixing tank but it manages to come up in the main tank.

 

[reefeel]

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[lion_crazz]

well, I do know that Oceanic has very poor buffering capabilities.
I also would think that the high calcium level is affecting the alk. somehow too.