Pls help! Emergency! Is this good lfs advice reg. alk & ph

kilofey

kilofey

Member
My fish havent been looking so good lately, so I assumed they were sick. I brought back one fish (cause thats the only one I could catch atm)
They tested my water & said my alk & ph were too high. ammonia 0. Nitrite 0. Nitrate 15. I thought my ph was about 8.4ish when I tested at home, but maybe I didnt do the test right or something. I didnt know about alk cause I didnt have a test for it.
I have well water, I make my own ro/di water, I do use carbon, and I use instant ocean reef crystals... They told me to downgrade my salt to regular instant ocean, and put a ton of new carbon in the tank. They said to do a 30%wc today with instant ocean and 4 days later do another 30%wc & then I can use reef ceystals again.
Was this good advice? I need to bring my alk and ph down.
I dont think my fish are diseased, but they are listless & have what looks like burn marks on them and dont want to eat. The lfs was nice enough to let me keep my clown at their store until problem is fixed. As for my fire fish and royal gramma... The firefish is prolly dead cause I havent seen him in like 4 days and my rg is just hard to catch
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kilofey http:///forum/thread/387065/pls-help-emergency-is-this-good-lfs-advice-reg-alk-ph#post_3402890
My fish havent been looking so good lately, so I assumed they were sick. I brought back one fish (cause thats the only one I could catch atm)
They tested my water & said my alk & ph were too high. ammonia 0. Nitrite 0. Nitrate 15. I thought my ph was about 8.4ish when I tested at home, but maybe I didnt do the test right or something. I didnt know about alk cause I didnt have a test for it.
I have well water, I make my own ro/di water, I do use carbon, and I use instant ocean reef crystals... They told me to downgrade my salt to regular instant ocean, and put a ton of new carbon in the tank. They said to do a 30%wc today with instant ocean and 4 days later do another 30%wc & then I can use reef ceystals again.
Was this good advice? I need to bring my alk and ph down.
I dont think my fish are diseased, but they are listless & have what looks like burn marks on them and dont want to eat. The lfs was nice enough to let me keep my clown at their store until problem is fixed. As for my fire fish and royal gramma... The firefish is prolly dead cause I havent seen him in like 4 days and my rg is just hard to catch
I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles...the advice is fine but I don't think you eed a different salt mix. Carbon and water changes are a very good idea. If you have a dead fish you must find it because it will cause an ammonia spike and that will kill your RG and everything else.
Remove the rock until you find it.
First and foremost you need test kits you can trust. What brand of test kits are you using?
 
kilofey

kilofey

Member
I use api liquid kit. I also bought the kh test today so I can monitor it.
I was kindof skeptical about the salt as well, but I bought it anyway cause what he said did make sense... At least it seemed logical when he was explaining it. He said reef crystals has a bunch of stuff that could make your kh rise *blah blah blah* didnt understand the rest... He basically said u need to get that stuff out of there, so just do 2 waterchanges with instant ocean, then you can continue with reef crystals... I figure it wont hurt...
What is the cause of high kh and high ph. What do they do and what levels are "normal" I think ph is like 8.4 right? But what makes it go up? And I dont really understand the kh test, he just said keep putting drops until it turns yellow. 10-13 drops is normal... But is it a bright yellow or is it the drop that changes it from not blue, cause its still kind of a funky yellow
 
S

saxman

Guest
What's "too high"? If they tested your water, you should have some numbers.
To be honest, RC isn't all that different from IO, and I have a hard time believing it sent your pH into a tailspin. Are you dosing with anything else?
 
kilofey

kilofey

Member

What's "too high"? If they tested your water, you should have some numbers.

To be honest, RC isn't all that different from IO, and I have a hard time believing it sent your pH into a tailspin. Are you dosing with anything else?
They put like 20 ish drops in the test tube before it turned yellow. He said safe range for kh is ~10-13 drops.
I tested my ph and it was 8.4, maybe a little more, but when he tested it was higher
 
S

saxman

Guest
If your pH and alk are out of whack, it may be due to an improper Mg level. Ca, alk, and Mg are all inter-related, which also affect your pH.
I'd get numbers for all of these, and see where you are, and from that, it's easier to figure out how to handle the problem, once you know exactly what it is.
 
kilofey

kilofey

Member
Source water test results (with salt)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ph 7.9
Kh took 17 drops to make it turn yellow. Lfs said 10-13 is safe
current tank water test results
ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15-20
Ph 8.4 (lfs guy MUST have done the test wrong, my kit is brand new and matches tge reading of my older kit)
Kh same reading as source water 17 drops of test liquid
does a ro/di unit remove kh? I bought my system used, so Im not sure how old the filters are, could that be the issue? Clearly the kh problem is in my water, my tank is not creating the issue... So what do I do??? Is there a product that cancels out kh?
 
kilofey

kilofey

Member
Oh good god. I tested my regular ro/di water for kh & its 11, but as soon as I add instant ocean (.024 sg), it shoots through the roof (17). What the F is going on!?! Ive tested the water more than a few times to make sure I was doing it right.
 
luvmyreef

luvmyreef

Active Member
You stated that you bought your ro/di unit used. I would suggest that you change out all filters and the membrane. Then, you can set a schedule for the changes. For ex. I change my carbon and micron every 3 months, and my membrane and mixed bed resin yearly. You can buy them for a reasonable price if you look around online. The way I look at it is that we have too much invested into our tanks to neglect the fact that a couple bad water changes could kill alot of our stuff in our systems...so why risk it.....
 
travelerjp98

travelerjp98

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kilofey http:///forum/thread/387065/pls-help-emergency-is-this-good-lfs-advice-reg-alk-ph#post_3403372
Oh good god. I tested my regular ro/di water for kh & its 11, but as soon as I add instant ocean (.024 sg), it shoots through the roof (17). What the F is going on!?! Ive tested the water more than a few times to make sure I was doing it right.
i don't know what could be the problem, and I don't think anyone else does either. If I were you, I would start over agian or something. Sorry to say that.
 
luvmyreef

luvmyreef

Active Member
I disagree. I would def. change the filters, or even buy RO/DI water from somewhere else, before giving up and starting over.
 
luvmyreef

luvmyreef

Active Member
Well, if the problem is not bad test kits, old filters and membrane, maybe its his water source. Well worth the try regardless LOL.
 
kilofey

kilofey

Member
Id like to avoid transporting jugs of water, im going to price out cartridges, but in the mean time ill be buying rodi water
 
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