Water Change = Change in ph?

vkuroczka

vkuroczka

Member
So I have been doing 50% water changes on my 80 gal every two weeks now for about a month and a half trying to lower my nitrates which are STILL at 80!!!! Well anyways this morning when I checked my water levels, my pH had dropped to 7.8?!?!?! and I'm starting to have ammonia also! I have 3 turbo snails and none have moved since yesterday, one of them doesn't look so good either.. I have about 20 pounds of live rock and a flamehawkfish who survived the great "ich plague of March 2008". My questions are A.)why aren't my nitrates dropping? and B.)whats with my pH dropping all of a sudden and C.) where is the ammonia coming from? I added a little buffer to the tank this morning hoping it'll help....can anyone give me some advice as to what i'm doing wrong?... thanks in advance

My setup:
80 gal.
canister filter (media changed 1 month ago)
skimmer
uv sterilizer
broken coral floor (it gets suctioned VERY WELL with water changes)
20 pounds live rock (slowly accumulating)
3 turbo snails
1 flamehawkfish (had him for like 4-5 years now?? he's the only survivor from my ich attack in March 2008)
Amm. 0.25
Nitrates 80
Nitrites 0
pH 7.8 (added buffer, my tank is ALWAYS at 8.2)
temp at 86 (just in case for ich)
spec. grav. 1.021
last water change was yesterday did 50% the water I added I checked and it was perfect! Those levels were:
pH 8.2
Amm. 0
Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
 
olingerjccj

olingerjccj

Member
Im new to this too, but from what I have read you dont have enough LR. I would guess you need about 85lbs of rock in there...
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
How do you mix your water? Do you check the SG and temp of both before doing the change? What is your source water?
 
vkuroczka

vkuroczka

Member
Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2585929
How do you mix your water? Do you check the SG and temp of both before doing the change? What is your source water?
I buy pre-packaged water from Catalina Company.... its called "Real Ocean Water" I've been buying this stuff for years and have never had a problem. Spec gravity varies anywhere from 1.020 to 1.030. I let the water come to room temp and then I add slowly, I don't just "dump" it in the tank.
 
vkuroczka

vkuroczka

Member
Originally Posted by olingerjccj
http:///forum/post/2585926
Im new to this too, but from what I have read you dont have enough LR. I would guess you need about 85lbs of rock in there...
I know I don't have enough LR
... I can't afford to buy 85 pounds all at one time.. and in between water changes and stuff trying to watch where my funds go, I've only been adding the live roch though for about a month.... so yeah....
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
If you change the filter only once a month, that is probably one of your nitrate traps right now. I'd also recommend dropping the temp, high temp won't kill or prevent ich in marine aquarium (FW is another matter). Could it be that an invert or fish has died and you haven't found it yet?
 
rtspeed

rtspeed

Member
Also ick has a harder time multipling if the temp is lower not high, also high salinty will also be good breeding grounds for bacteria.
 
vkuroczka

vkuroczka

Member
Originally Posted by SpiderWoman
http:///forum/post/2586286
If you change the filter only once a month, that is probably one of your nitrate traps right now. I'd also recommend dropping the temp, high temp won't kill or prevent ich in marine aquarium (FW is another matter). Could it be that an invert or fish has died and you haven't found it yet?
i have three turbo snails... two of them have moved, one hasn't moved but when i go to see if he has died i touch his shell and he moves... my fish is definitly alive and thats all i have in the tank
 
vkuroczka

vkuroczka

Member
Originally Posted by rtspeed
http:///forum/post/2586292
Also ick has a harder time multipling if the temp is lower not high, also high salinty will also be good breeding grounds for bacteria.
my spec gravity is WNL... k i'll turn my temp down....
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by vkuroczka
http:///forum/post/2586028
I buy pre-packaged water from Catalina Company.... its called "Real Ocean Water" I've been buying this stuff for years and have never had a problem. Spec gravity varies anywhere from 1.020 to 1.030. I let the water come to room temp and then I add slowly, I don't just "dump" it in the tank.
Do you always do such large water changes? Do you aerate the water before you add it? If the SG varies that much, and you are not aerating it, while doing this large of changes, that would certainly throw off your readings. The PH being low is usually a sign of too many dissolved organics in the tank or a low oxygen level. The inverts dieing could signify a swing in the SG. The sudden appearance of ammonia would be from something dieing within the tank that was not removed such as one or several of your inverts.
 
vkuroczka

vkuroczka

Member
Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2586300
Do you always do such large water changes? Do you aerate the water before you add it? If the SG varies that much, and you are not aerating it, while doing this large of changes, that would certainly throw off your readings. The PH being low is usually a sign of too many dissolved organics in the tank or a low oxygen level. The inverts dieing could signify a swing in the SG. The sudden appearance of ammonia would be from something dieing within the tank that was not removed such as one or several of your inverts.
I don't usually do such large water changes, just recently to lower the nitrates (which obviously isn't working). I'm sorry but I don't know what you mean by "aerate" my water? I have my skimmer which flows little bubbles into the tank and then I have a bubber also. What are dissolved organics?
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by vkuroczka
http:///forum/post/2586312
I don't usually do such large water changes, just recently to lower the nitrates (which obviously isn't working). I'm sorry but I don't know what you mean by "aerate" my water? I have my skimmer which flows little bubbles into the tank and then I have a bubber also. What are dissolved organics?
By aerate, I mean to pour the water into a bucket and add a power head. The water sitting in a jug is not going to be oxygenated. When you do small water changes this isn't such a big problem, although it would be much better to aerate it first. When you do larger changes you are adding water into the tank that has very little oxygen in it. Dissolved organics are what your skimmer removes, so that is probably not the issue here.
 
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