smileyfish

Well you can probably gues my problem. I only have a shrimp, 3 hermits, and 3 snails so right now is kind of the time to alter the water. I was told to continue adding kent super DKH buffer. But after reading the label i got the impression that its made to raise and then keep the pH at that level. My PH is 8.6 and my ALK is like 3.6ish (im having trouble reading the test results properly because the blue is kind of inbetween a couple and its a gradient instead of seperate boxes of color. So basically how do i get them down to optimal levels? Also my SG is really low (1.018) how do i go about getting that up? THANK YOU

pepetj

Hi smileyfish:

Since you alreday have some livestock there, I would begin by addressing the salinity issue first, and once stabilized, I would likely consider the options for lowering pH and alkalinity.

This is how I would proceed:

I would use a two fold intervention (simultaneously):

a) specific gravity issue: I would make sure that I have at least two instruments to measure specific gravity (say one swing arm and one glass floating hydrometer) to check both validity and reliability of the salinity readings. Slowly I would try to reach the 1.026 target. Once there (it could take a week or two).

b) pH and Alkalinity issue: I would consider using, for the time needed, a DIY-CO2 generator/reactor but being careful to inject CO2 on the low side: say one previously sterilized 2L bottle of soda, for the mixture of R/O water with 2 cups of sugar to which I would add previously mixed, in lukewarm water, 1/2 teaspoon of yeast + 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. Use a 20oz bottle as gas separator, place an air check-valve in the output and use a small internal filter (remove the sponge) and get ready to inject CO2.

Please wait for other more experienced SW keepers to check on my feedback. I am a newby in SW.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

smileyfish

My sg went up to 1.020 i found out that a person in my house had added a slightly large quantity of freshwater so i just added some saltwater. I think that thats going to be fine. About the PH/ALK can i still add a fish? Or do i really need to wait?

Annadvn

Why are you trying to get the pH and alkalinity down?

The pH you mentioned is about right for SW, As for the alkalinity that results depends on what its being measured in? DKH or PPM

You should try and range around 8-12 DKH for alkalinity so if your reading is 3.6DKH you need to increase!

Anna

aquarist48

Hello Smiley. Here is a link you may find helpful. (if you haven't seen it already)
Have a good day!
Ken

smileyfish

im very confused because on the little card that shows the color it shows that normal ALK (ppm) is 2.0-2.8 and high is 2.9-3.5 and for the PH i was told that the optimum levels for a reef tank is between 8.15-8.4. Well i used some lemon juice and got it down to 8.3 (which i was also told was the perfect measurement). Is this not good? As for the sg. it went back down to 1.019... So whats an easy way to get that up?

smileyfish

thank you, but isnt that for freshwater. Im not fully sure (i could be wrong) but doesnt it work sort of different?

pepetj

The ranges below are form Reef Central. Please read the article here:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

Alkalinity in SW tanks should be within 2.4 to 4 meq/L, same as 7 to 11 dKH, same as 125 to 200 ppm (as CaCO3).

So 3.6 meq/L is at the upper end but yet OK.

pH in SW tanks should be within 7.8 to 8.5. At 8.6 I wouldn't worry much since your reading is likely within one error of measurement; I would measure pH with another test to verify the 8.6 reading.

Personally, I wouldn't tamper with your water parameters, other than raising salinity (specific gravity) slowly.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

smileyfish

well i mean the ph was probably aboce 8.6 because it was much more than the 8.6 (which was the last color box). Ok. So how do i go about getting sg correct?

aquarist48

My Mistake Smiley!
Ken