pH problem???

[tanktop74]

Ok I am gunna give you a little background on what happened last night first....

 

Found that the pump that supplies my calicium reactor had disconnected from the reactor, so my APEX thought my effluent pH was 8.25!!! Of course it was kicking out the CO2 as fast as it could. Reconnected the pump and got the calcium reactor back on line. Tank pH at this time was 8.00 ish. Everything looked good, I went to bed.

 

Got up this am... to a tank pH of 6.2 ish!!!:eek: Before I freaked out I re-calibrated my pH probes. Tank pH now registers 6.4!!:eek:

 

CO2 ran out in my calcium reactor some time in the night.

 

Here is the graph of my tank pH's since 5pm last night.

 

I have turned off the calcium reactor for now, not running Kalk anymore.

I am very slowly dripping a buffer into the tank, but am now at work.

 

Can anyone explain why the huge drop in pH around 5am?

 

BTW, everything in the tank looked good, sps actually had polyp extension... and YES, I know, should have manually tested pH with test kit but really didn't have time as I had to get to work.

 

TIA for any input.

 

Beth

[Mandinga]

that is a BIG drop...In fact, most things in saltwater won't survive a pH of that reading!

 

I'd recommend checking the water with a manual test kit...sounds like faulty equipment to me. Check the plugs...or buy a new probe.

 

Excess C02 can definitely lower your pH, but usually it is a more gradual swing.

[ReeFit]

when co2 enters the water it lowers ph by reacting with the water

[rgrcrain]

Wouldnt the fact that the CO2 ran out make the ph go up?

[ReeFit]

Wouldnt the fact that the CO2 ran out make the ph go up?

 

the ph did come back up after it ran out. the probe was stuck low and caused the co2 to drain out, the massive flood of co2 drove the ph down.

[grassi]

Sorry I can't help Beth. I'm not familiar with ca reactors :(

I can just bump this thread

[Mandinga]

can anyone explain why things are not dead...if that pH of 6.2 was reached??? It didnt...IMO.

[tanktop74]

BTW, the pH did not start to rise until I turned on lights and started adding the buffer!

 

I am as confused as anyone. According to the apex the ph is now up to 7.88.

 

Thanks for the help

Beth

[reefnjunkie]

can anyone explain why things are not dead...if that pH of 6.2 was reached??? It didnt...IMO.

 

Looking at the graph the PH was only that low for a short period of time which wont really kill them or anything (in therory)

 

My guess Beth is the huge drop is when the thing was taking a false reading and is what caused the APEX to allow the the Co2 solenoid to stay open.

 

I dont follow how you have your reactor set up.

 

I have my probe in a probe holder that the effluent flows through so it reads what goes into the tank coming from the reactor

 

Here is what runs mine and you will see that if the effluent ever drops below 6.5 the solenoid is off.

 

Fallback OFF

If pH > 06.60 Then ON

If pH < 06.50 Then OFF

[tanktop74]

I dont follow how you have your reactor set up.

 

I have my probe in a probe holder that the effluent flows through so it reads what goes into the tank coming from the reactor

 

Here is what runs mine and you will see that if the effluent ever drops below 6.5 the solenoid is off.

 

Fallback OFF

If pH > 06.60 Then ON

If pH < 06.50 Then OFF

 

 

The graph is my tank pH graph, I too have a probe in my pH effluent. Frank set it up... FRANK can you chime in here....

 

I guess I am not being clear enough, the effluent ph was in the 8's last night, fixed and fine before I went to bed. pH in the effluent was stable all night.

 

I don't understand the drop in the tank pH. I guess it could be a blip with the apex.

 

Beth

[reefnjunkie]

Totally confused now on how you have it set then, my effluent never goes outside othe range of the program-never higher than 6.6 or lower than 6.5.

 

I could be mistaken although I am 99.9999999999999999999999% sure your effluent shound never be that high, the media wont dissolve.

 

Sounds like things are back on track but still have questions

 

Whats the program (settings) you have on the APEX that controls the solenoid-just curious

[tanktop74]

Totally confused now on how you have it set then, my effluent never goes outside othe range of the program-never higher than 6.6 or lower than 6.5.

 

I could be mistaken although I am 99.9999999999999999999999% sure your effluent shound never be that high, the media wont dissolve.

 

Sounds like things are back on track but still have questions

 

Whats the program (settings) you have on the APEX that controls the solenoid-just curious

 

It gets that high when the pump disconnects and no effluent is flowing out of the reactor! Which is how the effluent was 8 and the co2 was flowing like crazy!!!

 

I have my apex programmed just like yours! and yes my apex controls the solenoid.

 

Does that make a bit more sense???

 

Beth

[reefnjunkie]

crystal clear on that, would be interested in seing how its all plumbed-maybe I can come over again some time and kill all your zoas like I did last time (sad) and see it again.

 

I guess I am a little slow-(laugh)

[Emerald525]

Thanks for everyone's input.(clap) It seems like everything is fine and all the corals are fine and PH is almost back to normal.(clap) I doubt that the ph really dropped to 5.98 (scary)as I would have expected to see some sort of damage to the corals.

 

The only thing Beth can think is that there was some malfunction with the reactor as it seems the co2 tank is now empty.. DOH!Equipment you gotta love it..

 

I find this acid base stuff all very fascinating. By the way, I believe Frank posted this before and I keep it filed away for such times. This is a very useful article that explains calcium reactors:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/sh/feature/index.php

[Harold B]

ph drop

 

On occasion my tube to my reactor from my pump has come off due to my hand and I didn't realize it so my controller will read a higher ph over a period of time due to no effluent driping into cup (gas exchange) all the while my co2 tank will be flowing due to the high reading from the probe (in the cup) so the ph in my reactor is droping as low as it can while my recirculating pump in the reactor is mixing co2 and the water in the reactor. When I reconnect it the effluent starts to drip into the cup again lowering the ph in the cup shutting off the controller (co2) but until my reactor has emptied out enough effluent to reach the set ph again it will be slowly lowering the tank ph (to much) The way to keep these things from happening or at least minimize them is to keep your c02 bubble rate as close to your desired reactor ph as possible so if you have a controller malfunction "wide open" will simply be the desired ph just my experience hope it helps

[Mandinga]

i'm just sayin...with you ladies bein in the healthcare field and all...you probably have these laying around at your offices;

link

[reefnjunkie]

I had to re-read this after talking to Reefit-I would heave to agree about the PH not really being that low because if the pump was not "pumping" and there was no effluent coming from the reactor, which I read, would'nt the Co2stay contained within the reactor while it "emptied the bottle"?

 

(scratch)

 

If it did all stay in the reactor while the Co2 was being emptied, you might want to look at your media and make sure its not "mushy"

If the Co2 was running until the bottle emptied and the effluent was not being returned into the sump, it could make mush-I'm not sure how long of exposure like that it takes to make baby food-:p

 

LOL-(im not done-(nutty)DOH!)

 

Would the fact also that the effluent not going into the sump (which lowers PH) that the PH might actually climb(scratch)

 

Maybe consider a calibration-dunno but again, glad you caught it-(clap)