PH and Alkalinity high...

[Magnus]

Hey everyone, I just did a PWC tonight, and tested the water after that. Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are minimal-zero. But my PH and Alkalinity is high. How can I counteract this?

Oh and I used "Purple up" today and yesterday. Not sure if that will affect it...

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

What exactly are your "minimal" readings? Only reason I ask is that one person's "minimal" might be another person's "OH MY!" And what exactly are your pH and alkalinity numbers?

Reading your previous thread, it sounds like your tank is still cycling, but if your numbers are really near zero, then you may be at the end of it. pH will swing a bit during a cycle, but will calm down in the following weeks.

Your alkalinity is most likely due to the (unnecessary) dosing of PurpleUp. As long as you have a little bit of light, calcium above 360 or 380 or so, and alkalinity between 8 and 12 dkH, you'll get coralline growth... assuming you have some coralline in there to start with. Don't expect to see it overnight, but over the course of 2-3 months, your tank will "purple up" on its own. If you don't have any "starter" coralline, then you can add PurpleUp for eternity and never see it.

Adding supplements before really understanding how they can skew your water parameters is a normal thing when starting out a SW tank. I did it with baking soda to "fix" my pH problem when I started my tank. Once I realized what was going on, I fought my water parameters for months until I got them back to where they should be.

I'd say put away the bottles of stuff, do some research on the calcium/alkalinity balance, and rethink the dosing. Without dosing, normal PWCs will slowly bring your water parameters back in line.

Here are some good articles to start with...

Calcium and Alkalinity by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
Chemistry and the Aquarium

... and the absolute BEST article on ca/alk...

Chemistry and the Aquarium

 

[Magnus]

Thanks Kurt. Unfortunately I only have a measely test strip (paper) to tell me where my levels are...the only true test kit I have is for the ammonia.

I'm also concerned because my crabs seem to eat all the coraline algae before it gets to spread...will the algae eventually out produce the crab's eating habits?

I'll lay off the purple up as you say.

Thanks again for the help and those links are great.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

First thing to do is definitely invest in some liquid test kits. You're going to need them as you wade into this hobby deeper. The strips are good for the cycling phase, but if you're dosing supplements you definitely want to know where you're at number-wise. Depending on the test strip, your alkalinity may actually be just fine. I've seen some strips that say that 8 dkH is "high", but in reality 8 dkH is at the low end of "just right."

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (API) makes a good test kit for the money. There are better/more accurate ones, but for the money I don't think you can beat API. When you get some real numbers, let us know and we can help you along.

Yeah... the coralline will eventually overrun the crab's appetite.

 

[Carissa]

Do all hermits eat coralline algae? I was thinking about getting hermits, but I have (relatively) low light, and would like to have a coralline algae crop, so perhaps I should stick with snails only. Sorry for the hijack but I guess it's on topic.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Personally, I've never seen mine touch the stuff. But I have heard of others that have had them nibble at it.