P-H Buffer

[adacaro]

The PH in the water in my home town is as low as 7.4. Dont know what is happenig here in P.R. water. Due to this the water my DI is also that low. In order to do my water change I had to add an exagarated amount of buffer to obtain a PH of 8.3 on the water that is being used for the water change. I had to put 1 teaspoon for 30 gal. and in orderto obtain a ph of 8.0 in 15 gal I put 6 tablespoons and it wasnt almost at 8.0 .Tis is my question.Can this affect my corals and fish.one of my corals looks kind of sad and I lost a shrimp.I have a 72 gal. tank and did a 15 gal water change with all that buffer. The ph in my tank is 8.2 amonia 0 nitrite 0 alk.nitrate 0 high

 

[mjvincent]

What is your alk?

 

[adacaro]

high

 

[mjvincent]

See if you can't get a number reading in dKH or KH so that we can help you find out what your situation is... Your buffer is affecting your alk and can affect the health of your corals...

 

[adacaro]

I understand that the alk should be high in an aquariam that has corals .

 

[mjvincent]

Corals typically like 8-12 dKH. Your test is reading HIGH (which I have no idea what that means). Once we can get a true reading of dKH we might be able to know how much buffer you added to the water to get a PH reading of 8.3...