my tank is so dead.

[foma2000]

so yesterday i set up my diy c02 reactor(i got the design from shamutt(i think thats how you say it)), and today i went to the fish store and came home with $50 dollars worth of preasonts. i got kalkwasser, carbon, a calcium and co2 test kit and some other stuff. i get home and i test the c02 and calcium in my tank, the calcium is really low, and the co2 is really high. i go to build my kalk wasser drip system and i decide to test the ph. thats when i relize that the co2 system put out so much c02 today that the ph in my tank droped to 7.5. i tripple checked the test but it always came out at 7.5. i was really woried. i emediatly disconected the c02, and ran to my work shop to build the kalk drip. i got it done in 15 min and am now doing a fast drip into my tank untill the ph rises again. luckly i still dont have any fish and so nothing died. wish me luck.

 

[lziarek]

remember that large FAST swings in any parameter are 10x worse than a large slow swing. If something ever reads out of wack (besides amonia which can kill quickly), I would suggest fixing it slowly as to not shock your system.

 

[foma2000]

noted. im lowering the kalk drip abit. thanks for the advice. i should have known that.

 

[BillyZ]

since your tank is empty this is a good learning experience for you on how your additives and system changes can dramatically affect the waters chemistry. Keep doing what you're doing to finish seeing the results.

However, in the future if you come across this kind of situation it would be better, IMO that instead of running to make adjustments to the water, adding this or that. You should instead do a water change. If readings are way off, instead of dumping in a bunch of stuff to adjust, IMO it's much safe to mix up a batch of freshly mixed saltwater, bring it up to temperature and do a water change.

 

[foma2000]

thats exactly what i did. i forgot to say that i did a 5 gal water change. and the kalk drip was going in that night anyways i just tryed to get it done as soon as posible. but i really agree. ive defenatly learned my lesson about adding stuff to my tank. i think other then my kalk drip im only adding aditives when i absolutly need it. also, the ph is up to 8.0 today.