Having very high ph swings please hellppppp

[j0hnnyb0y13ave]

I just installed an apex and started doseimg kalkwasser from my tunze ato started at brs recommended dose at 1/2 teaspoon per gallon.. My tank uses bout 1/2-1 gallon a water a day.. Since I installed apex and could now see increase and decrease of ph and Its pretty bad.. Went from 8.78 at 12pm to 7.86 at 11 am next day.. Could anyone please help with my situation??

 

[edd]

when your lights are out it is normal for ph to drop a few points but thats excessive.
calibrate your ph probe.
i don't use kalk so i won't comment.

 

[j0hnnyb0y13ave]

Well I saw kalk as making part of my job easyier and coral more happy but my tank isn't heavily stocked so I coul Prob do without.. My alk was swaying from 6-8 and calcium was 360-500 when testing with an Api kit.. So my levels weren't crashing but thought I could stablize them a bit more.. I test every Saturday then do a 5 gallon water change every other saturday.. Test before I change water.. Thanks for reply edd

 

[edd]

get some quality test kits, api are not accurate.
buy red sea or salifert. i have rs and find them easy to read unlike api. this could be your swing in test results. try to keep parameters stable.

 

[MikeC]

Also make sure you test at the same time of day

 

[Dan_P]

I just installed an apex and started doseimg kalkwasser from my tunze ato started at brs recommended dose at 1/2 teaspoon per gallon.. My tank uses bout 1/2-1 gallon a water a day.. Since I installed apex and could now see increase and decrease of ph and Its pretty bad.. Went from 8.78 at 12pm to 7.86 at 11 am next day.. Could anyone please help with my situation??

If you are adding make up water containing kalkwasser, it will raise the system's pH. If more evaporation occurs during the day, more kalkwasser is being added to the system when the pH is already high. You may have created a system that ensures large pH swings.

 

[d5332]

Due to personal experience do not dose anything through your top off water, meaning do not add any additives to your top off water unless you have a controller that will turn off your ATO should PH go past a certain pre-set point.

I made the mistake of adding Kalk to the ATO and its too risky. With the changes in seasons, the level of evaporation changes.

What you should do is:

Stop adding stuff to your top off water until you set your controllers alarms and outlet shutoff, heck, dont add anything to your top off water period.

Go on Ebay and purchase 4oz or 8oz calibration fluid and calibrate your PH now and every 2-3 months.

Adding anything other than water to your ATO leads to problems 99% of the time. Only way to avoid is to become a slave to monitoring it even if you have a controller.

Sounds like you have a controller but have not set it up properly for alarms and outlet shutoff should PH increase or decrease past a certain point.

 

[d5332]

Additional note, if your PH is not stable, your alkalinity level must be less than ideal as well.

Dont add any corals or inverts to the tank and don't be surprise if fish start making a jump for whatever is on the other side.

 

[j0hnnyb0y13ave]

Thanks u everyone for the help o changed the ph probe and now that one is ready 8.0 steady for the past day so maybe it was just a bad probe or just had to be calibrated.. Not going to dose the kalk anymore and yea deff need to figure out setting up alarms and other good stuff I could do on apex unit.. If anyone could help me set up my alarms and other apex related stuff that'd be much apperecitate..