drop alkalinity

[inadaze]

Could anyone recommend a good way to drop the alkalinity in my water?

Thanks
Jay

[Briankook]

It will drop on its own most likely. What does your livestock consist of?

[inadaze]

It did consist of a purple dottyback,a clown and two damsels but my ph dropped after I cleaned the aquarium and I've lost my dottyback and a damsel. My ph is stable only if i have my powerhead on blowing bubbles all day and night. but if not it drops to 7.2. Someone suggested i look at my alkalinity and it was really high. They said to stabalize it and the rest would follow.
I tested everything else and they were fine so this is my last resort. I think I might loose my clown though. He is breathing really fast and starting to get white fungus.

Thanks
Jay

[Briankook]

What are your other water parameters? Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates? Since you are losing fish, that is what I would be concerned with. I don't think that a high Alk will kill fish...but it can cause Calcium to precipitate. Perhaps someone else can confirm this, .

[inadaze]

I really am confused then. I just checked everything again(for the third time), and nothing is wrong. Ammonia is under 0 mg/L, nitrate is under 5 mg/L, nitrite is under 0.1 mg/L and my ph is 8.1 and phosphate is 0 mg/L. the only thing that is wrong that I can test is the Carbonate hardness(over 125 mg/L).
But i just cleaned my aquarium and took all of my coraline algae off my glass. This is the only thing I could think of. Any other ideas? Anyone? The life of my stressed clown is in your hands!

Also does anyone know how I can save my clown? He is not really eating today and he has whitish fungus like stuff on him. Please...

Thanks
Jay

[sradmin]

Water changes. Don't try to alter your alkalinity or pH directly- you are more likely to do more harm than good, since you have no idea what's wrong at this point. Something is wildly amiss, and it's best to let it stabilize on its own. Water changes should help facilitate this... It's pretty hard to mess up freshly mixed seawater.

[Briankook]

What is your temp & salinity?

[bkiba]

if you want to drop the alk, I think if you added an airstone to the tank or increase the skimmer flow (basically aerate the water) more it should add more CO2 to the system (you could also increase the CO2 flow from a Ca rxtr if you have one). That will try to bring the pH down and the high alk will be used up trying to counteract the CO2. Your pH overall should be affected very little (it will drop a bit 0.1 or 0.2) but keep and eye on that and the alk and you should know when to shut off the pH lowering source.

good luck!

[bkiba]

after reading the whole thread . You having something else going on there. Don't try to alter the alk, run your tests again, if you pH goes that low I doubt the alk is high. What test kits are you using?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

the only thing that is wrong that I can test is the Carbonate hardness(over 125 mg/L).


You need to get an accurate measure of the alkalinity. It may not be high at all. 125 mg/l corresponds to 2.5 meq/l. If it were not 2.5 meq/l or more, I'd say it was too low. I usually recommend 125-200 mg/L for alkalinity measured in calcium carobnate equivalents.

These articles should help:

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters (a summary general article)
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.htm

Solving Calcium and Alkalinity Problems
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

Low pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

[inadaze]

Thanks all...but sadly I just lost my clown...sob...
The only thing left is one damsel who seems to be pretty happy with owning the hole tank.
My temp is at 80 and salinity is 34 ppt.
I am using a Hagen "Master Test Kit" (ya, right).
I think that I will change more water (a little at a time). Do you think I maybe changed to much water at one time? Although all the parameters were the same in my aquarium as in the new water and I only changed 25% of my 33 gallon.

I just wish I knew what happened so I don't do it again.
Thanks
Jay

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't know why you lost the fish, but I don't see a reason to think it is related to alkalinity.

[inadaze]

Should I just assume that the water change maybe stressed them out too much? I 've checked everything else that I could. Smaller water changes maybe?

thanks
Jay

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How did you make the water change water? Tap water? RO? Ammonia is always a possibility.

Or maybe they died from disease. You might solicit input in the Fish Disease Treatment forum:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumd...?s=&forumid=87