please advise - pH may be too high

[jrgilles]

Hey guys. I'm out of town for thanksgiving, and I see my tank pH is reading 8.39. Do I have a problem? I know from discussions with boomer that there is an adjustment for the probes that take salinity into account, so the real pH is probably around 8.55 now.

Am I risking killing off my tank where I should try to get someone to go disconnect my kalk reactor? The day started at 8.25 and ended 8.39 (without any adjustment calculation). I added more kalk to my reactor before I left town, so it must be coming out a bit stronger than usual...

Lights are about to go out so it should come back down, but might go back up again tomorrow.

Please advise if you guys think I have a problem that I will need to deal with before I get back into town (Sunday)

 

[dragoneggs]

pH of 8.4 in itself is not really a concern. My tank runs 8.2 to 8.4. I believe 8.4 is on the high side of typical recommended range for marine fish.

 

[jrgilles]

ok, thanks. I'll keep an eye on it. Should be about to go back down for the night. Hopefully the kalk reactor will be a bit more chill tomorrow. What would you think is a danger level if it goes back up again tomorrow?

 

[jrgilles]

Its at 8.5 now via the pH probe. Hope my tank isn't melting >.<

I remotely shut off the MH lights. Really wish I put the ATO/Top off on a controllable outlet, as there is nothing I can do about it remotely.

Trying to get a hold of sulliest to go switch it over maybe and see if stuff is still alive

 

[mojoreef]

the level is not that bad, just make sure you bring it back slowly to what it was. Its the swings that get ya, what was your original ph level??

 

[dragoneggs]

Agreed. You are not that far off nominal. Keep a watch. The lights can swing it a couple tenths easy. If it continues to escalate with the lights off then you might want to get the Kalk disconnected.