tests a bit off?

HI all did my tests to day...........have to admit its been a while due to house being done up, new bathroom , wall nocked down ect.
I aint done a water change in 2-3 months but all seemed well took my normal tests all good.... calcuim dropped as i exspected from just below 500 to about 440 ( this was a months ago!) so today i finally got round to doing my tests & my cal has some how raised itself to 500 again with me not adding any to the water im kinda stumpped as to how its raised itself! im gettin alot off water precipitation so needing to top off all the time.
I even accused my husband off adding stuff to my water but i checked all bottles are sealed!
Now on to my other tests mag is the same at 1370ppm
Ammo i was a little confused with this one as i couldnt make my mind up if it was 0 or 0.1 the colours on my chart are sooooo close its sometimes difficult to tell!
Nitrate 0 crystal clear
nitrite 0 crystal clear
Ph again i think more on the 7.9 side but the next colour up ment 8.1 ( a big jump in numbers but colours are very much the same!) 7.9 is more greeny where as 8.1 was a little more bluey and mine was more green really................so i think 7.9 is low for 11.00am isnt it????????
my ph has always been 8.2-8.3
If the ph is to low how do i raise it with out spending a bomb!?
Thanks K

 

i use aqua vitro 8.4 works very well and is only $11.00 at our LFS

 

I'm betting that your Alk levels are dropping, probably below 6 dKH.

 

To raise the PH add 1 teaspoon of Baking Soda (not powder) for each 20 gal. of total water volume.

 

Ahhhhhhh i new i missed one! yep your probably right & i had this problem before but i cant remember the product i used to raise the dkh........I thought i still had some left but just checked & its not there.........

 

That great but can i get baking soda in the uk! ha that might sound silly but ive only ever seen baking poweder

 

use a 4:1 ratio of baking soda to borate for raising your Alk.
in the UK it might be called washing soda or soda ash, but it is basically sodium bicarbonate.

 

Ok now ill have to read our baking power lable as im sure this is actual bicarbonate soda? is that right? it a little hard when you live in different places as you call some things totally different then what we do! like chips to you guys are what we call crisps but chips to us are what you call frys! my aunt is american & lives in florida & when she comes to england we all have a laugh as she thinks its funny when we say one thing & it means something completly different to her......like pants to us are is... well you no underwear but she says pants & she means trousers ! Anyway sorry to rambble! im tired & need my bed Ha;D

Also never heard off borate.......

 

HI sorry to be a pain but im going to get the bicarbonate soda from the shop today but i still have no idea what borat is or where i can get it from
Thanks K

 

You want to make sure you have a good test kit for alk before you just randomly start dosing different amounts.

Your alk being low could be getting driven down by the high calcium, which will drive the calcium to be higher as the alk lowers. This works both ways, High alkalinity will also drive calcium lower. Each time you dose one the other will lower (usually very slightly.)

I am not sure why bogie says use borate, I am ignorant to this technique. I have used baking soda/soda ash/washing soda/sodium bicarbonate by itself without problems. I am not saying lacing the soda with borate is bad because I just don't know. With your PH being low already you will want to bake the soda in the oven at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour (others use different temps and times but this works for me). This will produce a raising effect to your tanks ph while also adding the alk (the real reason for dosing the soda.) IF you do not bake the soda before you dose, it will temporarily lower the tanks PH.

Use the handy calculator located here.

3reef.com - Forums for coral reef aquariums, salt water fish, corals, inverts, protein skimmers, aquarium lighting and more - Calculators

Use the additives section and set your parameters and it will tell you exactly how much to dose.