Need help from people way smarter than me!!!

Ok I am kind of at a loss with my tank. Everything was fine one day and then it was like everything changed. Here are my param:

Ph - 8.8!!!
Amm - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20
Ca -400
PO3 - 2.0
KH-25!!!
Mag - 1580!!!
SG - 1.023

It was like in one day all my leathers and mushrooms just started to suffer and I am not sure what changed. First off I know test kits have a selflife. I have the API liquid test kits and it looks like it was made in June 2009. I think I have read that tests kits only last about 3 years. (I will be honest, up untill this all started I haven't really kept on checking all water param except for the basic Ph, Amm, Nitrate, and Nitrite,) I just tested my tap water to and it was ph 7.4 and KH 25. Is my KH tester bad or is alk that high in both my tap and my tank. (FYI: I don't use tap for water changes. I have a 5 stage Spectrapure RODI unit. I have not checked the Alk of my RO/DI water.)

The only change I can think of is I put in new carbon but I made sure to wash it well before adding it to my tank. When I saw that everything was I did a 100 gal change (I have a ~450 gal total system) but am still seeing roughly same parameters.


I have in the past dripped kalk into my tank but haven't done so in at least 2-3 weeks so I don't see how that could be the cause of the terribly high ph and KH.

I know that Nitrate and P03 are issues of concern for me and I just ordered a large reef octopus nitrate reactor and biopellets from BRS. So hopefully that issue resolves itself soon.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!! New tests kits.....add carbonated water to lower ph......is the bigger issue I have my high Nitrates and PO3.....or is it the PH/Alk/Mag???? Not sure what to do next!

 

It seems like your Mag is high, but I don't know if that would affect your PH. That has more to do with Alk and Calcium I believe. I would suggest PMing member steve wright and maybe change the name of your thread to be more specific so the "experts" can get in here and help you out lol

 

You have several paramaters out of whack. The KH if it's truly 25 is deadly. When was the last time you checked it? Also what brand of carbon did you use? There was a bad batch of Kent carbon that has been killing tanks.

 

Just looking this over
Your PO3 is high
No3 is fine but don't let it get higher
I would be very cautious in thinking you tank has a ph of 8.8 sounds very abnormal and I personaly wouldnt believe a liquid test key for ph but that's me.

I would do a 20-25% water change and toss some carbon in there some place also test the ph of your ro/di water.

Do you have a tds meter ? If so what's your tds?

 

+2, I'd delete this thread and start a new one under water chemistry or even ASAPm and wait for Steve or one of the other pro's to get on here. In the meantime I'd take some water down to your LFS and have them test it. 25 sounds like a bad test kit to me.

Good luck

 

YEs it was the Kent Reef Carbon that was used. I had no idea they had the recall on it. I just checked and the batch I have was not listed on the recall batch but was reading that others have had problems and that the problems could have been bigger than Kent thought. I tried calling Kent but they are closed during this weekend. Could this be my problem???? If so, how in the world would I get copper out and what would its effects be on the tank. Like I said in my previous post, it seemed to all go downhill after carbon was added.

 

To get copper out of the tank I believe you have to run carbon and do a lot of water changes. If you have copper from the salt mix, then I would start using another salt ASAP lol. Copper test are kind of expensive as well.

As for the effects, I am 95% sure that no inverts and most corals cannot tolerate copper at all.

 

well copper isn't going to cause those results, but what it will do is kill your inverts. I'd really start this thread in ASAP or water chemistry, you'll get better help there prob, and I'd get to the LFS to have them test it first.

 

As far as inverts.....I have had many of my cerith snails die over the last week or so but coral banded shrimp seems to be ok.....maybe it is not the copper thing???

I am off to the fish store which is an hour away. I took out carbon bags just in case in the meantime.

 

I have heard of some carbon having copper in it as well, but I think these cases are from a couple of years ago. Good luck, keep us updated with what you find out.