Dangerous to dump lots of white vinegar into the tank to control PH?

[reefsmurf]

Hi,

My 29g PH is out of control.. at peak it's reading 8.8. Most of the time it's about 8.7 or 8.55-8.6 if I've dosed white vinegar. i've been dosing white vinegar to drop the PH but it seems to only help temporarly. A few hours later or the next day it's back to the same.

Anybody have any suggestions? I know high PH is usually due to low CO and CO is hard to dissolve into water. I have very high surface water movement and a air driven protein skimmer. This tank is pretty stocked with corals and 3 fish so that probably doesn't help.

I dose B-ionic but have slowed down the dosing severely to see if that helps. I just did a 20% water change too.

Thanks.

 

[maurod]

How are you measuring pH? Could your test be old or pH monitor be wrong?

 

[reefsmurf]

Pinpoint probe. I don't have it calibrated but it measures within range for other tanks.

 

[Greg Hiller]

I agree with Mauro. Before dumping in any acid you need to make VERY certain that your pH reading is accurate. I actually doubt that reading unless you are using a lot of kalkwasser.

>I know high PH is usually due to low CO and CO is hard to dissolve into water.<

CO2 is extremely EASY to dissolve in water. The solubility is very high. O2 is not very soluble in water, and even less so in saltwater.

> I have very high surface water movement and a air driven protein skimmer. This tank is pretty stocked with corals and 3 fish so that probably doesn't help.<

The corals will tend to drive pH up as they take CO2 out of the water during the daylight hours, fish will drive it up.

 

[maurod]

Pinpoint probe. I don't have it calibrated but it measures within range for other tanks.

I'll give you a ph test packet to be sure. I live in Brockton. Feel free to bring your meter.
M

 

[Gina McReeferson]

I may be mistaken, but I believe that B-ionic has the potential to raise PH considerably. You mentioned "drastically" cutting back on the dose of this product, that statement leads me to wonder how much you were dosing, how often you were dosing it, and in what size tank was it being dosed?

 

[maurod]

hey guys, I just tested my meter - i was reading .3 high, making my ph 8.2-8.3 when it was really 7.9-8.0.

M.