products for rodi - Page 3

Tech Support EH · #21 07-13-2012, 16:54

Because your KH is on the high side, it is going to take longer for the Neutral Regulator to overcome that and finally drop the pH. You can either continue adding Neutral Regulator daily, and your pH will eventually stabilize, or for a faster solution, you can add some Acid Buffer to cut the KH, which will then allow the pH to come down more quickly.

edk · #22 07-13-2012, 21:16

This isn't making sense to me! The high kh in the tank now must be from the neutral regulator because my tap water is 4dkh and rodi reads 1 (lowest on test-likely 0 as the tds is 0). I top off with rodi and the tank is mostly rodi at this point because water changes have been rodi.

Tech Support HK · #23 07-16-2012, 16:39

While you will not raise 'KH' when using Neutral Regulator, you may still detect an increase in the reading when testing with your 'KH' test kit. This is because these tests actually measure 'buffering capacity'.

edk · #24 08-14-2012, 08:57

Hi,
After half a continer of neutral regulator and multiple water changes with Rodi with neutral buffer and replenish, the pH is still staying at 7.4 and all I have is green water. Thinking maybe I should try to use the carbonate system. Can I switch to acid/alkaline buffers with fish in the tank? Would the best course be to just let it slowly take over through water changes?

Tech Support MS · #25 08-14-2012, 09:05

Switching to Acid and Alkaline Buffers is an option but, for fish only aquariums, Neutral Regulator is a better option. The phosphate based buffering system is more stable than the carbonate buffering system or at least it generally is.

This is a very unusual case and I am quite surprised that you are having such a hard time getting the pH down. There has to be something in the tank that is buffering it up. What type of substrate are you using and what other decorations are you using in the tank? Are you using any sea shells or coral skeletons? Any decorative rocks?

edk · #26 08-14-2012, 09:14

I brought up earlier in the thread that it was an old reef tank and has some corralline algae still there. I thought it might be the issue but other tech didn't seem to think it was. It's definitely dissolving because there is less and less on the wall. Could this be the issue? With the algae issues I'm thinking I have way too much neutral regulator in there.

Tech Support MS · #27 08-14-2012, 09:27

I would not expect that it would be a problem but I guess it depends on how much coraline was in the tank. It is made of calcium carbonate and would buffer the pH and alk if there was enough of it.

Neutral Regulator generally will not cause algae on its own. More often, there are other nutrients available or excess lighting. You might try cutting back the lighting a bit and seeing if that helps.

If you want to switch to the Acid and Alkaline Buffers, it is safe to do so. I would start off by doing a good water change and then adding the products at the appropriate ratio. Might still take a little while to get things exactly where you want them but you should at least be able to overcome any buffering from the coraline.

edk · #28 08-15-2012, 16:57

Yesterday I bought some clarity and put a dose in and cut back the photoperiod. This morning it was a bit lighter but still cloudy so I put another dose of clarity. Continued to get more cloudy throughout the day (greenish hue) so I ended up doing a small water change and cleaned out all the media. The media was loaded up with green and brown detritus. Rinsed it all in a bucket of tank water and loaded it up with fresh poly fil batting. The water change was just Rodi with replenish, no buffers. I'm thinking there is enough of the neutral regulator in the tank at this point. My question at this point is how often can the clarity be dosed?

Tech Support EH · #29 08-15-2012, 17:03

Clarity can be safely dosed every 24 hours, however, with that said, it is best to determine the root cause of the cloudiness, rather than continuing to use a flocculant.

Anytime the Clarity does not succeed in clearing the water, it is due to a lack of fine enough mechanical filtration. While you may have some mechanical filtration (ie: sponge, pad, etc.), if the water has not cleared, that is because you need something that can trap smaller particles. We recommend that hobbyists having this problem use filter floss (fiber) in order to trap these smaller particles. This can be added anywhere in the filter where water will flow through it and the aquarium should clear very well after this addition. You will need to watch the floss as it turns color and ensure that you remove it and replace it with new if it becomes dirty in appearance or full of particulate matter.

Please let us know if you have additional questions.