4 Weeks into Cycle - Weird PH and dKH parameters

[akhan2017]

Hi All,

Was hoping to get some help from everyone's expertise. I've gone through the forum to see if this topic has been discussed and there's a ton of information which I've tried to follow but I'm still having the same problem.

I'm at the end of 4 weeks into my initial cycle. I've done a fishless cycle with 10lbs of live-rock (cured) and 10lbs of dead rock. I'm using 20 lbs of caribsea live sand.

I've done test today to see my checm specs:
Ph - 7.9 (checked at night after opening the window for 20 mins)
dkh - 8
Calcium - 400
Phospate - 0 / Nitrate - 0
Salinity - 1.024

I initially saw this problem 3 weeks in so I did a water change (20%) to see if my ph goes up any but it didn't. I then went to lfs to get some advise and they suggested trying to dose with 2 part which I purchased. I dosed for the first time a day ago and it looked as if my PH went to 8.3 - dkh went to 9 and calc went to 420 but today it's gone back to the above specs. I always check at the same time to keep things consistent. Just in case you guys are curious, I only use ro/di water. Any help on raising and keeping my ph/dkh/calc would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[mcgyvr]

Your ph and dkh are totally fine and you should not do anything at all..
Why do you think its a problem?
Your LFS isn't providing good information either so stop relying on them for such info..

Stop worrying about and testing PH.. Forget about it.. 7.9 is TOTALLY normal and TOTALLY fine..

dkh should be in the 7-11 range but many are maintaining it around 8-9 now so 8 is perfect..

Read all of this please to familiarize yourself with the main parameters and see their acceptable ranges..
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

You will not need 2 part dosing until you have a bunch of corals and your water change schedule isn't sufficient enough to keep your alk/cal/mag stable enough between them..
For some that will never happen.. Others it can take months/years to have enough corals to cause consumption to be happening faster than your water changes are replacing it..

 

[JUNBUG361]

What he said ^

 

[Dmorty217]

Stop worrying about and testing PH.. Forget about it.. 7.9 is TOTALLY normal and TOTALLY fine..

+1 In 19 years of keeping tanks, I have checked my PH all of 1 time

 

[hkgar]

Do not worry about ph. It is basically a spoiled brat that is going to do what it wants to do and, except for taking it's co2 away, you can't do anything, repeat - not one d*** thing about it. Period end of statement. You can add buffer til dKH hits 30 and ph will get back to 7.9 or what it wants, maybe 7.8 or 7.7.

 

[saf1]

Stop worrying about and testing PH.. Forget about it.. 7.9 is TOTALLY normal and TOTALLY fine..

I don't discount this but it always makes me question why some of the more expensive, and even open source, controllers have PH probes...

 

[fijisrfr]

What's PH?


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[thegrun]

...I wouldn't say that pH is of no importance at all, but trying to raise your pH by adding buffers is a road to a disaster. pH buffers raise your alkalinity and only give a short duration rise to your pH. Stable alkalinity is MUCH more important than your pH, but high pH will give you faster stony coral growth and slightly better coloration.

 

[mcgyvr]

I don't discount this but it always makes me question why some of the more expensive, and even open source, controllers have PH probes...

Many people still believe its something they should be actively monitoring...
Then there is also its usage in calcium reactor monitoring/automation

 

[hkgar]

What’s PH?


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It is a measure of the acid or alkalinity of something. In our case the water of our aquariums. The lower the number the more acid. 7.0 is generally consider neutral. It is used quite often for checking the level in swimming pools.

Levels at about 6.3 or lower can dissolve stoney corals.

 

[nereefpat]

It is a measure of the acid or alkalinity of something. In our case the water of our aquariums. The lower the number the more acid. 7.0 is generally consider neutral. It is used quite often for checking the level in swimming pools.

Levels at about 6.3 or lower can dissolve stoney corals.

fijisr might have been making fun of the PH vs pH (there, their, they're)

 

[hkgar]

pH
ˌpēˈāCH/
nounChemistry
noun: pH; plural noun: pHs

a figure expressing the acidity or alkalinity of a solution on a logarithmic scale on which 7 is neutral, lower values are more acid, and higher values more alkaline. The pH is equal to -log10 c, where c is the hydrogen ion concentration in moles per liter.

 

[fijisrfr]

fijisr might have been making fun of the PH vs pH (there, their, they're)

No; more of a tongue in cheek comment on the frivolity of chasing ph


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