whitetail187
New member
What would cause my ph to drop all the time?
Ph lowering
- Thread starter whitetail187
- Start date
whitetail187
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Sorry 75 gal reef and fish. Canister filter parameters good . Using LED lighting. About 3 months into it now. Started with live and base rock
whitetail187
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cloak
New member
whitetail187
New member
Slowly drops to 7.8 using api saltwater master test kit. Ammonia zero, nitrite zero, nitrates zero. One powerhead kind of aimed so it keeps the water aerated. Does it look like I need more live rock?
whitetail187
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Thanks cloak, I've been using a buffer to raise my ph. Think I'll switch to kalkwasser. Wonder if my tank truly cycled now. I'm starting to see specks of coraline algea now though.
gone fishin
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pH buffer will just cause you to chase your tail. It essentially raises Alkalinity then it drops again causing the pH to go down.
coralsnaked
New member
Buffering actuially makes it harder to raise or lower pH as it causes the pH to become more stable wherever it currently is. If you want to raise do not buffer. Do the usual things like more fresh air into tank from outside source. If Alk is low then raise it and pH will come up naturally. Highs ans lows are normal daily. Highest just before lights out and lowest just befor lights on. You can try and offset lighting your sump at night to help keep pH up and steadier. I'd research a little while prior to jumping into Kaulk as it will be quite a ltlle switch from other dosing methods like salts.
whitetail187
New member
Guess I need to start by getting an alkalinity test.
disc1
-RT * ln(k)
Yeah. Alk is WAY more important to you than pH.
^^^^^ +1
If alk is low than ph will be low also. Dont worry about ph. You should be more concerned with the big 3, alk, cal, and mag. Also I would ditch the api kit and get salifert and or redsea kits. The api kits aren't very accurate IMHO. Also with a new tank the rock is going to be sucking up the big three for a while so you will notice them dropping on a regular basis by a large amount. At least my tank did. Also if your running gfo, it absorbs alk as well as phosphates.
HTH
If alk is low than ph will be low also. Dont worry about ph. You should be more concerned with the big 3, alk, cal, and mag. Also I would ditch the api kit and get salifert and or redsea kits. The api kits aren't very accurate IMHO. Also with a new tank the rock is going to be sucking up the big three for a while so you will notice them dropping on a regular basis by a large amount. At least my tank did. Also if your running gfo, it absorbs alk as well as phosphates.
HTH
Flameangel2000
New member
I've been having problems with low pH and only when I started using kalk to replace my evaporated water only then it raised my pH.I use a homemade container with metering pump
and connected it to a timer.
and connected it to a timer.
whitetail187
New member
Bought an alkalinity test kit and my alk is lower than seawater is. How do I raise my alk? I always thought alk was ph until this venture into reefing. Seems to be staying a bit higher since I took the little plastic piece completely off one side of my lid. Before I had just cut around intakes and such so to keep the evaporation down.
