Some Newb Questions.

[boarderguy64]

Over spring break i made, and installed a 17g sump to my existing 30g tank. Its been running for about 5 days now and i tested the water today. and saw some changes in PH (rose from 8.0 to 8.4)

1. is this increase in ph normal? what caused it?

2. i have some cheato (about the size of two softballs) in my fuge with a piece of live rock and i run a flourescent plant growing light from home depot. how long should i run the light in a day?

3. the return from the sump is simply some plastic hose that leads into the diffuser box i got with my skimmer. the skimmer is now in the sump, so i can use the diffuser box to create a more gentle flow thru the tank? is this a bad idea? any way i should be doing it? or is there something i can put on the end of the hose to evenly distribute the return water in the tank?

4. when should i start to see some more coralline growth in my tank? its been up for approximately 4 months now, and the coralline on the LR is yet to spead. is there anything i can add to help the process?

5. i have been doing a lot of research about a closed loop. but i still cant find out what the thing does?!?! is it a system which increases flow? a short simple answer would really help me out here?

thanks

 

[mg426]

The PH increase does seem a bit large. What time frame are we talking here?? A day ? A week? what do you use to measure PH? a kit or a monitor? The chaeto will help with the PH for sure. the lighting can be 24/7 or a reverse schedule.

As for the coraline growth. Are you maintaining the proper levels of alk/ ca?

As for flow in your tank, You want a good amount of flow At least 10x tank volume for LPS 20+ for SPS

As closed loop increases flow in your tank. Try here WWW.melevs reef.com

 

[bertoni]

The pH might have increased due to more aeration. Are you dosing any buffers or anything else into the tank.

 

[Swanwillow]

another thing: try to run the lights on the refuge in reverse of the lights in your tank. otherwise, many people will leave the lights on 24/7

its supposed to balance out the ph I'm told... never had a refugium myself, so thats just what I've been TOLD>.

 

[Devildogg9745]

The PH increase is a little drastic, but 8.4 is a good PH to be at. I reverse light my fuge. This helps with PH swings at night. I used to light the fuge 24/7 but I noticed that worms, pods, and other creatures in my fuge don't like the light and tend to be more active and reproduce more when the light is off.

 

[boarderguy64]

awesome. thanks for the help