The usual low PH thread

[Davycc]

I have PH readings on a digital tester of 7.64 I have tried breaking the surface with power heads, removing the glass cover and opening the hood all with no joy. I know I can add buffers etc but I'd rather sort the root cause. I know if I was running a skimmer I could attach the intake airline and run it outside (but I don't run a skimmer.) I have also read that air pumps don't really work well on marine setups.

Question is surely if I ran my airline from the pump outside this would surely help in raising the PH.

 

[Sk8r]

PH is not usually worth worrying about in a marine tank, unless you have special problems, like a tank in a basement with a furnace. It normally is up and down during a given day. A better guide is alkalinity, which should ride around 8.3, and which is achieved by buffers in your salt mix, by water changes of 10%, or by additional buffer: it exists in a 3-way relationship: calcium and magnesium in solution, and an alkalinity maintained between 7.9 and 8.3, whether through water changes or the addition of buffer. If you have stony corals, their use of calcium will continually pull at that balance, so we add both calcium and mg as time passes. My sig line has typical stony coral readings, which will hold water in a 'lock' of the relationship between alk, cal, mg.

If you do have special reason to worry about ph, that's a different situation; but if an ordinary tank in ordinary circumstances, track alk instead of ph.

 

[Davycc]

PH is not usually worth worrying about in a marine tank, unless you have special problems, like a tank in a basement with a furnace. It normally is up and down during a given day. A better guide is alkalinity, which should ride around 8.3, and which is achieved by buffers in your salt mix, by water changes of 10%, or by additional buffer: it exists in a 3-way relationship: calcium and magnesium in solution, and an alkalinity maintained between 7.9 and 8.3, whether through water changes or the addition of buffer. If you have stony corals, their use of calcium will continually pull at that balance, so we add both calcium and mg as time passes. My sig line has typical stony coral readings, which will hold water in a 'lock' of the relationship between alk, cal, mg.

If you do have special reason to worry about ph, that's a different situation; but if an ordinary tank in ordinary circumstances, track alk instead of ph.

Sounds like great advice and reassuring too. I will be moving slowly at this as all pointer suggest rushing anything is a disaster waiting to happen so no specialist stuff for me ATM, Thanks

 

[ca1ore]

Though I agree that chasing pH is unnecessary, adding kalk/limewater can be beneficial in both helping to keep alk/CA at acceptable levels and in providing a pH boost.

 

[ArmyGreens]

Eveyon always says not to worry much on pH. playing devils advocate here, pH is used mostly in marine setups to monitoring calcium reactors and CO2 dosing. Low tank pH can keep a solenoid from opening.