Elevating ph to promote coralline
- Thread starter sundance
- Start date
attml
Active Member
The key to coralline growth is Alkalinity & Calcium. High flow will assist in the spread of coralline spores as well. Ph does play an overall important role in your aquarium water chemistry but at least to my knowledge it only has secondary role in the stimulation of coralline growth. Ph for a reef tank is generally kept between 8.0 & 8.3
broomer5
Active Member
I would ask your friend where he/she read this sundance.
I would never purposely raise marine tankwater to a pH over 8.3
Doing so can lead to several things - all of which are bad.
Ammonia in the tankwater at normal pH values below 8.4 or so, exists as ammonium hydroxide, but at elevated pH levels it cwill change to ammonia gas. Extremely toxic and stressful to tank inhabitants.
The pH scale is logarithmic, so that a pH of 8.9 is ten times as high as a pH of 7.9
This is a HUGE difference to the living fish and inverts.
Not good.
Generally - the higher the pH - the less calcium the tankwater can hold in solution.
Elevated pH is almost always tied to elevated alkalinity.
I would question your friends advise, and see how he or she supports it.
pH above 8.4 = bad idea in my opinion.
I would never purposely raise marine tankwater to a pH over 8.3
Doing so can lead to several things - all of which are bad.
Ammonia in the tankwater at normal pH values below 8.4 or so, exists as ammonium hydroxide, but at elevated pH levels it cwill change to ammonia gas. Extremely toxic and stressful to tank inhabitants.
The pH scale is logarithmic, so that a pH of 8.9 is ten times as high as a pH of 7.9
This is a HUGE difference to the living fish and inverts.
Not good.
Generally - the higher the pH - the less calcium the tankwater can hold in solution.
Elevated pH is almost always tied to elevated alkalinity.
I would question your friends advise, and see how he or she supports it.
pH above 8.4 = bad idea in my opinion.
