is 7.8 ph bad?

[mykrofon]

i dont know whats going on.............my nitrites,nitrates and ammonia are all at 0 but my ph wont go up from 7.8........will these kill or affect a rock full of zoos a couple of mushroom and a couple of hermit crabs and turbo snails?

 

[pfitz44]

Yes... 7.8 is too low.... you need to get your alk and calcium tested as well... tehy are buffers for pH

 

[birdy]

Test your Alk and Ca, if they are in the correct range and you are still at 7.8 pH, then don't worry about it. One of those levels are low, you may need to adjust them and then pH will probably go up also.
Don't dose for only pH, that is the worst thing you can do.

 

[ophiura]

7.8 is not bad unless it is unstable and fluctuates a lot.
Do test your alk and calcium as these are critical. DO NOT BUY a pH "buffer" unless your alkalinity is too low (don't let your LFS talk you into it without testing it).
Do you have glass tops on your tank?
What circulation do you have in the tank?
Do you have surface aggitation in the tank?
Another cause of low pH when alk and calcium are normal is CO2 accumulation or poor gas exchange. This is often easily fixed by switching to using eggcrate on the tank, or increasing surface aggitation. It is easily tested. Take a water sample...perhaps a gallon or so. Take an airstone and airpump and aerate the water for several hours or overnight. If the pH is higher after this than you may have a gas exchange issue.

 

[kengaroo]

<Do test your alk and calcium as these are critical. DO NOT BUY a pH "buffer" unless your alkalinity is too low.>
Would this comment apply to Marine Buffer by Seachem as well?

 

[ophiura]

Yup. Most pH "buffers" actually buffer alkalinity. Alkalinity is, basically, the ability of the water to withstand changes in pH, specifically to the addition of an acid (such as carbonic acid which forms simply from respiration...CO2+H2O -->H2CO3). If your alkalinity is too low, it can lead to lots of fluctuations in pH, which can be fatal. But alkalinity is closely tied to calcium levels...adding too much or too little of either can cause lots of imbalances.
There are lots of fun threads on this topic in the archive forum. My general advice is simply to always test pH along with alkalinity and calcium. They are just very closely related