Low PH??

[cmc3502]

I have never had low PH in the 10+ months I've had a saltwater tank... however i just went from a 40 gallon to a 29 gallon... moved everything over so there was alot of dust stirred up.... heres my test results today.. nothing concerns me except for the PH. Can I use ph buffer that raises ph as well as alkinity which is fine...?
salinity - 1.028
phosphate - 0
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
PH - 7.6
alkinity - 11
nitrate - 9
calcium - 560
temp - 80.1

 

[thud]

To my knowledge that would be your only option to up your pH.
Baking soda is often recommended. - (pH of baking soda is around 8)
But i would buy pH up 8.3 and add it veryyyy slowly to the tank over 4 hours time or more.

 

[rebelprettyboy]

I agree with Thud I used PH UP be seachem and it worked great

 

[reefforbrains]

if alk is holding at 11 and cal is high, hows your exchange? You running a glass top on the tank?
Seems odd that is Cal is high that your levels wouldnt follow unless either poor gas exchange. Overfeeding or lots of algea and poor tank maint.
I dont say that with insult, but with your other levels looking really good I wouldnt recommend buffering just yet. Your alk has room to come a bit without hurting anything and this should give the room to let everything happen naturally. Running Cal so high usually pushes up the PH and down the Alk. You have the reverse so I am betting on overfeeding or poor ventalation/exchange.

 

[earlybird]

What RFB said is right on. What kind of salt mix are you uising and when was your last water change? Also pH is different at different times of the day, higher during the day and a little lower at night.

 

[cmc3502]

interesting.... well as I said I just changed tanks, but used the same water, so I'm looking foward to doing a water change on sat. morning. maybe 5 gallons of the 29 gallon tank. My calcium has always been high, its actually lower than it has been (was up in the 600s). My thought was that maybe with sub par lighting, my corals just werent using it???
This was tested at night, so maybe that will change a bit...also the surface area to depth ratio was worst on my old tank so that should help exchange.. I feed every other day with just some marine flake food. I had a little hair algae but I scrubed it off the rocks and have since been watching the phosphate levels. Only other thing I can think of is that I stirred up all the live sand in the transfer and that might effect things.
1) I went ahead and put just a little buffer in the tank last night, it might raise my alkinity t0 12, but hopefully will help the PH.
2) The water change should do wonders this weekend. Fingers crossed!

 

[cmc3502]

bump

 

[triga22]

I use PH buffer whenever I need it. It works great.

 

[cmc3502]

ph is up to 8.4 today... guess that buffer worked!!?? I'll be keeping an eye on things for the next few days..

 

[reefforbrains]

hmmmmm..well something sounds fishy to me about the proccess and your interactions but oh well, if everything is working then who am I to say boo about it.
Congrats on everything working, just doesnt sound right to me.........keep a watchful eye out. Likley to have something dive
Sorry if I sound negative just everything is a little too peachy and out of ordanary when dealing with such pushed levels.

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by cmc3502
ph is up to 8.4 today... guess that buffer worked!!?? I'll be keeping an eye on things for the next few days..
Did you buffer for pH or alkalinity?

 

[cmc3502]

it was for alkinity, but the bottle also states that it will maintain a proper 8.2 ph level...
I too am suspecious of these results... I'll be doing test every evening for the next few days...

 

[earlybird]

please post them b/c those that buffer for pH only see results for a short period of time and then their pH drops back down.

 

[hatessushi]

Originally Posted by cmc3502
ph is up to 8.4 today... guess that buffer worked!!?? I'll be keeping an eye on things for the next few days..
Wow, in one day you went from 7.6 to 8.4? That is a very drastic change. pH in the ocean runs anywhere from 7.6 in the open sea to 8.4 in the reef areas. An average of 7.8 is ok but most fish keepers stay around 8.1 to 8.4. What you are looking for is stability and the pH should not fluctuate more then .2 either way in a 24 hr. period.
Any buffer you add should be added slowly if you are raising it more then .2, personally I would add only enough buffer to bring the pH from 7.6 to 7.8 and then the next day do it again. Also a drastic change in alkalinity is not dersirable. good luck

 

[cmc3502]

yea this really wierd.... its always been at 8.2ish and then, when I changed tanks, it went to 7.6 (maybe just a bad test????). The I added a HALF CAP FULL... hardly enough to count and it jumped to 8.4.... doesnt seem right. The alkinity has stayed at around 11.