Nano Help Asap!!!!! Ph Dropped 7.8

braad

braad

Member
i have a 12 gal nanocube and im looking at my clown a few min ago and he isnt looking to good so i test the water and my ph is at 7.8 and the other day it was at between 8.2 - 8.4.
i just did a 10 percent waterchange and put some ph balencer in it...anything else i can do for now?
i have a percula, emerald crab, a bunch of liverock, a small frag with a few mushrooms and some starbust polyps.
ph - 7.8
ammonia - 0
trites and trates are fine
salinity - between .023-.024
temp - 77
this is also in the reef tank area but i need help asap so i posted here too. thanks
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
A big enough water change or enough 10% changes will eventually correct it provided you are using a good salt such as Kent or Instant Ocean. Most aquarium sea salts are formulated to buffer to 8.3. Make sure to get some Kent SuperBuffer DKh or equivelent and keep it on hand to keep your water buffered to 8.3 if it starts to drop. This site sells it.
You can use baking soda in a pinch to up your PH, but be VERY careful. In a nano, a little goes a very long way. Just mix some in a glass of RO water and add a little of this at a time to the tank. I'd try to bring that PH back up over a period of at least a day or two.
Oh yeah, and what time of the day did you test? Are you testing your alkalinity (KH)?
 
braad

braad

Member
Whats considered a pinch?
Im just worried about my clown dying, thats what im mainly worried about right now.
Also, I use NanoAB and I cant remember if i did part B after and that might have done it, I was doing a lot of things at once today and i might have forgotten to go back and add part B but i swear i did. Its just one of those things im thinking about and not 100 percent sure on because im freaking out.
Any other suggestions?
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Well I am in no way familiar with the NanoAB. However, one thing that all the two part products I know of have in common is that they tend to RAISE PH, not lower it. It sounds like your tank isn't well buffered. A tank that has high buffering capacity and alkalinity will tend to resist changes (or crashes) in PH. If you use a product designed to buffer to 8.3, like the superbuffer product I mentioned, you are a whole lot safer than using baking soda, so I wouldn't recommend it as a permanent solution.
Using baking soda, or Sodium Bicarbonate, will raise your PH, but if you aren't careful, it will go well beyond 8.3.
So, by "In a pinch" (I meant if you are in a bind, not "use a pinch" of it), I'd say that if you have nothing else DESIGNED for aquarium use, then I'd use it to at least shave ph .2 or so off that difference, until you can get to an LFS or order some. I would expect that if you got things to 8.0 everything should be okay for the moment. Just to give you an idea, of how much to use, I use it to buffer my freshwater planted tank up to a higher PH so that I can inject Co2 for my plants. It's a 120 gallon tank, and 1 tablespoon of baking soda increases my PH by about 0.5, so when I say be very careful, I really mean it.
Truthfully, the animal I'd expect you to have the biggest problem with is the emerald crab. Inverts usually have the biggest problem with ph changes from what I've seen.
Just make sure to add any buffer products in the early part or middle of the day. If you do it in the evening, or worse, after the lights go out, you can spike your PH and really make a mess.
 
devilboy

devilboy

Member
what they mean by a pinch. is if you are in a pinch, an emergency and you need to raise your pH level you can use baking soda.
pH will go up and down thru out a 24 hr period. your lowest pH reading will be in the morning before lights come on, and your highest reading will be right after lights go out for the day. and check it in the afternoon, average the 3 readings together to get a pH reading, do this over several days and some how much of a flucuation you have between days.
 
braad

braad

Member
I called the local fish store to see whats up. They said the buffer i used should do it and to wait a few hours to see where its at and to add part B if the PH is where it should be and the fish shouldnt die.
im still worried though :mad:
 
devilboy

devilboy

Member
try to calm down, everything will probably be ok. first thing and the hardest thing i learned in this hobby is patience. the 2nd thing i learned is not to always trust the LFS. 3rd thing good things only happen slowly in this hobby. dont rush things. is your fish eating at all?
do this tomorrow, check pH level before lights come on, check sometime during the day, and check after lights go out. and take the average of the three readings. add all 3 readings up and divide by 3.
that will give you an average pH reading for the day. do this for a few days and hopefully your pH will either be in the normal range 8.1 - 8.4 or it will either be constantly low. and if thats the case then it could be adjusted from there. i have had mine drop to 7.8 before and everything lived. the main concern is the inverts in the tank do not like the major pH swings. so they are the ones to keep an eye on.
also what test kit you using to check your pH?
 
afterblues

afterblues

New Member
Originally Posted by braad
i have a 12 gal nanocube and im looking at my clown a few min ago and he isnt looking to good so i test the water and my ph is at 7.8 and the other day it was at between 8.2 - 8.4.
i just did a 10 percent waterchange and put some ph balencer in it...anything else i can do for now?
i have a percula, emerald crab, a bunch of liverock, a small frag with a few mushrooms and some starbust polyps.
ph - 7.8
ammonia - 0
trites and trates are fine
salinity - between .023-.024
temp - 77
this is also in the reef tank area but i need help asap so i posted here too. thanks
Do you add anything to boost calcium? Everytime I added any of the calcium additives, my Ph fell, then I'd add Ph Boosters and calcium would fall....sigh. Also, as someone else pointed Ph will differ between day and night. And you have a smaller tank and if you are a newbie, I'd say every day testing until you know how your tank behaves is pretty much mandatory.
Now how do we fix your problem. Firstly, and most importantly, do not add just any Ph Balancer. I personally mix Kent's super buffer added to fresh dechorinated water to buffer up by tank. And rapid increases in Ph can be as stressful for your fish as rapid falls. Add a bit, and add more the next day, slowly buffer it up to the level you want. Monitor everyday.
I personally don't think that your Ph alone has caused your fish to act wierd if the drop has been between 8.2 to 7.8. Maybe it declined too rapidly, maybe it has some other problem. I'd do small water changes regularily, buffer and observe discreetly. I find my fish get more stressed out when I have my nose pressed to the aquarium. Keep us posted and good luck.
 
devilboy

devilboy

Member
i personally would not go below 8.0 for a pH reading. but thats just my opinion. most sites and people recommend 8.1 to 8.4 but stablity is better then it going up and down constantly
 
mikegronholz

mikegronholz

Member
Believe it or not, your clown is very resilient ... A couple of years ago, someone on this very site told me that if a nuclear bomb landed, 2 things live ... cockroaches and clownfish ... My ph was at 7.8 as well ... couple of days of Kent Superbuffer ... back at 8.1 ... all life made it
 
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