fishyfriend101
Member
Thanks! And ive got like 4 threads im hopeless lol
Totally confused with new tank. Help please!
- Thread starter cl72
- Start date
cl72
New Member
It's coming up on the High Holidays, and yesterday was my birthday so I haven't been on the site as often as I usually do, where is your stuff that you want me to look at?...What is hmu if I can?
Hey flower
Happy belated birthday.
My PH today is still 7.6 after 2 dose of buffer. Today I am going to try 8.4
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by cl72 http:///t/396275/totally-confused-with-new-tank-help-please/20#post_3530399
Hey flower
Happy belated birthday.
My PH today is still 7.6 after 2 dose of buffer. Today I am going to try 8.4
All I really know about PH is that it's higher at lights out time, and lowest in the morning, I read on this site all the time about buffer being just a bandage, and that folks should not dose for it.
I can't explain tech stuff, water changes should reset everything.
The only time I had low PH was back when I first began, I was using a Red Sea hydrometer that kept saying my SG was way too high. I would remove saltwater and add more RO freshwater, the PH was super low. I went to the LFS and asked them to test my water, thinking I had something wrong....the PH was indeed low, but it was low because my SG was almost freshwater.
Then I brought them the hydrometer, it said their SG was off the chart high. It turned out the hydrometer was all messed up, so I got a replacement...then I asked the store guy to make sure it read correctly before I took it home, the replacement, and the 15 others on the shelf were all off. They had one left from a shipment before, it had the correct reading, so the entire batch was bad from that lot #. I took the one good one and they removed the others off the shelves. However that good Red Sea hydrometer worked flawlessly for 8 years before I final replaced it with a refractometer.
I never heard of a refractometer until I came to this site, and even then the LFS did not know what it was, so I ordered it on line when the Red Sea one wore out. I never had to do hypo so the refractometer seemed like just an extra cost. As long as the water change water matched the display, all was good.
So maybe your problem isn't really the PH, or you are doing your tests too early after lights on.
Originally Posted by cl72 http:///t/396275/totally-confused-with-new-tank-help-please/20#post_3530399
Hey flower
Happy belated birthday.
My PH today is still 7.6 after 2 dose of buffer. Today I am going to try 8.4
All I really know about PH is that it's higher at lights out time, and lowest in the morning, I read on this site all the time about buffer being just a bandage, and that folks should not dose for it.
I can't explain tech stuff, water changes should reset everything.
The only time I had low PH was back when I first began, I was using a Red Sea hydrometer that kept saying my SG was way too high. I would remove saltwater and add more RO freshwater, the PH was super low. I went to the LFS and asked them to test my water, thinking I had something wrong....the PH was indeed low, but it was low because my SG was almost freshwater.
Then I brought them the hydrometer, it said their SG was off the chart high. It turned out the hydrometer was all messed up, so I got a replacement...then I asked the store guy to make sure it read correctly before I took it home, the replacement, and the 15 others on the shelf were all off. They had one left from a shipment before, it had the correct reading, so the entire batch was bad from that lot #. I took the one good one and they removed the others off the shelves. However that good Red Sea hydrometer worked flawlessly for 8 years before I final replaced it with a refractometer.
I never heard of a refractometer until I came to this site, and even then the LFS did not know what it was, so I ordered it on line when the Red Sea one wore out. I never had to do hypo so the refractometer seemed like just an extra cost. As long as the water change water matched the display, all was good.
So maybe your problem isn't really the PH, or you are doing your tests too early after lights on.
beaslbob
Well-Known Member
Quote:Originally Posted by cl72 http:///t/396275/totally-confused-with-new-tank-help-please/20#post_3530399
Hey flower
Happy belated birthday.
My PH today is still 7.6 after 2 dose of buffer. Today I am going to try 8.4
Perhaps I'm late here and this has already been stated.
As I understand it you took a sample somplace and the pH measured low.
PH in fw and marine tanks is a function of carbonate and carbon dioxide.
You lower the co2 and the pH rises.
My concerns that by the time you got your sample to the testing place the water conditions, in this case co2, was different then your tank conditions. So the test was not representative of your tank conditions.
Second, plant life like algae and especially macro alge will increase the pH. So you should always maeaure pH just before lights out.
While the pH will rise with lights on and drop lights off, the highest pre algae pH value will be much higher then the lowest post algae value. That is because the tank can and will become a net consumer of CO2 and producer of oxygen each 24 hour period.
Notice I say that regardless of the KH (carbonate) in the system. The pH will rise even if the kH is low. But that pH will drop further light off. But still be higher then before the algae. Bringing up the kH will help limit the nightly pH drop. But the algae action is what will shoot the pH up to the 8.4-8.8 api purple test kit range.
I am assuming you are also using the high range test kit and the 7.6 is the lowerst reading. the PH test kit has 7.6 as its highest reading.
still all in all it's just my .02
Hey flower
Happy belated birthday.
My PH today is still 7.6 after 2 dose of buffer. Today I am going to try 8.4
Perhaps I'm late here and this has already been stated.
As I understand it you took a sample somplace and the pH measured low.
PH in fw and marine tanks is a function of carbonate and carbon dioxide.
You lower the co2 and the pH rises.
My concerns that by the time you got your sample to the testing place the water conditions, in this case co2, was different then your tank conditions. So the test was not representative of your tank conditions.
Second, plant life like algae and especially macro alge will increase the pH. So you should always maeaure pH just before lights out.
While the pH will rise with lights on and drop lights off, the highest pre algae pH value will be much higher then the lowest post algae value. That is because the tank can and will become a net consumer of CO2 and producer of oxygen each 24 hour period.
Notice I say that regardless of the KH (carbonate) in the system. The pH will rise even if the kH is low. But that pH will drop further light off. But still be higher then before the algae. Bringing up the kH will help limit the nightly pH drop. But the algae action is what will shoot the pH up to the 8.4-8.8 api purple test kit range.
I am assuming you are also using the high range test kit and the 7.6 is the lowerst reading. the PH test kit has 7.6 as its highest reading.
still all in all it's just my .02
cl72
New Member
All I really know about PH is that it's higher at lights out time, and lowest in the morning, I read on this site all the time about buffer being just a bandage, and that folks should not dose for it.
I can't explain tech stuff, water changes should reset everything.
The only time I had low PH was back when I first began, I was using a Red Sea hydrometer that kept saying my SG was way too high. I would remove saltwater and add more RO freshwater, the PH was super low. I went to the LFS and asked them to test my water, thinking I had something wrong....the PH was indeed low, but it was low because my SG was almost freshwater.
Then I brought them the hydrometer, it said their SG was off the chart high. It turned out the hydrometer was all messed up, so I got a replacement...then I asked the store guy to make sure it read correctly before I took it home, the replacement, and the 15 others on the shelf were all off. They had one left from a shipment before, it had the correct reading, so the entire batch was bad from that lot #. I took the one good one and they removed the others off the shelves. However that good Red Sea hydrometer worked flawlessly for 8 years before I final replaced it with a refractometer.
I never heard of a refractometer until I came to this site, and even then the LFS did not know what it was, so I ordered it on line when the Red Sea one wore out. I never had to do hypo so the refractometer seemed like just an extra cost. As long as the water change water matched the display, all was good.
So maybe your problem isn't really the PH, or you are doing your tests too early after lights on. :%%:
Yeah I always do water test in the morning.... The one time I had 8.6 PH at LFS was late afternoon.
Maybe I should just ignore it for a few days and not mess with it till my seachem test kit arrive.
I also open the feeding flap of the cover hoping it does some changes.
Er, side track a bit, does a yellow clown goby gets along with a yellow watchman goby ? Can a black and white oc clown gets along with a common clown? Just curious