Low ph

[Guy554]

I am having issues with my Ph dropping. The tank has been up and running for almost a month. A buddy of mine and myself have the same set up and we use the same RO water, but his ph is normal and mine is around 7.8-8. What is going on with my tank and why is his tank just fine? What's the best way to fix the issue? My LFS told me to run a Buffer. Everything I read is not to add stuff like that to your tank. Chemical free tank is a happy tank. Correct?

 

[carey]

Youre correct, dont be adding things to the tank unless you really need to. I ran my 125g at about 8.0 for a couple years and it is much better that it is constant than if it dips and goes up. Stability is everything in saltwater.

 

[Phranque]

You can set up two tanks side-by-side, with everything being the same....rock source, water, salt mix, lights, etc, and they will almost always turn out biologically different.
And you were correct in not adding anything..... a stable tank is a happy tank. A pH of 8.0 is a little lower than normal, but not bad. Using buffers & bouncing the pH up & down could be detrimental.

 

[Guy554]

Thanks, so far everything seems good.

 

[jeffaquarius]

The pH will normally vary depending on what time of day you take your readings. It gradually goes down to about - 0.1 at night 1 hr after the lights are off and goes up during the day after 1 hr the lights are on. I'm not sure about others but mine fluctuates between 8.4 and 8.2 with alk of 10dkH