Ph crashing

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aadair22

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
507
Location
Ocala, Fl.
Candy cane coral started looking bad yesterday afternoon, started mixing some saltwater for a change but it was looking better when the lights when out last night. I wake up this morning and its looking awful. I checked the ph and it was 7.4 obviously way to low.. The ph was the same in the bucket I'm mixing with new saltwater, and yes, it is ro/di water. I added buffer to the bucket but haven't to the tank yet. Is there anything I can do besides adding the buffer? What makes a tanks ph crash? Thank you!
 
Ph will always be lowest in the morning. Ph swings high during the day to low at night. That being said. You low ph is too low. Add some buffer to your tank. What salt are you using? Do you have a sump? Are you using a skimmer? Do you have sufficient surface agitation to promote gas exchange? What is your alkalinity currently at? What are all your parameters at?

You could have low oxygen levels and or high carbon dioxide levels. And possibly low alkalinity. Try aiming a power head at the surface to start with.
 
Thank you for the reply.


I know the ph goes low at night but this was way to low, no to mention it was on the low side last night. It is back to normal now.. After I post this, I aimed a powerhead up a little.. I had messed with it a couple days ago and wasn't getting as much surface agitation so I'm assuming that was the problem. Dkh was a little low but not bad.. Still doing a water change as soon as it reaches temp..

I think in the end surface agitation was my problem, I will monitor the ph and dkh the next few days
 
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