ph is off a bit

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douggiestyle

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Oct 20, 2003
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how to get ph right. did an extra water change this week and it rose from 8.2 to 8.4. what is a good ph?
 
Anywhere in the range of 8.2-8.4 is just fine. The only thing you don't want is sudden swings in PH over .2

A few notes:

1) Always test your PH at the same time of day to ensure accuracy as the PH changes from the time the lights come on, off, etc.

2) As saltwater ages in the tank, the natural acids will reduce the alkalinity and the PH a little bit which is also a possibility of why you saw the change in PH. But I think the level is fine in either case.
 
can ph affect alga blooms? i was getting a handle on an alga problem when suddenly it took off. i changed nothing as far as habits and maintainance. when i did my weekly chem tests i noticed that my pH and Alk dropped. my tank is only 4mos old and my log goes back only 2 mos
 
IMO not by itself, but those levels may indicate that other levels dropped as well.....such as perhaps calcium, etc. that allowed nuisance algaes to outcompete calcium based desireable algaes like coralline that were already struggling to get established in a new tank.

I would suspect something else may be off a bit, what kind of algae (hair, cyano, etc.)?
 
other levels dropped as well.....such as perhaps calcium
Ca is fine (440 ppm)
what kind of algae (hair, cyano, etc.)?
hair and cyano.
i believe it all started because i used tap water initially.
three times a week i remove excess alga let tank filter for a while and then clean out mechanical filter media. this seemed to started getting things under control when boom.

nice to see some one else has an exciting friday night :lol:
 
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