PH question

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quarryshark

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Will the reduction of PO4 cause a shift downward in PH? I have been on a sucessful cyno battle and have basically eliminated PO4 from my system and my source water. The cyno and hair algae is all but gone now but I have noticed that my PH has dropped from the usual 8.2-8.3 down to 7.9-8.0. My alk is a steady 3.5+.
I have added another #40 of LR recently and doubled my sand bed to a depth of 4-4.5". One would think this should help.
All these changes have been recent, should I just give it a little time or start buffering?
TIA

Also my fresh salt mix measured at 8.25.
 
The only thing I can think of Quarryshark is that your biological filter may be working harder since you added the LR and sand. Adding that much sand at once would smother your sandbed causing a mini cycle that could drive your PH down. Have you noticed any NH3 spikes?
 
phases99 said:
The only thing I can think of Quarryshark is that your biological filter may be working harder since you added the LR and sand. Adding that much sand at once would smother your sandbed causing a mini cycle that could drive your PH down. Have you noticed any NH3 spikes?

No, ammonia has been fine. Also all the fish are out in qt right now. Thats why I did all the changes. All of the inverts are fine. Actually I opened the lids for a while tonight and the PH is running 8.02 right now. I didn't add all the sand at once, it was over a period of about 2 weeks.
I'll just watch it.
Thanks!!
 
If opening the lid helped it sounds like you have bad CO2 exchange in your tank?

Cheers Shelton.
 
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