PH Question

[euro_Boy_To]

Hello,

I have a 29G Aquarium established for about 3 weeks. It seems like i had a very tiny amount of amonia and then it's all zero. There is plenty of stuff growing on my live rocks now and tons of junk built between them, where as before they were completely clean.

I want to put a damsel inside, but the PH keeps going down. It was 7.8 to begin with before I added any marine buffer.. every time I add the Seachem buffer it goes to 8.1 or more, depending how much I add, but then goes right back to the 7's again. I managed to go up to around 7.9 for now, after adding 250grams of the buffer...

My question is, will the fish die at this PH?.. does it require exactly 8.1 - 8.3?
It seems like I will never get it up to that high.. and I even have 20lbs of PH boosting rocks and all my Carib Sea sand is supposed to boost PH as well..

Could the life on the rock have something to do with the PH going down?

Could water flow also have anything to do with it? I only have about 150galons/hour flowing right now.. I got a 500gph pump coming very soon. I set it up right now so I get quite a lot of turbulence on the top of the water and water seems to be flowing every I look around the rocks.

 

[Serpentman]

Because you are still seeing ammonia, it sounds like you are still in your cycle, possibly due to die-off on the LR. Ammonia & Nitrite should be 0.

How much LR do you have? Are you running a skimmer?

 

[lando]

I would not add the damsel yet...let your tank cycle completely. If you do not see any huge NH3 or NO2 spike it is possible there is not enough "food" in the tank to feed the cycle. If that is the case, add a raw shrimp from the grocery store to help out. However, if you used cured LR to start and plenty of it, it is possible you will not see a cycle.

As for the Ph...do not worry about it now, it is not really that important in cycling. Once your tank has cycled completely then do a 50% water change. The buffer found in the SW mix should be enough to get your Ph back on track. Just monitor it for a few days afterwards.

 

[xkenneth]

So then my question for all of this is..how important is PH? My tank is cycling and the PH is sitting around 7.7, i spoke with a friend about it and he was convinced that the PH was fine and I was wasting money buying products to adjust it. So for everyone here, how important do you consider the PH?

Regards,
Ken

 

[Serpentman]

xkennenth, how far into your cycle are you? From what I have seen, if you are experiencing high ammonia, a lower pH is pretty typical. I would agree with your friend and not worry about your pH until you are done cycling. Once the cycle is complete, things tend to balance out at around 8.2-8.4.

Why type of substrate do you use? Any LR?

 

[tecwzrd]

Having a cover on the tank will build up CO2 and cause your ph to stay low. It’s best to go topless or at least half topless on your tank for good oxygen exchange.

Also adding too much buffer can lead to ph crashes as well. New tanks usually will run slightly lower in ph until the cycle is finished and even then it can take a month or two to stabilize. As long as it’s in the 7.8-8.3 range and is steady fish will adjust to it. Main thing is to keep it constant and only increase slowly over days if needed. If you have fish in the tank and need to increase make sure you thoroughly mix the ph buffer in tank water before adding.

 

[xkenneth]

Currently I have a 10 gallon with 16lbs of live rock nearing the end of its cycle. I've got about 3/4" of CC and 3/4" of aragonite for substrate.

 

[lando]

So then my question for all of this is..how important is PH?

Providing a stable Ph with little flucuation is much more important then an actual number. Ph will generally shift slightly throughout the day in accordance with your photoperiod. As mentioned, livestock can adjust to a wide range of Ph readings (7.8-8.3 is a good target) but do not respond well to rapid and drastic changes in Ph. The most important thing is to keep it stable.

 

[austinsdad]

Curious. What kind salt mix you using?

I'm having a heck of a time with Oceanic. I've heard its not too good on Ph. Think I might be slowly switching back to Instant Ocean. I prefer 8.3, but this stuff is giving me about 7.8 out of the box - in all 3 of my tanks.

 

[Guest]

i too have had the same problems as you to euro i have been in the saltwater trade for about 3 years and i have never really had a ph of 8.1-8.3. well at least for a long period of time. i know i got so darn mad and though all my fish were stressing out and i went out and bough 100$'s worth of stuff to try to bring my ph back to were it was suppose to be. i just figured that all the stuff i did, didn't help out. and yet my fish looked very happy. so i know what your trying to ask. my though is just stay with it! and dont worrie if you ph is around 7.8-8.0. any lower theres something causing it weather its food or dead fish ect..

thanks
burlinn