PH question(just added cleanup crew)

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crage34

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jun 16, 2004
Messages
295
Location
Kentucky
my tank just cycled about 5 days ago (shrimp method) and today i went out and bout 3 turbos 3 blue leg hermits and 1 cleaner shrimp (lfs told the me shrimp was a peppermint, i got home and looked it up on the net and it is most def a cleaner but i like it alot)...i just tested my parameters again tonight: ammonia 0 nitrites 0 nitrates less than 10 PH 7.8....is my ph ok or am i doing something wrong? i wanted to get a clown tomorrow but i wanted to check about my ph with u all first :) my setup is in my signature (i plan on getting 10lbs of lr from lr.com this week, hopefully it will come pretty well cured for me)
 
pH is a little low but depends how long after lights out you took a reading. Try taking it again in the morning before lights come on and see if it's even lower, and then right after lights go out in the evening. I would probably hold off on the clownfish till you get the LR in and there's no sign of ammonia or nitrites. That will also give you some time to see if the pH is a problem or not.
 
ok thanks atari...btw i use io salt and i keep my sg at about 1.023...im gonna put my live rock in my qt before i put it in my main to see if i get an ammonia spike but im hoping that i wont...btw im getting some cyano on my back glass(go turbos go) also i took my ph reading last night right before lights out, willl do the same toniight and then check it in the morn when i get up
 
8.0 is still a touch low, is there a glass cover on the tank?
 
This won't apply to a great degree as of yet since you don't have much algae growth...

Photosynthesis during the day absorbs the CO2 in the water and hence causes the pH to increase. So at the end of day, around when lights go off, the pH in the tank will be at its highest.

Then at night there is respiration which releases CO2 into the water, so you get the opposite effect of pH going down. This will continue until lights come on again, so around that time is when pH will be at its lowest.
 
well actually i have about ten quarter sized redish brown algae spots growing on the back glass
 
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