PH can't maintain at 8.3 range.

[raynaz]

Hi all,

My tank is around 2 months old. It seems that my KH is very high at 14 range & whenever I buffer up the PH to 8.3 ( drop pretty fast to 7.9 in 2 days) with seachem buffer, the KH will increase by 1 to 2 dkh .

Tried changing water and managed to bring KH down but PH will not hold long in the 8 to 8.30 range. Will b around 7.8 to 7.9 range after a day or two.

Checked CA & MG n the are 420 & 1390. The only thing I dose daily is biofuel(3 ml) since I have high bioload.

My tank is a 1.5 cube. Any idea what have I missed?

Thanks in advance.

BR

Raynaz

[asg]

High bioload = high fish waste = low PH. Act on the health of your coral, not on reading.

[inwear]

Get a quality salt such as DD or least red sea pro. Do frequent WC like 20% twice weekly is cheaper and less tedious in long run for 1.5 feet.

[PowderTang]

Hi I have the same problem as you when I started this hobby

Whenever you add the Ph buffer, the Kh will increase.. Mine every highest at 15 for Kh

Just do water change to bring it down.. And after a while, it will go down on its own

Don't dose too much Ph buffer if you don't wanna increase your kh

[xiggie]

Is there anything wrong with ph 7.8 -7.9?

[Edmund Koh]

I think the worry comes when night falls and a day time 7.9ph will drop to 7.5-7.6ph.

But honestly.. I have given up on trying to bump up my ph. Was on Red Sea salt for 3-4 months and ph was always 7.9 in daytime and 7.5 at night. Just changed to Skimz salt and shall see how if affects the ph after my 3/4 water change.

[PowderTang]

7.8 is still Ok for Ph

I was like you, used to worry about Ph

So just leave it...

Kh more important... Too high and corals will suffer

[raynaz]

I am using DD pro salt. I just realised that when I dose biofuel the PH dropped instantly by 0.2 from 8.1 to 7.9. I will stop dosing the biofuel n throw in an air pump to monitor. Somehow I have a strong feeling this is due to higher CO2 in the water due to carbon dosing. Will update again n thank you all on the feedback ☺

[Saeight Abdul Rahman]

Like what bro andtsg said, work on ur corals. Not ur reading. If the corals are healthy and is used to such level of ph, just stick to it. No point decreasing the ph when ur corals are already healthy.

[raynaz]

I agreed with u saeight. Chatted with a reefer in a lfs n he advised on dripping lime water in the night to pump up the ph. I think I will just stck to more frequent change of water to bring down the kh rather than dripping lime water for now.

[Snail73]

Try putting an air pump in the sump.

[rebbot]

I did not know that a high bio-load would cause the PH to drop, but that is good to know. I would like to advocate 2-part dosing if you are not doing it already since your KH and CA are out of whack.

My short 2-years experience struggling with reefing have taught me that once the parameters line-up, everything else will fall into rightful place. With my tank, I started dosing 20ml of each part daily for a week or two and kept taking daily readings and fine-tuning. Finally I ended up with 25ml of each part daily and the CA, KH and MG holds solid at close to natural seawater levels. The PH also moves from 8.1-8.3 at the highest.

I also dose RF-BioFuel but I do not see the PH moving, but again I dose the suggested levels, which are not as much as you are dosing. Nevertheless, 3ml should not have caused the PH to move by 0.2, which is really too much. Honestly even when I dose 20ml of Part B for KH, my PH probe would only detect movement of 0.03-8 at most upon dispensing in and move back down quickly.

Hope it helps!

[wchris12]

Try dosing PH and do weekly WC

[acewong]

Actually PH not really have to remain so high, my nano tank ph onli 7.8-8.0 but all my fishes n corals seem like happy so I don't bother it

[raynaz]

Try dosing PH and do weekly WC

That will increase my KH as mentioned earlier.

My KH is now within range - 9 (from a high of 15 as I kept dosing PH buffer to the 8 range).

KH is able to drop due to multiple water changes (DD salt and DI water) over the few weeks...PH is now at 7.9 range but I am good since many reefers felt this reading is acceptable.

Overall I am happy since all the big 3 is with range now and will maintain that way now with dosing 2 parts.

Thanks.

[raynaz]

Actually PH not really have to remain so high, my nano tank ph onli 7.8-8.0 but all my fishes n corals seem like happy so I don't bother it

My corals and fish are ok with 7.8 - 7.9 range too

Thanks

[superbee]

I dose kalkwasser to maintain my ph at 8.1-8.3. Compare to dosing ph buffer, I though this is one stone kill 2 birds because I can also boost up my calcium level.

[raynaz]

I dose kalkwasser to maintain my ph at 8.1-8.3. Compare to dosing ph buffer, I though this is one stone kill 2 birds because I can also boost up my calcium level.

By adding kalk, will it affects the KH?

How does the equation works out especially on the relationship with PH.

Kalk is basically calcium hydroxide.....any gurus here can advice will be appreciated