Juat can't get my PH up

[tdsapp]

I have been watching and my Ph is staying at around 7.59, I was watching it and my Kh and adding a bufer to raise my Kh and Ph and now my Kh is so much better but my Ph had hardly moved. When I started my Kh was at 6 and now it's around 8 but my Ph only went from 7.45 to 7.59 at the same time. Is there a better way to get my Ph up?



Tim

 

[Sherman]

Don't Chase PH!!!!
Your ALk is ok now, it could be higher


What are your other Paramaters? Salinity, Calcium, Magnesium? You get Alk, Cal, Mag in line, PH will fall into place
I know others will chime in but, Check this out....
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2413341
and
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/

 

[melev]

Your pH sounds surprisingly low. As Sherman pointed out, you need to focus on these five parameters and pH will take care of itself:

Temperature!
Salinity
Alkalinity
Calcium
Magnesium

Here are the target numbers I recommend:
Temp: 78-80
Salinity: 1.026sg
Alkalinity: 8-10 dKH
Calcium: 425 ppm
Magnesium: 1350 ppm

If you get those numbers and keep them there, pH will be whatever it will be. I have a feeling you need to calibrate your pH probe if those are your current values.

 

[mtraylor]

@Marc wrote:

Agree. Last time I was chasing Ph, I had to recalibrate my probe.

 

[franklypre]

More airflow would be my suggestion. Take the top off if you haven't, seen a lot of this around here lately. Evap is natures way of cooling as well.

 

[tdsapp]

OK, so today I bought a Mg testing kit... It was the last thing that I did not have for testing.

Here are my specs

Temp: 79 - 79.5 maintained via controller
Salinity: 1.025 I try and keep it here.
Alkalinty: 8.0
Calcium: ~400
Magnesium: 1000 ppm

 

[Mike M]

Assuming the tests are accurate you want to get your Mg up to at least 3x your Ca level. It can take a lot of Mg supplement to get to where you need to be. Recommendations I have seen say you can safely raise your Mg 100 ppm a day. Caveat to note is that adding a lot of Mg supplement may affect your salinity so keep an eye on that as you raise your Mg levels. That said, I've done 200 - 300 ppm increases all at once without issue.

 

[tdsapp]

@franklypre wrote:

Both the top of my tank and the sump are open. I am actually thinking about putting the glass back on the top as I think the new lights (250 Watt MH) is heating up the water at the top. Currently the lights are on the stock stand so only about 4" off the top of the tank, so about 6" to 7" over the water. I plan on moving them up a bit more once the canopy is done as the mounting for the lights is being included in the stand.

 

[cmcoker]

I would think replacing tops would increase the heating effect. as franklypre said evaporation cools.

 

[tdsapp]

@Mike wrote:

Well, the testing results I posted above is all API test except the Ph, and the Mg. The API test are less than one year old and the Mg was bought last night. The Ph is from my Reef Angel but I either really need to calibrate the unit, or I am doing something really wrong. I tried using a Ph buffer yesterday before I posted my thread here and after dosing, waiting, and testing three times in an hour the Ph reading on my RA just started to bounce between 7.54 and 7.55.

@Mike wrote:

That is what I will be doing next. I just picked up the Mg test yesterday on my way home from work and did the test last night at about 11:30 p.m. while I was rolling out some software for work. Today on my way home from work I'll pick up some Mg supplement and I'll start adding it tonight. (Unless there is a reason to start it in the mornings.) Thanks for letting me know that it can affect the salinity... I'll keep a close eye on it.


Tim Sapp

 

[tdsapp]

@cmcoker wrote:

Temperature is not really a major issue for me. I am not having any trouble keeping my tank cool, if anything I can see where my controller is turning the heater on and off on a regular basis. Actually at one time, about a month ago, I had a problem with the heater and had to unplug it. I checked the next day and the temperature had dropped quite a bit below the normal 79 degrees that I try and keep it at. It was at 77 degrees and to me that is quite a drop for that much water. (145 gallons in the tank with about 45 gallons in the sump)

Maybe I am missing something here... Does temperature affect the Ph in a tank? I knew that it dropped during the night when the lights were off (unless there is a good lite over the sump during the night to help keep it stable). Does it change during temperature swings too?


Tim

 

[Sherman]

@tdsapp wrote:

Temperature is not really a major issue for me. I am not having any trouble keeping my tank cool, if anything I can see where my controller is turning the heater on and off on a regular basis. Actually at one time, about a month ago, I had a problem with the heater and had to unplug it. I checked the next day and the temperature had dropped quite a bit below the normal 79 degrees that I try and keep it at. It was at 77 degrees and to me that is quite a drop for that much water. (145 gallons in the tank with about 45 gallons in the sump)

Maybe I am missing something here... Does temperature affect the Ph in a tank? I knew that it dropped during the night when the lights were off (unless there is a good lite over the sump during the night to help keep it stable). Does it change during temperature swings too?


Tim"]
Your heater is turning on this time of year? Do you have a chiller?

 

[Mike M]

@tdsapp wrote:

Well, the testing results I posted above is all API test except the Ph, and the Mg. The API test are less than one year old and the Mg was bought last night. The Ph is from my Reef Angel but I either really need to calibrate the unit, or I am doing something really wrong. I tried using a Ph buffer yesterday before I posted my thread here and after dosing, waiting, and testing three times in an hour the Ph reading on my RA just started to bounce between 7.54 and 7.55.

@Mike wrote:

That is what I will be doing next. I just picked up the Mg test yesterday on my way home from work and did the test last night at about 11:30 p.m. while I was rolling out some software for work. Today on my way home from work I'll pick up some Mg supplement and I'll start adding it tonight. (Unless there is a reason to start it in the mornings.) Thanks for letting me know that it can affect the salinity... I'll keep a close eye on it.


Tim Sapp"]

Sounds like a good plan. There is no specific time for adding Mg that is better than any other time as far as I know. I would just wait 24 hours between dosing anything and testing to make sure you are getting accurate results after things have stabilized.

 

[cmcoker]

I was referring to this post where you said the water was heating up and thinking about putting on glass tops. I read that as you were trying to avoid the water heating by placing tops back on, which I believe would add heat. if you are not having a heat issue, then I guess it doesn't matter

I did not mean to infer that your temp had anything to do with pH. I do not believe you should chase pH so long as it is stable, I monitor pH only because I run my kalk in my ATO and do not want it to go too high.

I would only worry about the other values previously suggested alk, mg, etc. unless starting a new additive that has the risk of causing wild pH swings.

 

[melev]

Temperature isn't an issue. pH is flat out wrong, get the right calibration solutions and calibrate the probe before you do anything else, buffer-wise. And refer to the Reef Chemistry Calculator to determine how much Magnesium you will need to raise it from 1000 ppm to at the very least 1200 ppm. 1380 ppm is more like it, honestly.

Don't put the tops on your tank this time of year. You will depress gas exchange, and that *will* affect pH detrimentally.

 

[tdsapp]

@Marc wrote:

As I said before I picked up the Mg testing kit and it was low, so I went and picked up a Mg Supplement (ION). I have been dosing according to the supplement, waiting 24 hours and then testing and dosing again. So not only is my Mg coming up I am seeing my Ph rise as well. At least during the day when the lights are on the Ph is higher than what it was. I have not been doing anything to directly change the Ph and since I started supplementing the Mg I have seen my Ph go from 7.54 to 7.7x. It will probably take me another two o three days to get it up to 1300+.

I have also noticed a few other things during this process... Some may not have anything to do with the Mg levels but it's a few of the things I noticed.

One, our Duncan is starting to open back up and looking better. I thought he was mad because I had moved him, but when I put him back where he was he was still not opening much. Now he is starting to open again.

Two our Yellow Watchman Goby, "Walter", is starting to get some of his color back. When we got him he was the standard yellow and he went to almost a white with black stripes. Now his blue spots are showing up more and the black stripes are starting to fade.

Three, I got home from work yesterday and while checking out the tank I suddenly realized that most of the annoying algae in the DT was gone. That might be due to the Chaeto in my refugium finally growing enough to consume the nutrients that the other algae was using. The additional hermit crabs and snails we added to the tank finally caught up with it, or that I switched to using some pellet food and feeding less, or a mixture of all three.


Anyhow.... Still love having a reef tank in the house.


Tim

 

[Mike M]

Sounds like things are improving.

 

[rckrzy1]

IMO api and seachem are not the testers of choice, I like redsea and salifert. IMO the seachems are the worse I've ever tried.

 

[freshsaltmonkey]

covering is not going to let the tank breath thus creating other issues. What salt mix are you using?

 

[Jimmerpro]

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