Are my Parameters too high or right on?

[bfazio1030]

PH - 8.35 (after dosing Reef Buffer)
Alkalinity - 12.5
Calcium - 388 (just dosed more this morning after test)
S.G - 1.025

Will test Magnesium later today when i recieve hanna checker.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Your alkalinity is high, but that's because you're using a pH buffer. There is no such thing as a pH buffer that works in reef tanks that won't also raise your alkalinity. Even the ones that say they won't, will. I would discontinue using that product immediately. If someone advised you to use that product to raise your pH, I would not take their advice anymore.

Your alkalinity will drop over time if you stop using the pH buffer.

 

[bfazio1030]

Your alkalinity is high, but that's because you're using a pH buffer. There is no such thing as a pH buffer that works in reef tanks that won't also raise your alkalinity. Even the ones that say they won't, will. I would discontinue using that product immediately. If someone advised you to use that product to raise your pH, I would not take their advice anymore.

Your alkalinity will drop over time if you stop using the pH buffer.

Thanks for the advice. How would i go about keeping my PH Around 8.3?

 

[ZiBiReef]

Thanks for the advice. How would i go about keeping my PH Around 8.3?

You dont need it to be at 8.3... your test kit could also be off so dont completely trust the value. Keep track of stability. What does your PH hang around before you decided to buffer?

 

[bfazio1030]

You dont need it to be at 8.3... your test kit could also be off so dont completely trust the value. Keep track of stability. What does your PH hang around before you decided to buffer?

It hangs around 8.01

 

[ZiBiReef]

It hangs around 8.01

Dont worry about bringing it up, just keep it stable. Ways to keep it from going down is CO2 absorber connected to the airline intake on your skimmer and if you have macro algae in your sump, have it on a reverse cycle with your display lights(Display lights on/fuge off and display light off/fuge on)

 

[EMeyer]

Thanks for the advice. How would i go about keeping my PH Around 8.3?

Ignore pH. As long as your water chemistry is correct, your tank is not going to reach any pH levels that will be a problem for anything in your tank.

Many of the reports of low pH are probably wrong (because of testing error), the recommended solutions often cause more harm than good, and natural reefs experience a wide range of pH values daily.

I thought it had been well established among reefers for a while now to ignore pH, but lately I've seen lots of people chasing pH. I wonder what led to this resurgence?

 

[EMeyer]

For example, consider this figure from a recent study of daily variation in coral reef water pH.

(Note that the colored lines are pH, and the black lines are temperature)

pH goes below 8 every day on natural reefs. I really don't see a good justification for trying to maintain stable high pH in our tanks.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Thanks for the advice. How would i go about keeping my PH Around 8.3?

It hangs around 8.01

Reefers are successful from 7.9 pH up to 8.3. As long as you're in that range, you're fine. 8.01 is actually good for pH. A lot of reefers would love to have pH around 8.01.

The only way to control pH in seawater is to reduce CO2, which is relatively difficult and/or expensive to do. I would not bother with pH, especially if you regularly sit at 8.01.

If you really want to reduce CO2, you can. A CO2 scrubber would help, although you really should control the air flow with a solenoid to increase the life of the media and keep pH stable. Expect to spend close to $100 on a good solenoid and a few hundred on a controller if you don't already have one. Also expect to replace the media regularly. You can also use an air exchanger to replace high-CO2 air from your home with low CO2 air from outside. These are expensive to install though.

More realistic approaches are using limewater or Randy's high-pH two part recipe for supplementing calcium and alkalinity. These will get you the most bang for your buck in terms of pH increase.

 

[MnFish1]

For example, consider this figure from a recent study of daily variation in coral reef water pH.

(Note that the colored lines are pH, and the black lines are temperature)

pH goes below 8 every day on natural reefs. I really don't see a good justification for trying to maintain stable high pH in our tanks.

Excellent graph - curious though - was this done as part of a study evaluating 'acidification' of coral reefs (which is thought to be detrimental) - or was this from pristine reefs - just designed to show daily variation,. In any case - I completely agree with your point about natural variation, etc.

 

[Dr. Jim]

It hangs around 8.01

To raise your pH, I would highly recommend figuring out a way to pipe in air from outside. If you do, I bet you may find that you don't need a scrubber. That's what happened with me. I bought a scrubber at the same time I performed the plumbing, then found the scrubber to be unnecessary. (You will save a lot of money if you can forego the scrubber!)
I used 1" pvc pipe for approx. 20'. In retrospect, I'm sure I could have gotten by with 3/4" or maybe 1/2" pipe. 1/2" tubing might be a possibility but I don't like the smell and wonder if chemicals from fumes would get into the tank. But I use a carbon filter along the route, anyway. My pH stays stable just with outside air: 8.14-8.35

 

[SoAg Reefer]

Parameters are dependent on so much more than what you provided. What kind of coral are you keeping? What are you PO4 and NO3 levels? SPS tanks with low nutrients you want alk much lower than you have. Higher nutrient levels you can be higher. Softies and LPS it doesnt matter as much but still matters a bit. I keep my alk between 8-8.3 but also run PO4 of .04-.08 and nitrates 2 or less. For PH, as mentioned, its not overly important but I do notice better PE and growth when daytime PH is 8.3 and nighttime is 8.1, With that being said, if I dont change out my CO2 scrubber media every week my PH will drop to 7.95 during the day and 7.8 at night. Nothing gets hurt but PE extension is noticeably less.

People also run very successful reef tanks at a 12.5 DKH but keep it stable there. At the end of the day, you can acclimate corals to any level within reason but have to maintain that level. The swings is what can hurt you and if you run high ALK or low ALK and your nutrient levels are the inverse of what you want for that level you will have problems. With regards to Calcium and Mag, these vary as well. Higher Mag results in less algae issues it seems but youll get varying opinions on this. For me, Alk at 8.0-8.3, Cal at 400-430 and Mag around 1400 with a higher PH and low nutrients works great. It is helpful to send off for an ICP test once a month or every two months to ensure you dont have metals leaking. K, I, copper, iron, barium, strontium etc are important to know as well. Again, mainly on the SPS side

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

pH goes below 8 every day on natural reefs. I really don't see a good justification for trying to maintain stable high pH in our tanks.

There are good reasons. Is it mandatory? No.

Many folks also have pH dropping well below those posted curves. Thus such data provides no rational for a pH of, say, 7.7.