Lets see, do you know your PH ?

[Young Frankenstein]

Potential of Hydrogen (PH) is extremely important in any reef tank and increases in logarithmic scale, my tanks are running at 8.2-8.3. It takes allot to get my PH that hi. Lighting, aeration and skimming are heavy. Kalk and chemical dosing increases your PH temporarily, a hi increase rapidly (dosing too muck Kalk) can and will result in a tank crashing. So the questions are:
1) How many times my PH increases during day from 8.2 to 8.3 ?
2) If your tank is running at 7.9 and the ocean is at 8.2 how many times is the oceans PH higher than your tank.
3) If your tap water is at 7.0 and your tank is at 8.1 how many times has the PH increased ?


Here is two nice articles http://score.dnr.sc.gov/ktmlpro10/files/uploads/elearning/Understanding_pH.pdf
Low pH: Causes and Cures by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[redfishbluefish]

I think you answered your own questions when you stated that pH is logarithmic. From high school chemistry we know:

pH=-log[H+]

In English, this says that pH equals the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration, where the concentration is in moles per liter. Since it is a natural log, every 0.1 change in pH actually equals a change of 1.0. And one more thing, pH is a unitless measure, even though the concentration is in mol/l.


Anything Dr. Randy does is top notch….he’s the God of Reef Chemistry.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Not to be picky but pH is always expressed as little p big H, pH. I never know when someone says PH if they mean powerhead as they often do or pH.

 

[Troylee]

I don't bother with it... If your alk and cal are inline your pH will balance where ever it is..7.9 to 8.3, my tank normally ran at 8.0 when I had my apex hooked to it...

 

[wysiwyg]

my tank runs between 8.1 and 8.3

 

[ritter6788]

I don't bother with it... If your alk and cal are inline your pH will balance where ever it is..7.9 to 8.3, my tank normally ran at 8.0 when I had my apex hooked to it...

Agreed. I haven't tested for ph in a long time. I also recommend never adding any commercial products to raise ph.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Agreed. I haven't tested for ph in a long time. I also recommend never adding any commercial products to raise ph.

Can you explain why its NOT important ? I happen to think its linked to ORP, coral health and many more issues including hair algae with low pH.

 

[ironworker]

i only test and maintain ca alk and mag. i havent test my pH in a long time

 

[ritter6788]

Can you explain why its NOT important ?

It's very important. I didn't say it wasn't.

Is it important for you to add buffers or kalk to your tank when ph is 7.8 to attempt to hit the magical 8.3? No.

What's worse? Ph of 7.9 or adding buffers to raise it to 8.3 while spiking your alkalinity? Commercial buffers (and I think everything that Seachem makes) also contain Borate. I think there is a Borate test (I think Seachem makes that too) but it's supposedly not accurate and why would you want elevated Borate in your tank?

Keep salinity, Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium in line, provide good aeration and ph will follow. Chasing an impossible to reach ph number will cause parameter swings and more harm than good. Not to mention not many ph tests or probes are very accurate and I don't want to go making drastic changes to my tank because some color drop test that's hard to read says my ph is 7.8. Your tank is already buffered so trying to raise that number will only raise it temporarily while throwing other parameters out of whack.

There were posts on here recently that went like this: "My corals look bad, my ph is 7.8, my LFS says I need to add this buffer" (What's your alkalinity) "My LFS says it's 14dkh and that's good"

I exaggerate but it happens.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

It's very important. I didn't say it wasn't.

Is it important for you to add buffers or kalk to your tank when ph is 7.8 to attempt to hit the magical 8.3? No.

What's worse? Ph of 7.9 or adding buffers to raise it to 8.3 while spiking your alkalinity? Commercial buffers (and I think everything that Seachem makes) also contain Borate. I think there is a Borate test (I think Seachem makes that too) but it's supposedly not accurate and why would you want elevated Borate in your tank?

Keep salinity, Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium in line, provide good aeration and ph will follow. Chasing an impossible to reach ph number will cause parameter swings and more harm than good. Not to mention not many ph tests or probes are very accurate and I don't want to go making drastic changes to my tank because some color drop test that's hard to read says my ph is 7.8. Your tank is already buffered so trying to raise that number will only raise it temporarily while throwing other parameters out of whack.

There were posts on here recently that went like this: "My corals look bad, my ph is 7.8, my LFS says I need to add this buffer" (What's your alkalinity) "My LFS says it's 14dkh and that's good"

I exaggerate but it happens.

I tottaly agree with the above

 

[Pkunk35]

Steve, I believe the answer is "water change"...final answer.

This is probably why I did not do well in chemistry...

 

[mainereefer]

if your alk is good your pH has to be good pH in my tank is always 7.9 acording to my reefkeeper. I havent worried about pH in years as long as alk,calcium and mag are good it says just about everything else in the water is fine

personally I rely on stability more than what "someone" says my tank parameters should be at!

I have seen way to many ppl crash there tank because when they test the #'s dont match up with the ideal conditions.

 

[Aquaph8]

Don't fear the Kalk, its does a little bit of everything like magic, LOL.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Don't fear the Kalk, its does a little bit of everything like magic, LOL.

and yes i like kalk

 

[Young Frankenstein]

1) How many times my PH increases during day from 8.2 to 8.3 ?
2) If your tank is running at 7.9 and the ocean is at 8.2 how many times is the oceans PH higher than your tank.
3) If your tap water is at 7.0 and your tank is at 8.1 how many times has the PH increased ?

 

[Young Frankenstein]

come on dont chicken out take the quizzzz LOL

 

[robert]

1) How many times my PH increases during day from 8.2 to 8.3 ? - I haven't a clue.
2) If your tank is running at 7.9 and the ocean is at 8.2 how many times is the oceans PH higher than your tank. If your asking the difference in concentration of [H+] ions -> ~2x
3) If your tap water is at 7.0 and your tank is at 8.1 how many times has the PH increased ? Again, if your asking for the difference in concentration of [H+] ions -> ~12.6x

What do I win?

 

[CJO]

1) How many times my PH increases during day from 8.2 to 8.3 ? Probably once, based on your lighting cycle.
2) If your tank is running at 7.9 and the ocean is at 8.2 how many times is the oceans PH higher than your tank. 1000 times
3) If your tap water is at 7.0 and your tank is at 8.1 how many times has the PH increased ? 1x10^11 = 100,000,000,000 times

CJ

 

[ritter6788]

and yes i like kalk

Don't fear the Kalk, its does a little bit of everything like magic, LOL.

I tried kalk once in my ATO. There's a lengthy thread on our local forum about it. I'm not sure what I did wrong but my corals didn't react well to it. I think we came to the conclusion that my big skimmer, gfo and kalk combined probably lowered phosphates to much and stressed the corals. I'm going to try it again on my prop tank though, one day.

 

[robert]

"I think you answered your own questions when you stated that pH is logarithmic. From high school chemistry we know:

pH=-log[H+]

In English, this says that pH equals the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration, where the concentration is in moles per liter. Since it is a natural log, every 0.1 change in pH actually equals a change of 1.0. And one more thing, pH is a unitless measure, even though the concentration is in mol/l.


Anything Dr. Randy does is top notch….he’s the God of Reef Chemistry."

Not the natural log - base 10 log.

1) How many times my PH increases during day from 8.2 to 8.3 ? Probably once, based on your lighting cycle.
2)If your tank is running at 7.9 and the ocean is at 8.2 how many times is the oceans PH higher than your tank. 1000 times
3) If your tap water is at 7.0 and your tank is at 8.1 how many times has the PH increased ? 1x10^11 = 100,000,000,000 times

CJ"

I think you forgot the decimal points -