Low Ph

[wlmalek]

Hello everyone,
my name is Waleed I’m from Kuwait and I’m new member here. I have redsea reefer 750 running since January. I used dry live rock and live sand. I got 12 fish right now in my DT all are small the biggest one is fox face he is almost 4 inches. All of them were quarantined and added slowly on course of 4 months. I’m planing to add 10-12 more. DT is FOWLR for now

I started with fresh mixed Fauna Marin Pro reef salt with ro/di and DT was cycled for almost 2 months with Dr. Tims. My parameters on March when first fish introduced were:
8.5 dkh (hanna checker)
4 ppm nitrate (hanna checker)
8.23 ph (ghl profilux 4)
0.06 ppm phosphate (hanna checker)
34.8 ppt salinity (hanna digital probe)

I didn’t test for Ca and Mg at the beginning

I test weekly and all parameters were swinging within the range without any sudden change. Most importantly are alkalinity witch was dropping really slow and never get below 8.1dkh and my ph was super stable at 8.24 for months.

on June 30 my phosphate jumped to 0.1 ppm and my nitrate was 11 ppm I did a small water change about 10% and added 1/10 amount of gfo for my tank size. Two days after phosphate 0.6 and nitrate 14. On July phosphate was swinging between 0.0-0.05 ppm and nitrate was between 8-12 ppm.

On July 21 I tested for Ca and Mg. My Ca was at 335 ppm (redsea testkit) Mg 1400 ppm. I supplement with redsea foundation A to ramp up my calcium (10 ppm/day). On 28th my calcium was 395 but my alk went down to 6.6 dkh and ph to 8.15. I continued until Aug 4th:
6.3 dkh
425 Ca
1340 Mg
10 nitrate
7.99 ph
0.07 phosphate

I managed to raise my alkalinity using baking soda solution added slowly to dt using doser. My parameters on Aug 18 are:
8.9 dkh
370 Ca
1400 Mg
9 nitrate
7.76 ph
0 phosphate
35.1 salinity

Tank is clean no algae or cyano and I don’t have coralline algae also. Water is cycling using 2 mp40 and redsea 45 gyre. Temperature is 77-78 F

I want to start adding corals next month and I want to know what I need to do to stabilize my parameters and get used to it before corals to get better results. How can I raise my Ph to 8.1-8.3 range? Why My Ca is dropping although I don’t have anything to consume it and there is no calcification on the heaters or pumps?

sorry for the long thread and thank you all.

 

[Spare time]

Have you calibrated the probe?

 

[Reef.]

Your ph is fine, make sure the surface of the water has movement and the room the tank is in has fresh air.

You can try some corals now, some cheap Zoas, keep,your alk stable, heat and salinity stable too, you can also keep an eye on your magnesium and calcium, aim for sea water lvls. But don’t get to hung up on mag and calcium yet.

 

[wlmalek]

Have you calibrated the probe?

Yes. I calibrated it when it star dropping though it might be reading error. But, nothing change.

 

[wlmalek]

Your ph is fine, make sure the surface of the water has movement and the room the tank is in has fresh air.

You can try some corals now, some cheap Zoas, keep,your alk stable, heat and salinity stable too, you can also keep an eye on your magnesium and calcium, aim for sea water lvls. But don’t get to hung up on mag and calcium yet.

If it was low from the beginning I wouldn’t care that much. We are three persons from day one doing same daily routines. I didn’t move or add any equipment or change any schedule. Same fish population.

I was at 8.24 ph for months. Then it starts to drop continuously Im at 7.74 now. The other thing why my calcium is dropping when I don’t have anything consume it?

I want to catch the cause.

if I do big WC ~50% would that bring ph up to where it was?

 

[Spare time]

Yes. I calibrated it when it star dropping though it might be reading error. But, nothing change.

It can be a lot of things assuming the reading is correct (albeit it's probably 7.8 if it reads below that slightly). The main cause in most cases is increased carbon dioxide in a room. Windows closed and less circulation in the room can cause this (along with breathing). This is assume the tank has enough aeration.