Ph drop while starting 3 day lights out

[Griff]

I started a 3 day lights out on my display today to help with some cyano on the sand bed and my ph is continuing to drop. I understand why this happens but am unsure why it's so drastic

Alk8
Calc 475
Mg 1350
PO4 0-.03
Salinity 1.026

I did se the fuge light to stay on 24 hours to try and help balance this but it doesn't seem to be helping.

Also running carbon reactor 2/3 carbon 1/3 phosguard

Thoughts?

 

[Brew12]

I understand why this happens but am unsure why it's so drastic

This would be fairly typical if you have algae in your DT. If you don't have algae, this might be a little more than I would expect but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I did se the fuge light to stay on 24 hours to try and help balance this but it doesn't seem to be helping.

Keep your fuge light off for at least 6 hours a day. The algae in your fuge needs dark time to function properly. Your leaving the light on 24/7 could be hindering its ability to remove CO2 from the water.

Also running carbon reactor 2/3 carbon 1/3 phosguard

You have the carbon packed tightly in the reactor and the phosguard tumbling, right? Just want to make sure you didn't just dump them all together in the reactor.

 

[Griff]

This would be fairly typical if you have algae in your DT. If you don't have algae, this might be a little more than I would expect but I wouldn't worry about it too much.


Keep your fuge light off for at least 6 hours a day. The algae in your fuge needs dark time to function properly. Your leaving the light on 24/7 could be hindering its ability to remove CO2 from the water.


You have the carbon packed tightly in the reactor and the phosguard tumbling, right? Just want to make sure you didn't just dump them all together in the reactor.

I didn't think the phosguard was supposed to tumble. They are separated by a sponge though.

 

[Brew12]

I didn't think the phosguard was supposed to tumble. They are separated by a sponge though.

The phosguard won't work as well if it is not tumbling but it isn't a huge deal. The most important part is that the GAC is packed tightly so it can't move. Otherwise it releases carbon dust which has a very negative impact on the tank.