phproblems

karry poole · 02/18/2016, 06:19 PM

Hi all gad new 450 ltr tank and no probs at all for 4 months thdn do 25% water and ph drops by .4 to 7.8/7.7 anybody any ideas why?.?... thanks

thegrun · 02/18/2016, 07:46 PM

The pH drop is not that big of a deal. Was the water stored for a long time before you used it? It's a good idea to aerate stored water to drive off the extra CO2.

Entacmaea · 02/18/2016, 10:11 PM

Hey Karry, as thegrun said, aerating is a great idea, and letting the saltwater stabilize for a day after mixing. A pH swing from 8.2 to 7.8 happening quickly is larger than ideal(though some tanks do swing this much over the course of a day), so ideally you would try to match pH levels between your new water and tank water prior to adding. While a pH of 7.8 is ok, and seen on some tanks running Calcium reactors, a little higher toward natural sea water values might be good as well - closer to 8.2/8.3 - which sounds like where you had it. People do have successful tanks at a range of pH's. There is a good section in this article about pH if you were interested in a little reading. Good luck!

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/

02/18/2016, 06:19 PM	#1
karry poole Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Posts: 3	phproblems Hi all gad new 450 ltr tank and no probs at all for 4 months thdn do 25% water and ph drops by .4 to 7.8/7.7 anybody any ideas why?.?... thanks

02/18/2016, 07:46 PM	#2
thegrun Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Garden Grove, Ca Posts: 17,023	The pH drop is not that big of a deal. Was the water stored for a long time before you used it? It's a good idea to aerate stored water to drive off the extra CO2.

02/18/2016, 10:11 PM	#3
Entacmaea Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Truckee, CA Posts: 96	Hey Karry, as thegrun said, aerating is a great idea, and letting the saltwater stabilize for a day after mixing. A pH swing from 8.2 to 7.8 happening quickly is larger than ideal(though some tanks do swing this much over the course of a day), so ideally you would try to match pH levels between your new water and tank water prior to adding. While a pH of 7.8 is ok, and seen on some tanks running Calcium reactors, a little higher toward natural sea water values might be good as well - closer to 8.2/8.3 - which sounds like where you had it. People do have successful tanks at a range of pH's. There is a good section in this article about pH if you were interested in a little reading. Good luck! http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/