whats doing the damage, the low pH, or the quick drop?

[romsoccer12]

my pH goes from 8.1 to 7.7 really fast during lights out, so i added some lights on the tank and prolonged light turn off so it goes from main lights, to just actinics and 2 50watt compact fluorscents that just turn on during this time, than the actinics turn off, than 1 compact fluorescent turns off, than the last one turns off, so there is now no fast pH drop, but it still drops to 7.7 so is their still going to be damage to my corals now that i stopped the quick change of pH, but its still low? sorry for the complicated question

[seapug]

7.7 is low but not necessarily a crisis. What really matters is that the calcium, magnesium and Alkalinity levels are maintained. Many tanks with calcium reactors that generate high levels of calcium and alkalinity run at a lower pH, but if you're not running a calcium reactor and your pH is dropping low, it's usually a sign of low alkalinity. This is a good time for you to run tests for Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium to see if one of those parameters is off and causing the swing.

[lordofthereef]

My question for you is how are you sure any coral loss is due to the pH shift? My pH is similar to that. Not sure what you consider rapid, but I have a change over a couple of hours.

[Aquarist007]

many times the drop in pH is related to an increase in carbon dioxide in the tank.
This can be countered by:
opening a window overnight in the fish room
cranking up the skimmer or venting the air tube outside
making sure the surface of the display is churning with adequate flow
making sure the surface is not covered with glass for eg---alot of gas exchange occurs at the surface of the tank
adding a refugium with macroalgae and keeping the light on opposite to the lights in the display tank

[Sisterlimonpot]

+1 on the reverse lighting in the fuge. although my fuge is relitively small to the size of my tank it helped with the dramatic ph swing when lights went lights went out.

[romsoccer12]

i dont dose alk/calcium at all, im trying to set up a fuge, im airing out my room more with some fans, and i have a powerhead pointing up to make waves

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

i dont dose alk/calcium at all

Do you keep calcifying organisms?

Do you monitor those parameters?

[romsoccer12]

i keep lps/softies only, most of my LPS have been growing really good, except my Hammer wich i can expect because i dont dose. i dont dose because whenever i try to check the params with the testers, im always wrong so im trying to save up for a digital tester but money is hard to come by for a 16 year old without a job

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'd strongly recommend at least an alkalinity kit.

[marclwheeler]

from my experience usually alk and ph are directly related... my guess is you alk is low and just a question how often you doin water changes... lastly have you checkout the reef chemistry calculator does wonders for me...

[romsoccer12]

1gal changes 5 times a week. i can never get the ALK tester right, so i end up doing more damage, whats the calculator?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

from my experience usually alk and ph are directly related... my guess is you alk is low and just a question how often you doin water changes..

Unfortunately, that is not a useful guide unless you have established it as a correlation for your specific system, time of year, etc.. It is easy and common to have low pH and normal to high alkalinity if you have excess CO2 in your home air.

. i can never get the ALK tester right,

What brand are you using and what goes wrong?

[romsoccer12]

im using the instant ocean test kit with the drip alkalinity test thing. i always get the drips wrong and if i do get it right, water color doesnt even turn a color so i know im always doing something wrong. its not a user friendly test kit =)

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've not used that particular kit, but I've not heard of people with a problem with it.

Sure you are not just needing to add more drops?

[romsoccer12]

i was doing it correct but i would do it correct 1/5 times doing it

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well, practice makes perfect.

[likemike99]

yeah it sounds like your alkalinity is low. the better it is the less of a shift you should have with your Ph.

[MikeTR]

Doesn't sound like a problem with excess CO2 inside the home.. don't think the pH would even get to 8.0 if that were the case.. API has a fairly decent alk test that is easy to use.. drop for drop until it turns from blue to yellow. Keep 'er in the 9-11 range..

just a question.. why five 1gal changes/week? Why not one 5gal change once a week? Stop messing with the tank so much.. let it stabilize.

[romsoccer12]

my RO unit only makes 1 gallon every 30hours or so =). and 1 gallon a day is less stressful than 5 gallons once a week

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree that small daily water changes are a fine plan. I change 1% daily, slowly, and automatically.

[romsoccer12]

Randy, i think im going to dose alkilinity by guessing until i save enough to buy a digital reader. I know this is risky, by I have a godo estimate to what I have to put in going to my LFS a couple months ago every day for them to test it, even though i have gained a lot more corals since than. Do you think this is the smart thing to do? My corals/fish are really suffering

[haus]

They sell ALK test kits for like 10 bucks they are the best but better then guessing

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm not sure what you mean by digital reader. There is no such thing for alkalintiy.

How are you doing to decide how much to dose?

IMO, that sounds like a risky plan.

FWIW, fish do not typically suffer from low alkalinity, so if they are suffering, you might look for other causes.

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by romsoccer12

Randy, i think im going to dose alkilinity by guessing until i save enough to buy a digital reader. I know this is risky, by I have a godo estimate to what I have to put in going to my LFS a couple months ago every day for them to test it, even though i have gained a lot more corals since than. Do you think this is the smart thing to do? My corals/fish are really suffering

you might want to consider starting a two part dosing plan. Randy has a good one and there are commercial ones available. I use two part b-ionics. Over three weeks it will stabilize your calcium and alk levels. You will still have to monitor magnesium. I use epsom salts to keep the mag level where I want it.
I have instructions for monitoring and starting a two part dosing on this blog:

http://www.reefcentral.com/wp/?p=262