Gamby Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 I filled my tank yesterday for the first time (Fusion10). I used Red Sea Coral Pro salt and my Ph was 8.35. In 24 hrs my Ph is down to 8.30. This is measured with my Apex controller. The only thing that I have added to the tank so far is my Caribsea live sand ( yesterday a couple hours after mixing my salt). Is this normal? I have read that the Ph will drop over night but it continuesbto drop this morning. Any suggestions? Link to comment
CJJon Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 I suggest you don't worry too much about pH right now. It's neat that you have the probe and all, but pH will fluctuate and you can drive yourself crazy trying to hit some pH magic number. The proper way to guage a tank's pH is to take two tests, one right before lgihts on and one right berfore light out. These will be your low and high readings. Average the two. Again, don't worry about it. I would not even bother testing pH right now unless there is some issue or reason to. Link to comment
Gamby Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 I suggest you don't worry too much about pH right now. It's neat that you have the probe and all, but pH will fluctuate and you can drive yourself crazy trying to hit some pH magic number. The proper way to guage a tank's pH is to take two tests, one right before lgihts on and one right berfore light out. These will be your low and high readings. Average the two. Again, don't worry about it. I would not even bother testing pH right now unless there is some issue or reason to. Thanks for responding! Should I be worried if the pH keeps dropping? It is down to 8.15 this morning. (2 days after filling my tank for the first time and adding the sand) I am planning to add my live rock this week and I do not know if I should be worried about the pH before I add the rock. Should I do a partial water change before adding the rock to bring the pH back up? Please let me know what you think. Link to comment
k4ndyk1ng Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Let the tank settle out. The reason the ph is dropping is high co2 in your house Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Ph chsbges with temperature. To truly be accurate you need to account for temp. Link to comment
Gamby Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Let the tank settle out. The reason the ph is dropping is high co2 in your house I was planning to add live rock this week. Should I hold off? Ph chsbges with temperature. To truly be accurate you need to account for temp. My temperate is maintained within a (1) degree differential with the Apex controller. Should I turn on the pH temperate compensation feature that the Apex has built in? Link to comment
k4ndyk1ng Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Live rock is fine, add it before you get fish and corals don't worry about the ph Link to comment
Gamby Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Thanks to all for the input! Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 If you want to be super precise yeah. But I'm not sure it matters that much. When I'm ph-ing buffers in a lab I calibrate with a temperature probe in my solutions. I'm not quite sure the quality of ph probe you're using to? Have you calibrated it before? Drift is pretty normal and once you calibrate between three solutions you've get a calibration curve and it should be able to compensate. Link to comment
CJJon Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I have no idea what my pH is. Link to comment
Gamby Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 If you want to be super precise yeah. But I'm not sure it matters that much. When I'm ph-ing buffers in a lab I calibrate with a temperature probe in my solutions. I'm not quite sure the quality of ph probe you're using to? Have you calibrated it before? Drift is pretty normal and once you calibrate between three solutions you've get a calibration curve and it should be able to compensate. I am using the standard grade Apex probe. I set it up this past Saturday and calibrated it using the 7.01 and 10.01 solutions that were provided with my Apex system. On Saturday, I added the salt to may RO/DI water that had been running in the tank for 24 hours and was at 78 deg. A couple hours later I added my sand and then an hour or so later I installed and calibrated the probe. Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Can the apex be calibrated using three calibration solutions? Link to comment
GokesReef Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 As has already been mentioned, your PH will fluctuate throughout the day based a number of factors.. the best way to be happy with your PH readings is to take the probe out of your tank and forget about it. Keep your levels that matter in check and PH will handle itself. Link to comment
DCUEVAS74 Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I have found it more beneficial to concentrate on keeping my DKH at 9 rather than focusing on the ph. I used to have the apex and kept an eye on the ph which was nice just in case some corals were not doing so well or if I lost a fish. I could always go back and check the readings to see if I could possibly attribute it to large ph swings. Really the only time I had large swings was from dosing alk too fast due to me not keeping up with my testing DKH Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.