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Coral Vue Hydros

pH swings and buffer?


dietsnapple

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dietsnapple

Let me start by saying that I know the general consensus is that nanos never need pH buffer.

 

To summarize: My 28g HQI is about 7 months old now. My livestock and LPS corals are doing very well. Every 5 days, I do a 4 gallon water change (15%). Nitrates, Nitrites, and Ammonia are all zero. I don't dose my tank with anything and I don't have any green algae. The one thing that concerns me that is that my pH still fluctuates between 7.6 in the morning and 8.2 when the lights go out, without exception. (These pH numbers come from my recently calibrated ReefKeeper 2)

 

I measured my dKH, and it's at 7 instead of 9 or 10, which means I have low buffering capacity. That sure would explain the pH swings I get every day. I think I need to add something like Kent Marine pH Buffer to get my dKH up. What do you guys think? Add buffer or not? If not, what else might be the culprit?

 

Also, I use Oceanic salt mix, which I could have sworn is known to have buffering issues.

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now if everything is doing well why worry. I know the ph swing seems like a lot but i'm sure the corals could careless, as long as your not hitting acid levels your fine IMO/IME.

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HecticDialectics
Let me start by saying that I know the general consensus is that nanos never need pH buffer.

 

To summarize: My 28g HQI is about 7 months old now. My livestock and LPS corals are doing very well. Every 5 days, I do a 4 gallon water change (15%). Nitrates, Nitrites, and Ammonia are all zero. I don't dose my tank with anything and I don't have any green algae. The one thing that concerns me that is that my pH still fluctuates between 7.6 in the morning and 8.2 when the lights go out, without exception. (These pH numbers come from my recently calibrated ReefKeeper 2)

 

I measured my dKH, and it's at 7 instead of 9 or 10, which means I have low buffering capacity. That sure would explain the pH swings I get every day. I think I need to add something like Kent Marine pH Buffer to get my dKH up. What do you guys think? Add buffer or not? If not, what else might be the culprit?

 

Also, I use Oceanic salt mix, which I could have sworn is known to have buffering issues.

 

 

 

You don't need "pH buffer"... you need an alk supplement. When people say you never need pH buffer it's because you don't. You need to dose alk. :D

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stingythingy45

A dkh of 7 is a little on the low side.

I just had that in a 20L QT tank and buffered it up a little with Randy's Alk suppliment.

It's basically baking soda and water.Just remember with little tanks it take very little to bring the dkh up.

I dosed about 10 ml and it brought it up 1 dkh.

So if you do buffer....use caution.

Although a 28 gallon is not too bad for water volume.

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HecticDialectics
now if everything is doing well why worry. I know the ph swing seems like a lot but i'm sure the corals could careless, as long as your not hitting acid levels your fine IMO/IME.

 

 

+1 on that though. Are the corals and fish all doin fine? If so, then eh...

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dietsnapple

Well, I worry because I'd like to add SPS or a clam. And the more difficult the creature, the more stable I need my pH to be....right?

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HecticDialectics
Well, I worry because I'd like to add SPS or a clam. And the more difficult the creature, the more stable I need my pH to be....right?

 

A little swing won't hurt. What you gotta do is get your alk up a little, and then test the pH in a few days and see if you're still gettin' the swings with good parameters. If that doesn't work, then something else is the problem. That's one of the reasons "pH buffers" are bad... people keep adding them and adding them expecting it to keep pH stable, but instead, they end up with low pH, waaay overshooting alk (which creates a whole host of other problems, and still not having correct parameters.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/june2002/chem.htm

That's a good article for diagnosing what's wrong.

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