PH crashes in Ray Tanks

[keepinfish]

Ok this may be a newbish question(s), but wanted to confirm dispel a couple things I've heard.
First, I've read a couple places that lower pH, in the 5.5-6.5 range is better for our SA rays, and that their colors tend to be brighter when kept in water at that range, and tend to be a bit more dull/dark in the 6.5-7.5 range. True or myth?
Piggybacking off that, if that is true #1 is it worthwhile to make an effort to keep your pH in that range if your tap comes out at 7.3 and stays 7.3 from when it goes in tank until next WC? And if the answer to that is yes, how would one go about doing so?

Yes that is correct. Doing a drip and setting it so your ph stays constant or more waterchanges

 

[Zbosco13]

Yes that is correct. Doing a drip and setting it so your ph stays constant or more waterchanges

Ok so in my case the pH out of the tap runs about 7.3 and stays +/- 0.1 until next water change, so is it worth taking measures to lower the pH into the acidic range? And if so how would I keep it there consistently?

 

[keepinfish]

No leave it! What it comes out of tap and run a drip to keep your ph constant.

 

[Zbosco13]

No leave it! What it comes out of tap and run a drip to keep your ph constant.

Thanks that's kinda what I figured, steady and constant at 7.3 better than 6.5 with a bunch of meddling.

 

[SHARK13]

Ok this may be a newbish question(s), but wanted to confirm dispel a couple things I've heard.
First, I've read a couple places that lower pH, in the 5.5-6.5 range is better for our SA rays, and that their colors tend to be brighter when kept in water at that range, and tend to be a bit more dull/dark in the 6.5-7.5 range. True or myth?
Piggybacking off that, if that is true #1 is it worthwhile to make an effort to keep your pH in that range if your tap comes out at 7.3 and stays 7.3 from when it goes in tank until next WC? And if the answer to that is yes, how would one go about doing so?

It is definitely true that SA fish look better and are more vibrant in soft water. They thrive in it...
As far as messing with your pH I would agree with Keepingfish. Don't mess with it. Whatever comes out of your tap leave it. If you try to alter it in the tank with agents your asking for disaster.
The only way I can drip in at 6.5 is I prefilter filter mine before the drip to achieve what I want. Even that can be tricky. Alot of people have tried and failed using a method like mine. I have been rolling steady for 6 years. I have a solid system down. If you want to learn more shoot me a pm. I'd be happy to help you get setup.

 

[DB junkie]

What I tried was putting some containers above the tank on float valves. 1 with tap and 1 with RO. Used a huge sump (240 gallon for a 360 gallon tank) so I could do water changes without shutting the system down. The drain is plumed to a floor drain so water change takes less then 10 min.

I went back to a straight tap drip. Stupid fish are soooo messy. I either needed a much smaller bio load or larger more frequent changes.

 

[DIDYSIS]

your PH will crash with every feeding you do, (crash meaning it will go lower than the norm) filtration will depend on how fast it recovers from that drop and how low it might drop during that time.