PH drop, should i be worried ?

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ronin_man

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MFK Member
Aug 4, 2008
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Burlington, Ontario, Canada
hey guys,
i have a 29gal bio cube just at the end of my cycle and my PH has dropped from 8.4 to 8.1 over 3 or 4 days. i've never had an unexplained drop like this without adding something, and i have not added anything recently.

my levels as of 5 mins ago are as followed
temp - 75.6
sg - 1.025
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0
ph - 8.1

i have no fish in the tank yet, but i do have a small cuc (3 black turbos, 5 cerith snails and 10 nassarius snails) added a little over a week ago, as well i have a good number of mysis pods and amphipods roaming around as well as 2 corals that have emerged out of my live rock and seem to be doing really well. (yay for free coral)

what does this PH drop meen ?
should i be worried ?
or should i just do a water change to bring it back up ?
 
ronin_man;2721486; said:
hey guys,
i have a 29gal bio cube just at the end of my cycle and my PH has dropped from 8.4 to 8.1 over 3 or 4 days. i've never had an unexplained drop like this without adding something, and i have not added anything recently.

my levels as of 5 mins ago are as followed
temp - 75.6
sg - 1.025
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0
ph - 8.1

i have no fish in the tank yet, but i do have a small cuc (3 black turbos, 5 cerith snails and 10 nassarius snails) added a little over a week ago, as well i have a good number of mysis pods and amphipods roaming around as well as 2 corals that have emerged out of my live rock and seem to be doing really well. (yay for free coral)

what does this PH drop meen ?
should i be worried ?
or should i just do a water change to bring it back up ?
Click to expand...

Is your live rock cured? I have heard that if you have uncured live rock then ph is going to drop...Also, 8.1 is fine...you should be worried if it drops below 8.0...Also, the temprature should be at 78 degrees...For reefs at least.
ph drop means that the tank is not completely stable yet...How long have you set it up for?
If your ph goes below 8.0 then you are supposed to add buffer daily to get the level up.
 
the rock i have is totally cured, i bought it from my LFS display tank so i know its not just some rock they toss in a holding tub.(has some awsome coraline on it )
also, i got it home wet in buckets then right into my tank, and the trip was only about 5 or 6 mins so i know that there was not much die off at all.

as for the temp...i was told between 75 and 80 is a good range. not true ?

is there a reason some peoples PH drop consistantly and need to buffer all the time ?
 
for a second there i though you ment cucumber when you said CUC.. i was going to say "there's your problem! the cuke prolly died"

if anything you're pH should have gone up a little because ammonia is acidic.. but i suppose it could be because the ammonia was buffering off the calicum from the rock, creating a net pH rise.. but that seems unlikely


if it's staying stable from then on out it'd be fine. 8.1 is nothing to worry about
 
thats a small drop... i wouldnt worry but you could just add a few shells to the tank to help it...
 
if you contine to see a drop in ph, then you'll want to make sure the waters getting enough oxeygen and that you hav enough surface current. The buildup in CO2 can cause a drop. Other chemical reactions could be in the equation too, but as of now, i think is just age in the tank, and the tank becomeing stable. keep us posted.
 
shells would help stablize PH ?

i'll keep checking but it seems to be sitting at 8.1ish for now.
i have alot of surface agitation as i have my return pump pointing up towards the surface and i think im pretty good for oxygen as i have a skimmer and also my water from my first chamber falls about 8 inches into my fuge area alowing for alot of gas exchange.

as i said before i'll keep an eye on it for a while. i plan on doing my first water change in the next week or so and plan to add my first fish to the tank in about 2 weeks time if everything stays in check.

anyone sugest what size wc i should do ? large? small ? % ?
i dont know if it matters or whatnot(im so used to my freshwater just doing huge waterchanges whenever i feel like it, lol )
 
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