i have a 20 gallon tall filled with saltwater 1.021 i think. i am using crushed coral as substrate. i have 5 lbs of live rock for now. i have a 100 watt hydor heater and sometype of hang on skimmer i also have 2 maxijet 900. what im leading up to is my extremely low drop in PH it goes from perfect at 8.3 the nxt day its 7.7! I,ve been using seachem reef bufer almost every day and that gets tiresome. is there an other product on the market that can automatically bufer my water ?? what step would you take to resolve the issue??? thank you in advance
venturing in to saltwater (PH help!!!)
- Thread starter OhNoBarracuda
- Start date
im confused..... with the crushed coral and the buffer there should be no fluctuation. are you addding water everyday? is your ph tester acurate?
the salt mix you are using may be one of the problems. Do not use Coralife. Use seachems. And check the alkalinity. If the alkalinity is too high that causes ph drops with salt water. Keep it between 3.5 and 4.5. Use Aquarium Systems test kit. By far the easiest. If it is too high, use calcim additives. This will seriously help stabilze your ph. I use Kent Marine liquid calcium. Als, I use the Kent Marine pro buffer powder. Not the super pro buffer liquid.
Also 2 900 maxi jet 900's are too much for that tank. I would use 1 maxi-jet 600 and angle it so that is is rippling the top of the water but also reflecting off of the front of the tank. Is the substrate moving constantly, like plowing to one side of the tank? Anyways, I had the same problem about 2 years ago with my 150 reef and another 200 gallon fish only and that solution worked well for me. Also when you add the calcium, you may get a brief growth of algea, but it goes down after about a month.
i add water every other day . my test kit is tetreatest i beleive, it is ofcourse the saltwater version. i think i may try the calcium tankbuster mentioned. if that doesnt work what should i do is my water just crap or scrap the project and stick to fresh
Why are you adding water every other day that;s too much for a 20 gallon. Your ph tester may be no good. Are you using tap water to top off the tank? or are you using RO water?
i use ro/di water that i wish i never bought because that was like 370 for the whole kit and kaboodle and i cant even get my PH right ha. well help is needed
OK, are you getting calcium precipitation? You could be over buffering, like said above, use marine buffer, not reef buffer. It is alot easier. Do you have any livestock, or just set this up? It can take up to a month or so for everything to stabilize. Just be patient. Also adding everyday will not let it stabilize, let it sit for a week, then test, then tweek. Also, you can have ph flucuations from day to night, has to do with the amount of O2, and CO2. The higher the O2, and the less CO2, higher PH, lower the O2, and raise the CO2, lower the ph. When the aquarium is cycling you can have large fluctuations on the ph just from bacterial resperation. So plz, do not give up, just be patient, IK it is hard.