# so what pH do you keep your reef?



## MediaHound (Jul 19, 2006)

Title says it all, lets hear what you guys keep your pH at and perhaps see some pics to back up your theory


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## fishlover (Nov 9, 2008)

ph 8.1-8.2


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## SteelGluer (Nov 7, 2008)

8.1 8.2

But sea water pH is between 7.5 to 8.4, mainly due to dissolved CO2


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## MediaHound (Jul 19, 2006)

fishlover, that reading is with a probe or test kit?
nice reef!


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## Lunatik_69 (Nov 8, 2008)

SteelGluer said:


> 8.1 8.2
> 
> But sea water pH is between 7.5 to 8.4, mainly due to dissolved CO2


Temp., SG and DOC levels also dictate PH. Luna


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## fishlover (Nov 9, 2008)

test kit. 
SG 1.025
cal 420
alk 10
nitrate 0


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## kermit (Nov 8, 2008)

My ph is going down how do i keep it up its really low right now dont' know what happen but i need to get it back up thanks:fishGreen:


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## SteelGluer (Nov 7, 2008)

kermit said:


> My ph is going down how do i keep it up its really low right now dont' know what happen but i need to get it back up thanks:fishGreen:




Do you have a test kit? 
If you do can you post what the ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels are? 

There is a very simple and cheap solution. I find baking soda or sodium bicarbonate to be an extremely effective buffer and way to increase pH. What some people don't realize is that your tank has to be completely buffered before sodium bicarbonate will actually increase pH. This is desirable since at that point the pH swings will be far less noticable and more subtle and you can just add a little bit every week or two to maintain the pH. 

For example, in a 75 gallon tank that is poorly buffered you might need 2 or more table spoons before the baking soda even BEGINS to increase the pH. In other words you will keep putting in baking soda and it will look like the pH isn't affected at all ! However, once the tank is properly buffered it will begin to increase the pH and once you get it to the proper pH you will only need a 3/4 tablespoon a week to maintain it at the correct pH.

In my 75 gallon reef tank I only need 3/4 tablespoon of sodium bicarbonate a week to maintain a proper pH. I also add a little calcium carbonate from time to time as well. Everyones tank may vary. 

You need to increase pH slowly at first to give your fish time to adjust but once it is done it is very easy to maintain. 

Make sure you check alk, cal, and ph. Do it very slowly


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## thereef (Nov 9, 2008)

I keep mine at 8.4 tested with a meter.


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## rendos (Nov 9, 2008)

8.1-8.4
varies day to night


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## 42un81 (Nov 9, 2008)

8.0-8.2 
Varies day to night.


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## alexmir (Nov 8, 2008)

thats a super nice monti in the first pic, it has some amazing scrolling in a small space. My ph is always at 8.2


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## neocamden (Nov 8, 2008)

I am able to maintain my pH at 8.3. I check it at least once a week and have had no issues. I personally feel that (at the recommendation of my "aquarium guru") starting the original tank off with distilled water had a lote to do with it. He uses an RO system because he is on a well. Our city waterwhere I live is not the greatest as we are at the end of the line with some of the pipes 80 + years old.


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## Lunatik_69 (Nov 8, 2008)

I wish I could have my ph between 8.1-8.4, but unfortunatly it rarely passes 8.0. Luna


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## neocamden (Nov 8, 2008)

It may take some work, but " Marine Buffer" by Seachem is a great product to bring the pH back to 8.3


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## MediaHound (Jul 19, 2006)

Lunatik_69 said:


> I wish I could have my ph between 8.1-8.4, but unfortunatly it rarely passes 8.0. Luna


Are you running a calcium reactor? Those will often need something to enhance the pH, such as Kalkwasser.. curious why yours stays below 8.0, please share more info.


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## Lunatik_69 (Nov 8, 2008)

MediaHound said:


> Are you running a calcium reactor? Those will often need something to enhance the pH, such as Kalkwasser.. curious why yours stays below 8.0, please share more info.


My ph problem is very simple, well, maybe not that simple. No Ca reactor here. My house is always closed up due to living in Miami, so basiclly, we're just breathing our own Co2. I found this out a couple of weeks ago. The weather here got real nice and when I say nice, I mean 60-ish. So I opened up the house to refresh it and checked out my ph meter. My ph went from 7.9 to 8.24 in half an hour. As long as the windows are open, my ph doesnt fall below 8.1, even at night. Once I close the house up, it comes down. I have a Coralife super luft air pump(with 4 outlets) outside pumping in fresh air and it doesnt go any higher than 8.0. Im looking into a ERV( Energy recovery ventilator) Heat Recovery / Engery Recovery Ventilators - iaqsource.com to see how much its going to cost. I assure you that my ph issue has nothing to do with my water chemistry. I keep my # as follows;
Mag...1400-1500 Cal....400-440 Dkh....10-14 Po4, Nh3, No2 and No3.......0 and my O2 level tests out at 7ppm. Trust me when I tell you that I've tried EVERYTHING to no avail. Luna


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## kermit (Nov 8, 2008)

ammonia is 0

nitratre is between 80 and 160 hard to tell the proper color but its high

nitrite is .50 

ph is 6.15 i have a digital reader for that one....hope you can help me get this under control thanks





SteelGluer said:


> Do you have a test kit?
> If you do can you post what the ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels are?


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## Lunatik_69 (Nov 8, 2008)

kermit said:


> ammonia is 0
> 
> nitratre is between 80 and 160 hard to tell the proper color but its high
> 
> ...


Sounds like your in a full blown cycle. Luna


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## SteelGluer (Nov 7, 2008)

Lunatik_69 said:


> Sounds like your in a full blown cycle. Luna


Sure does

lets see

How long has tank been setup?
Has anything died in it you know about?
Is anything missing that might have died?
Is anything alive in the tank?
What do you feed the tank? Live food etc. etc
How often do you feed the tank?
What salt mix do you use?
Have you checked for bad salt?
Do you use ro or tap water?
What was the last thing you put in the tank?
What kind of filtering you using?

This come to my mind

You can be going through new tank syndrome. 

I google it for you here is what it says.

Also referred to as "spiking" or "recycling", new tank syndrome (NTS) is something we can all experience at one time or another. Whether you have a saltwater aquarium that has just finished going through the nitrogen cycling process, or one that is well established and been running for years, it can happen. New tank syndrome is the term used when ammonia produced from the bio-load placed on a system begins to accumulate in an amount that is too great for the nitrifying bacteria population established in the tank to consume, and if the build-up of ammonia is substantial enough, nitrite will most likely begin to show up as well.


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## kermit (Nov 8, 2008)

Tanks has been up for almost 2 years now just recently started to add calcium to it.... I have a 220 gallon tank with a 50 gallon refugium

maybe on shrimp that is about that i know of that died in there
I have no corel just fish and live rocks for now
I feed the tank flake food and brine shrimp and krill for the eel
tanks is fed everyday once a day
I have been using tap water since day one
filter system is the refugium and a skimmer and also i have socks on the return water

guess maybe i should cut back on how much i feed the fish give them less food




SteelGluer said:


> Sure does
> 
> lets see
> 
> ...


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## Lunatik_69 (Nov 8, 2008)

kermit said:


> Tanks has been up for almost 2 years now just recently started to add calcium to it.... I have a 220 gallon tank with a 50 gallon refugium
> 
> maybe on shrimp that is about that i know of that died in there
> I have no corel just fish and live rocks for now
> ...


Either you added something new to the tank or your tap water is doing it. BTW, I would never use tap water, thats just crazy. Luna


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## kermit (Nov 8, 2008)

Lunatik_69 said:


> Either you added something new to the tank or your tap water is doing it. BTW, I would never use tap water, thats just crazy. Luna


The only new thing i have been doing is adding calcium mix in the jugs for a couple of weeks now i' have been doing it that is all i have added to the tank

Will tested again in a few days or so and see what happens


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## Lunatik_69 (Nov 8, 2008)

kermit said:


> The only new thing i have been doing is adding calcium mix in the jugs for a couple of weeks now i' have been doing it that is all i have added to the tank
> 
> Will tested again in a few days or so and see what happens


If I where in your shoes, I would get me a good R/O DI unit. Do you have any problems with algae? Luna


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## SteelGluer (Nov 7, 2008)

Yea, You can find 75 gpd 3 stages for 80.00 these days.


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## Lunatik_69 (Nov 8, 2008)

SteelGluer said:


> Yea, You can find 75 gpd 3 stages for 80.00 these days.


yeah, but the more stages, the better. All depends on the quality of the water that your getting in the first place. Luna


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## MediaHound (Jul 19, 2006)

The best investment I made as far as the RO/DI system goes was the dual TDS meter  
You know by pressing a button if the filters need to be changed, its pretty sweet.. takes out the guesswork.


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## SteelGluer (Nov 7, 2008)

Lunatik_69 said:


> yeah, but the more stages, the better. All depends on the quality of the water that your getting in the first place. Luna


Yea more are better but 3 is better than any tap water.


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## Lunatik_69 (Nov 8, 2008)

SteelGluer said:


> Yea more are better but 3 is better than any tap water.


No doubt.......




MediaHound said:


> The best investment I made as far as the RO/DI system goes was the dual TDS meter
> You know by pressing a button if the filters need to be changed, its pretty sweet.. takes out the guesswork.


Yup, my R/O DI unit came with two also, great piece of equipment to have. Luna


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## kermit (Nov 8, 2008)

Lunatik_69 said:


> If I where in your shoes, I would get me a good R/O DI unit. Do you have any problems with algae? Luna



I usually let the water sit there in a bucket for a couple of days before i put it in the tank....also i just notice one of my corels i only have 2 small one's didn't think it was worth to mention looks like they are dying maybe that is what is causing my spike in my reading i should throw them out and see what happens thanks i'll look into a RO system shortly

In the meantime i'll go and buy 5 gallon as i need it


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## kermit (Nov 8, 2008)

Lunatik_69 said:


> If I where in your shoes, I would get me a good R/O DI unit. Do you have any problems with algae? Luna



no problem with algae yet and i hope i don't get that problem either


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## Lunatik_69 (Nov 8, 2008)

SteelGluer said:


> Yea more are better but 3 is better than any tap water.





kermit said:


> I usually let the water sit there in a bucket for a couple of days before i put it in the tank....also i just notice one of my corels i only have 2 small one's didn't think it was worth to mention looks like they are dying maybe that is what is causing my spike in my reading i should throw them out and see what happens thanks i'll look into a RO system shortly
> 
> In the meantime i'll go and buy 5 gallon as i need it


If something is dying in your tank, that will be the problem. But at the same time, your filtration system should be able to take care of that. Luna


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## IEAquariumFactory (Nov 7, 2008)

I keep all my reef tank at 8.2-8.3.


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## RGibson (Nov 14, 2008)

My ph at night is 7.8 day time ph 8.1 to 8.3 and i used a calicium reactor and i do not used kalkwasser to keep the ph up


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## sghera64 (Nov 26, 2008)

pH is about 8.08 before lights on and 8.31 at lights off. I use kalkwasser via a Neilson reactor which is fed by my water make-up (due to natural evaporation). I am also running a CO2 reactor. I use Instant Ocean salt. The brand of salt that each of us uses and the frequency/volume of water changes will give each of us different values.

My pH is monitored (not controlled) by a Pinpoint pH probe that is on constantly. My CO2 reactor does have pH control and it is set to dose CO2 when the water inside the reactor chamber gets above 6.55 pH.

I do about 10% water changes per week. If I let the water changes lapse, then the pH may tend to drift down by about 0.5 pH units.


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## reefdaddy (Jan 6, 2009)

kermit said:


> no problem with algae yet and i hope i don't get that problem either


Here is the thing, First get yourself a TDS meter. Relatively cheap, If your tap water is anything like mine your doing nothing but putting bad stuff into that tank. Either use Bottled water or get a RODI. TDS should read 0 after RODI, in comparison here in Arizona our waters TDS is 1200 ppm in the summer and 600 to 800 in the winter. I would not put that in my dogs bowl let alone my tank. Before anything else reacts adversly please get on the RODI bandwagon. YOu will feel it is the best investment you made. Taste your coffee after you install it, you will notice a difference.


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## kermit (Nov 8, 2008)

k i have changed over to r/o water now i buy it for now been on it for about 2 months now going to check my ph again or maybe i have to recalibrate my meter either way i'll check it with the meter and with the lab test kit i have here and see what the results are thanks


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## Joey (May 27, 2009)

i will go with 8.1 or 8.2


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## Sandsifter (Feb 22, 2009)

I keep my tank PH in the 8.3 to 8.4 range. Everyone in the tank loves it and it is conducive to growth *w3


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## Sandsifter (Feb 22, 2009)

Ok here is something else that i found. If you cannnot do RO water, distilled water from the grocery store works great. It has kept everything balanced for the last 2 years (including the 25% water change every 2 weeks. :fish-in-bowl:


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## stooges3tx (Aug 23, 2009)

I maintain Alk, agitate my surface, and maintain a large fuge. Hardly ever test my PH and never had a problem with it.


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