peter81
06/17/2004, 06:52 AM
The AA site wasn't working so I couldnt get your chemistry article so I thought why not ask the man himself.
Ive always had a low pH in my tank, usually in the region of 7.7 (salifert test kit). I thought it couldve been a co2 problem but my windows have been left wide open for the past couple of months since the weather has been getting better, and it also cools my tank. My Ca is usually in the region of 440-460 ppm, and dkH had always been in the region of 7-9 which I understand to be low for my Ca level. I also dose 1 gallon worth of kalk into my tank via a LiterMeter every day.
Something I did notice today is that when I was testing my kh, instead of swirling the solution for a couple of seconds like usual, I swirled it for much longer (10 seconds or so) and found that the color always changed back. I'm not sure if youre familiar with them but I also added another .5 ml ontop of the 1ml to the solution and that still didnt change the color permanetly. Well, it would change the color initially for a while but after say 10 seconds it would revert back to the original color. So if this is the way that youre suppose to swirl the solution, that would suggest my dkh would in the mid 20s range. If thats true (or possible for htat matter), could that be whats affecting my ph? I tried doing the extra long swirling time with my Ca test kit but it didnt do the same.
A description of my tank that might be relevant: 20 gallon with 20 gallon sump/refugium, needle pinwheel skimmer, io salt, I would add Seachems Reef Complete every once in a while to keep up with the Ca use, no other supplements, all tests done with salifert kits
It doesnt seem to have any bad effects on my tank but I'm sure my tank could do better with a proper ph value. I used to keep mostly sps but a recent tank flood killed everything in the top 4/5ths of my tank. But hte tank parameters are still the same as they were before. Id like to get things on the right track before diving back into the sps. But I would think with all that kalk the ph would at least be over 8! Even my tap water has a ph of 7.8 according to the local water report, and my fresh water kits.
Thanks for your time,
Long time lurker, first time poster :)
Ive always had a low pH in my tank, usually in the region of 7.7 (salifert test kit). I thought it couldve been a co2 problem but my windows have been left wide open for the past couple of months since the weather has been getting better, and it also cools my tank. My Ca is usually in the region of 440-460 ppm, and dkH had always been in the region of 7-9 which I understand to be low for my Ca level. I also dose 1 gallon worth of kalk into my tank via a LiterMeter every day.
Something I did notice today is that when I was testing my kh, instead of swirling the solution for a couple of seconds like usual, I swirled it for much longer (10 seconds or so) and found that the color always changed back. I'm not sure if youre familiar with them but I also added another .5 ml ontop of the 1ml to the solution and that still didnt change the color permanetly. Well, it would change the color initially for a while but after say 10 seconds it would revert back to the original color. So if this is the way that youre suppose to swirl the solution, that would suggest my dkh would in the mid 20s range. If thats true (or possible for htat matter), could that be whats affecting my ph? I tried doing the extra long swirling time with my Ca test kit but it didnt do the same.
A description of my tank that might be relevant: 20 gallon with 20 gallon sump/refugium, needle pinwheel skimmer, io salt, I would add Seachems Reef Complete every once in a while to keep up with the Ca use, no other supplements, all tests done with salifert kits
It doesnt seem to have any bad effects on my tank but I'm sure my tank could do better with a proper ph value. I used to keep mostly sps but a recent tank flood killed everything in the top 4/5ths of my tank. But hte tank parameters are still the same as they were before. Id like to get things on the right track before diving back into the sps. But I would think with all that kalk the ph would at least be over 8! Even my tap water has a ph of 7.8 according to the local water report, and my fresh water kits.
Thanks for your time,
Long time lurker, first time poster :)