Has anyone checked their Ph of new mised saltwater. When I say new I mean about 24hrs old. I tested my Reef Crystals tomight and they were 7.8-8.0. I like to keep my Ph around 8.2-8.4. This leaves me adding buffer to my mix..anyone have experience with this?
salt mixes in general are not consistent. some mixes are better then others but in short, you should always test them and match your tank first. its not unheard of to have to add magnesium or calcium to a new batch either. although i havent had that issue since i switched to teh new brand of salt.
I wouldn't worry about it as long as your not doing a 50% change. Do you buffer for alk or calc. in the tank?? I would not buffer for PH personally. 7.8 to 8.6 is fine, and you run the risk of getting your alk out of whack as one effects the other. The little bit of water for the change won't have that much effect on the tank, we are just talking tenths here. Alk and calc., mag. are alot more important for skeletal growth then keeping ph perfect and if you have those inline you ph well be fine. I don't even test for PH to tell the turth as my other levels are fine and ph well be fine and ph well flucuate with the time of day,different times of the year, how tight the house is closed up and several other things. Just check the new water for those other levels and get them close to each other percentage whys so your dosing regime stays consistent if that makes sense.
Let me clarify some thing, if one is running a calc reactor or even a kalk reactor you should be monitoring PH. If you are dosing 2 part and your house isn't vacuam wraped and has 15 people living in it, PH should not be a problem to maintain between 7.8 and say 8.2 to 8.4.
did a 15 gallon water change on my 55 the other day...been testing Dkh and it came down to 7. I guess I will have to test every batch of mixed saltwater and adjust accordingly? I dose with 2 part so do I adjust the new saltwater with buffer? Also since in new to this fowlr deal is a buffer what i want to use with it? I really need an Ph, Alk, and Cal friend to cheat off of
I would not buffer the new salt water. It just adds another variable that can go wrong. Maybe look at using a different salt mix. I have had great luck with Instant ocean for the last 6 years. I use no buffer and dose two part Calcium and alkalinity. You have seem my tank, does ok huh? What is the Ph of your tank say 5-6 hours after you do a water change with that water? What was it prior to that? Stop checking your PH unless something looks wrong. You are worrying about it too much. Test Alk, calcium, nitrates and phosphates if you get bored. PH is very seldom the problem. If you are using two part solution, and you are making it, be sure to bake your baking soda. It will help raise your PH.
Sorry, I must have mis understood. Your 1st post calls out PH. Yes dose the part one to get alkalinity up to where you want it. Adjust daily dosing amounts as needed.
6medic I thought this was a FOWLR tank, if so it doesn't make a hoot what you dkh and calc levels are, any good salt mix well be close enough and sense you have nothing using it out of the water, you don't have to use any additives, fish could care less. Your salanity and ph is the most important to fish. Like posted above the ph well stay within reason if no calc reactor is being used and also one thing I forgot to mention above, the mixed water in a bucket most likely won't have the same ph as it doesn't have bright lights hanging over it. I know you said you aren't checking for ph anymore and I agree with that, but remember if you ever do that it is important to do it roughly the same time of day each time so the lighting is the same in the tank and the length of time that they have been on.. If this is still a FOWLR you don't need to worry about alk and calc levels. When I say ph and salinty is the most important to fish I am mainly talking about when you quaranteen new fish that your QT be adjusted to the levels of the water that the fish are in as a big change in either one, especially higher well kill alot of new fish and you won't know why they died, then over time as you are QTing you can change the ph and salin to match the DT parims.
