Ask Nano Questions and Find Information (Nano Expert Albert Thiel)

[alberthiel]

What causes PH fluctuations? I can't seem to keep my PH up at 8.0 or higher....seems to always hoover around 7.8
calcium 480, alk 12

Usually your pH wll be low in the morning and higher as the day goes along and the reasons for the fluctuations can be :

- Increased carbon dioxide in the water from algae that releases it during the night and take up oxygen
- Bacterial activity on organic matter than can produce organic acids as the matter decomposes
- Fish respiration and metabolism of fish and corals
- Too much carbon dioxide in the air in the room where the aquarium is placed and if a skimmer is running that air and the CO2 it contains gets mixed with the water
- CO2 in the air on the room that enters the water at the air/water interface at the top of the aquarium
- Breakdown of organic matter such as fish and coral slime
- and more

Hopefully this helps but if you have more questions do not hesitate to post them here on this thread
-

 

[Rikerbear]

Great. Nice long list of causes.....
Any suggestions to help stabilize it, or do I need to find the root cause first?
I have PH buffer, but it says it will also raise alk and I don;t need that since I am already at 12
Thanks for your continued help Albert :smile:

 

[alberthiel]

Great. Nice long list of causes.....
Any suggestions to help stabilize it, or do I need to find the root cause first?
I have PH buffer, but it says it will also raise alk and I don;t need that since I am already at 12
Thanks for your continued help Albert

Either you have a lot or organic matter that is breaking down in the tank so there is a lot of bacterial activity going on and what you could do to solve that is clean the tank out and make sure you remove as much detritus as possible especially from the rocks and in between and behind them. Clean your mechanical filter as well. Basically remove as much of what can break down as you can.

Alternatively open a window and let some outside air in, and see whether that raises your pH, as if that happens it would mean that your ambient air contains too much CO2.

Since your alkalinity is 12 already you do not want to add buffers, you are right about that.

Do a good water change and after a few minutes when the water has mixed well test your pH to see what it is after the water change and let me know.

And as a side question : do you have a lot of algae growing in the tank ?

 

[alberthiel]

The Best Lamp is -- but there are caveats and not all light sources were tested but it is an excellent analysis of coral growth under certain light spectral conditions

Feature Article: The Best Lamp Is... — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[alberthiel]

Rhodactis sanctithomae : In a thread elsewhere a member wanted information on this Corallimorph so below is a link to information on many of them including that really special Rhodactis sp.

Aquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears, And False Corals: A Review Of The Corallimorpharia — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[alberthiel]

Redfish Online Magazine #8 is now out :

Redfish #18 out now: New year, same great e-magazine — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[Rikerbear]

Either you have a lot or organic matter that is breaking down in the tank so there is a lot of bacterial activity going on and what you could do to solve that is clean the tank out and make sure you remove as much detritus as possible especially from the rocks and in between and behind them. Clean your mechanical filter as well. Basically remove as much of what can break down as you can.

Alternatively open a window and let some outside air in, and see whether that raises your pH, as if that happens it would mean that your ambient air contains too much CO2.

Since your alkalinity is 12 already you do not want to add buffers, you are right about that.

Do a good water change and after a few minutes when the water has mixed well test your pH to see what it is after the water change and let me know.

And as a side question : do you have a lot of algae growing in the tank ?

There isn't a great deal of organic matter in the tank....only one small watchman goby, 4 hermits, an emerald crab, and three very small peppermint shrimp.
Oh and 6 turbo snails, one conch, and one nassarius. I feed very small amounts every 3rd day.....and no not a lot of algae growing to speak of. Some minor greening of some of the 'dead' base rock, but no slime, hair, or bubble algae.
I do have a small patch of red macro growing, as well as two small clumps of cheato.
I am really thinking it's the CO2.
I'm mixing saltwater now, so will do the water change in a couple hours once it's nice and mixed up.

 

[alberthiel]

There isn't a great deal of organic matter in the tank....only one small watchman goby, 4 hermits, an emerald crab, and three very small peppermint shrimp.
Oh and 6 turbo snails, one conch, and one nassarius. I feed very small amounts every 3rd day.....and no not a lot of algae growing to speak of. Some minor greening of some of the 'dead' base rock, but no slime, hair, or bubble algae.
I do have a small patch of red macro growing, as well as two small clumps of cheato.
I am really thinking it's the CO2.
I'm mixing saltwater now, so will do the water change in a couple hours once it's nice and mixed up.

I guess it must be a combination of the CO2 and whatever algae you have in there and if that is correct then when you measure your pH in the morning and again in the evening it should be higher in the evening ... not just how much but if you test this evening and then again in the morning let's see what the difference is.

And if you can aerate the room more than what it is now you will see a change more than likely as well but not knowing you are I do not know if that is an option as it may be too cold in your area to do so.

Mind you with the alkalinity you have even if the pH is somewhat low you do not really have to worry too much as it will not drop any further but pls do the test I suggested and let's see what difference we come up with because that will give me some more clues. Thanks.

 

[alberthiel]

Another good article on Scaping your Reef

Reefs Magazine - Aesthetics of Aquascaping

 

[Rikerbear]

I guess it must be a combination of the CO2 and whatever algae you have in there and if that is correct then when you measure your pH in the morning and again in the evening it should be higher in the evening ... not just how much but if you test this evening and then again in the morning let's see what the difference is.

And if you can aerate the room more than what it is now you will see a change more than likely as well but not knowing you are I do not know if that is an option as it may be too cold in your area to do so.

Mind you with the alkalinity you have even if the pH is somewhat low you do not really have to worry too much as it will not drop any further but pls do the test I suggested and let's see what difference we come up with because that will give me some more clues. Thanks.

Did a 3 gal water change (20%), waited 2 hours and tested PH. It tested at 8.3. I will test again in the morning before work (6:00 am) and post the results as I can. Can't really open a window as it's only in the 20's at night, and around 35 during the day.
I have removed the tank lid/glass, not sure if that will help with gas exchange or not.
Thanks for your help Albert

 

[JoeCanada]

That read on aqua scaling was great thanks Albert. I will be scaling my tank hopefully this Saturday and that gave me some great ideas

 

[alberthiel]

That read on aqua scaling was great thanks Albert. I will be scaling my tank hopefully this Saturday and that gave me some great ideas

Glad I was able to help ... I think I posted some other links on scaping earlier, but you may not have seen them so I will look for them and post those again for you and others to see and hopefully those will help as well.

 

[alberthiel]

Did a 3 gal water change (20%), waited 2 hours and tested PH. It tested at 8.3. I will test again in the morning before work (6:00 am) and post the results as I can. Can't really open a window as it's only in the 20's at night, and around 35 during the day.
I have removed the tank lid/glass, not sure if that will help with gas exchange or not.
Thanks for your help Albert

Thanks for the update and yes do let me know what your morning reading is ... 8.3 after a 20 % water change is actually pretty good but the pH may have been high already as it was towards the end of the day. And yes ... I thought that opening windows may not be an option due to the cold .. same here in Atlanta .. below freezing yesterday morning and I think again this morning. I'll look for the morning number when your message has come in. Thanks

 

[alberthiel]

Fungia Corals : 2 links with info on them and their Care
.

1. Disk Coral, Fungia sp., Mushroom Coral Information and Coral Pictures
.

2. Genus Fungia - Disk Coral

 

[alberthiel]

That read on aqua scaling was great thanks Albert. I will be scaling my tank hopefully this Saturday and that gave me some great ideas

• • Here are the links to 3 Articles on AquaScaping that I referred to in my other message Joe • •

1. Reefs Magazine - Aesthetics of Aquascaping (i)
2. Reefs Magazine - Aesthetics of Aquascaping: Part 2 (ii)
3. Reefs Magazine - Aesthetics of Aquascaping III (iii)

 

[Paul B]

"The reefkeeping hobby and industry has no centralized leadership

That is true, but I hear Paris Hilton is vieing for the position.

 

[alberthiel]

Is it better to use GFO or Aluminum oxide compounds to lower PO4?

Well that is real hard to tell, as both do a great job a lowering the phosphates in our tanks, so what I would suggest is: try one and see what results you get, and then try the other one and see whether you get better ones in your tank, and then decide on which one to use.

Actually what I do is I alternate their use. I will use GFO for a few weeks and when it is exhausted I switch to Al. oxide, and then for the next batch I use GFO again and so on, and that seems to keep my Po4 at 0.00-ppm as measured with a Salifert test kit. Of course it is really never totally zero but even the best of tests can only measure so low, and when it is below their lowest detection capability they will all show 0.00-ppm.

Same for NO3 tests of course, but when they show 0.00 ppm even if the level is not really totally 0 ppm, at least we know that it is very low in both cases.

Hopefully this helps but if you have more questions do not hesitate to post them here on this thread

 

[alberthiel]

That is true, but I hear Paris Hilton is vieing for the position.

Well I guess she is getting into aquariums then, hope she will still take care of her 17 dogs though, as she is reported to have. And morning to you Paul !

So how's the testing going? Any updates?

 

[alberthiel]

The Harlequin Shrimp - A great one but are you willing to feed it how it needs to be fed?

Harlequin Shrimp

 

[Rikerbear]

Did a 3 gal water change (20%), waited 2 hours and tested PH. It tested at 8.3. I will test again in the morning before work (6:00 am) and post the results as I can. Can't really open a window as it's only in the 20's at night, and around 35 during the day.
I have removed the tank lid/glass, not sure if that will help with gas exchange or not.
Thanks for your help Albert

At 5:30 am, (4 hrs before the lights come on) PH was 8.0.
I think I am simply over reacting, and trying to chase numbers. I'm gonna keep doing what I've been doing and just watch it.
My 20% water changes once a week should really help keep me in balance. May change up salt, since my Instant Ocean is testing alk at 12.5