Alkalinity Issues

[Aveadonat]

Have a few concerns about my alk as well as my cycling process

Setup a WB Cube20
I added water, carribsea life rock, and live sand on 1/07/23
I waited around 9 days (powerhead, return pump, lights on, skimmer off), then added bottled bac and 2 clownfish on the 16th. All my parameters were fine, Ammonia nitrate and nitrite were all 0, ph was around 8.1. I was worried that this was a bit too low, but I figured it would stay stable. Fast forward 3 days, I just checked my ph today, ppm was 133 which converted to 7.4 dkh, meaning I dropped by .7 in just 3 days. Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all still 0 however.
I'm also noticing brown specs on the substrate, which I want to believe are diatoms, however, I feel like it's too early for diatoms to be appearing, and I feel like it's more likely it's just waste from food and fish waste.

Fish seem to be doing fine but I'm really worried that this sudden drop in PH might be stressing them out or hurting them. I was worried about them burning do to a spike in ammonia, but now I'm more worried about my PH being the thing that does the most harm.

I have a feeling the drop in ph might be because my ATO reservoir water has a PH of around 6.3 according to the LFS, and I'm wondering if whenever I top off the tank if it slowly is decreasing the PH.

Any ideas on how to increase ph? Should I turn on my skimmer? 20% water change? I was conflicted on wc or skimmer just because I wasn't sure if it would harm nitrifying bacteria, but I'm not sure now.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

What is the emergency?

If you have livestock, then yes, turn on your skimmer.

"Ammonia nitrate and nitrite were all 0"
YOUR TANK IS NOT CYCLED.

" I just checked my ph today, ppm was 133 which converted to 7.4 dkh"
PH IS NOT MEASURED IN DKH

"Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all still 0 however."
THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE. WHAT TEST KITS ARE YOU USING? REGARDLESS OF BRAND, I THINK THEY ARE NOT BEING RUN PROPERLY SINCE YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE A SOURCE OF AMMONIA.

*PH is the least of your problems right now...

 

[Aveadonat]

What is the emergency?

Im worried my PH is dropping really fast and if it continues at the rate it's going my fish will likely die

 

[hunterallen40]

I just checked my ph today, ppm was 133 which converted to 7.4 dkh

I think you're confusing your pH and your alkalinity.

 

[Aveadonat]

I think you're confusing your pH and your alkalinity.

I was under the assumption they're the same, not exactly a water chemistry expert
Using one of the hanna colorimeters, it was reading 141 ppm on 1/16 and now reads 133 ppm

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Im worried my PH is dropping really fast and if it continues at the rate it's going my fish will likely die

I think your test results are incorrect.
Invest in some quality kits and test yourself...

 

[Aveadonat]

I think your test results are incorrect.
Invest in some quality kits and test yourself...

Using the hanna colorimeter, I was under the assumption they're some of the nicer kits on the market?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I was under the assumption they're the same, not exactly a water chemistry expert
Using one of the hanna colorimeters, it was reading 141 ppm on 1/16 and now reads 133 ppm

Please read this. It has amazing information for someone just starting out. If you have questions as you are reading, please research to find the answers.

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean...

www.reef2reef.com

I'm sorry if my replies seem blunt but I'm in a hurry, lol. I hope you can find the info you need to start/maintain a successful tank.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Using the hanna colorimeter, I was under the assumption they're some of the nicer kits on the market?

They are the most expensive, for sure. Some of their testers are good but others not so much... I don't have personal experience with them but you can search this forum and get more info on how to use them correctly and which parameters they are best for.

 

[Just John]

If you are concerned about the accuracy of your tests take a sample to a LFS to be checked and compared to your results

 

[Aveadonat]

Please read this. It has amazing information for someone just starting out. If you have questions as you are reading, please research to find the answers.

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean...

www.reef2reef.com

I'm sorry if my replies seem blunt but I'm in a hurry, lol. I hope you can find the info you need to start/maintain a successful tank.

No all good! I appreciate the replies! Sorry if this doesn't seem like an emergency, I might've been over reacting a little and I'm somewhat paranoid...
Just looked up the difference and I get the gist of it, but I'm still worried my ppm is too low. Quick search showed 142-215 ppm and my water has been consistently dropping ppm. Any articles or input on what might be causing this decline or any solutions to get it up in a controlled fashion or stabilize it?

 

[hunterallen40]

I was under the assumption they're the same, not exactly a water chemistry expert
Using one of the hanna colorimeters, it was reading 141 ppm on 1/16 and now reads 133 ppm

They are not the same.

Alkalinity and pH are not simple to define, and I encourage you to look more deeply into their definitions.

(Very) briefly, pH is a measurement of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution, whereas alkalinity represents the buffering capacity of your water.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

If you have livestock, then yes, turn on your skimmer.

"Ammonia nitrate and nitrite were all 0"
YOUR TANK IS NOT CYCLED.

" I just checked my ph today, ppm was 133 which converted to 7.4 dkh"
PH IS NOT MEASURED IN DKH

"Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all still 0 however."
THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE. WHAT TEST KITS ARE YOU USING? REGARDLESS OF BRAND, I THINK THEY ARE NOT BEING RUN PROPERLY SINCE YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE A SOURCE OF AMMONIA.

*PH is the least of your problems right now...

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

No all good! I appreciate the replies! Sorry if this doesn't seem like an emergency, I might've been over reacting a little and I'm somewhat paranoid...
Just looked up the difference and I get the gist of it, but I'm still worried my ppm is too low. Quick search showed 142-215 ppm and my water has been consistently dropping ppm. Any articles or input on what might be causing this decline or any solutions to get it up in a controlled fashion or stabilize it?

Are you testing at exactly the same time each day?
Gas exchange is very important. Turning on the skimmer will help, as will pointing your powerhead toward the surface.

 

[Aveadonat]

If you have livestock, then yes, turn on your skimmer.

"Ammonia nitrate and nitrite were all 0"
YOUR TANK IS NOT CYCLED.

" I just checked my ph today, ppm was 133 which converted to 7.4 dkh"
PH IS NOT MEASURED IN DKH

"Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all still 0 however."
THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE. WHAT TEST KITS ARE YOU USING? REGARDLESS OF BRAND, I THINK THEY ARE NOT BEING RUN PROPERLY SINCE YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE A SOURCE OF AMMONIA.

*PH is the least of your problems right now...

I didn't think it was cycled, and because of that I wasn't sure if my skimmer was going to do anything to the nitrifying bac, but I'll turn it on.
I've been using the Seachem ammonia alerts for ammonia as well as API strips which I have heard mixed reviews on. I've seen people say they've gotten constant false results, but other people say they've ran controlled tests 100+ times and everytime it came back accurately.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Explore this section of the site. There are lots of great articles about chemistry...

Randy's Reef Chemistry Articles

While there are many good articles out there on reef chemistry topics, here's a list of my articles. Some of them need updating, and we'll be posting revisions at R2R, but there are not many things which I think are incorrect. Handy Calculators (I don't claim to have written these, but they...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Aveadonat]

Are you testing at exactly the same time each day?
Gas exchange is very important. Turning on the skimmer will help, as will pointing your powerhead toward the surface.

I figured skimmer would help, I was also seeing some places saying opening a window might help if oxygen in my home is low, however I think it's a little too cold in MD to be opening windows...
Never took into account the time that I test, for the past 2 days I was testing around 6 PM however today I tested at 12, so that could definitely throw off results

 

[hunterallen40]

Any articles or input on what might be causing this decline or any solutions to get it up in a controlled fashion or stabilize it?

This is normal when an aquarium is cycling.

Once you get to a place where you want to look into corals, you will care more about your alkalinity, but, for the time being, I would encourage you to look more into the fundamentals.

It's also important to note that pH will change throughout the day.

Here's the last 24 hrs for my reef:

I see Randy's articles were linked, and they are the gold standard for truth.

For now, I encourage you to breathe a bit, take a step back, and watch your fish. Stay on top ammonia right now, that's the most important thing.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

The reason outside air often helps raise pH is that CO2 lowers pH and "airing out" the room can reduce CO2 that's been accumulating (from people breathing, etc).
But again, I don't think you need to focus on pH specifically right now.

 

[Aveadonat]

This is normal when an aquarium is cycling.

Once you get to a place where you want to look into corals, you will care more about your alkalinity, but, for the time being, I would encourage you to look more into the fundamentals.

It's also important to note that pH will change throughout the day.

Here's the last 24 hrs for my reef:

I see Randy's articles were linked, and they are the gold standard for truth.

For now, I encourage you to breathe a bit, take a step back, and watch your fish. Stay on top ammonia right now, that's the most important thing.

Thank you for the advice, I'll take a step back and focus on ammonia