Can I ask a silly question - what is the best way to aerate the fresh replacement salt water? I have a pump that is just circulating the water, but it doesn't seem that pH is rising much at all. Currently pH is at 4.1
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Can I ask a silly question - what is the best way to aerate the fresh replacement salt water? I have a pump that is just circulating the water, but it doesn't seem that pH is rising much at all. Currently pH is at 4.1
Any thoughts on how long it takes for pH to rise back up? I've had this water mixed for about 24 hours with an air stone in it and it's only risen from 4.1 pH to 4.3 pH. Which leads to another questions - how long is freshly-mixed saltwater good for (assuming that is being circulated and aerated)?An airstone may help. Open to the air for sure, maybe let in some fresh outside air as the room CO2 may be elevated.
@Randy Holmes-Farley it looks like my fresh saltwater mix isn't rising in pH at all... Still sitting at 4.4 after 48 hours of mixing. Should I just give it more time, or did I likely over-do the acid buffer?An airstone may help. Open to the air for sure, maybe let in some fresh outside air as the room CO2 may be elevated.
@Randy Holmes-Farley it looks like my fresh saltwater mix isn't rising in pH at all... Still sitting at 4.4 after 48 hours of mixing. Should I just give it more time, or did I likely over-do the acid buffer?
Hey all - just an update here. I went ahead and made some changes, but my problem still ins't solved. Looking to @Randy Holmes-Farley and others for any insight on some new developments:you are at the alkalinity endpoint. We’re you aiming for zero alk? Maybe you over shot it.
Oddly enough, I don't add anything to my tank except for a few ml of Brightwell Phoshpat-E daily and a tiny bit of Magnesium buffer maybe once every 3 months or so. When my tank was brand new 18 months ago, alk would drop so I would add soda ash (mixed with RODI water) to get it back up. But after a few months, alk started to rise on its own, so I stopped dosing soda ash; haven't dosed in over a year.Can you list again everything you add to the tank, including things you don’t think have alk in them?
Yep - TDS is always 0. dKH of new saltwater has been tested with four different test kits, just like my tank water (Red Sea, LaMotte, Hanna, and GHL KH Director... I got a bit obsessed with my alk LOL!).The TDS of the Ro/DI is 0-1 ppm?
What foods do you feed?
The 7.5 dKH in the new salt water comes from a measurement using the same kit you are using on the aquarium?
Any other thoughts on this @Randy Holmes-Farley ? My alkalinity went from 9.9 dKH to 9.2 dKH after a water change, but has risen over the past 4 days back p to 10.0 dKH.Yep - TDS is always 0. dKH of new saltwater has been tested with four different test kits, just like my tank water (Red Sea, LaMotte, Hanna, and GHL KH Director... I got a bit obsessed with my alk LOL!).
Forgot to mention food - I feed two big pinches of PE Pellets Fish Food, one in the morning and one at lunch. For dinner, I feed 2 cubes of PE Mysis Frozen Shrimp. Links to both of these products here:
PE Pellets Saltwater Fish Food
PE mysis has been used and loved by all types of saltwater aquarists. Now the power of fresh PE mysis has been encapsulated in a pellet form along with other essential nutrients and vitamins resulting in a nutritionally complete diet. Three Sizes Available: 1mm (2oz) - Perfect for pico and nano...www.marinedepot.comFrozen Mysis Shrimp
Why does BRS recommend this? PE Mysis has proven to be one of the best foods for saltwater fish. The mysis are sustainably harvested at night, processed and then flash-frozen within hours of being caught. The mysis are packaged whole preserving their nutritional value within the shrimp. Once you...www.marinedepot.com
Also - a question for @Randy Holmes-Farley - the fact that this has now happened twice - does that add any clues to this?
Id suggest taking out a bucket of tank water and test the alk. Areate with an airstone. Let it sit for a week and see if it rose.Hey guys - so after some success with my alkalinity declining, it is now back to going back up every so slowly, or just staying flat. This is now the second time in my tank's history that alkalinity declined for a short period of time, and then just stopped declining and actually increased. The first time was when my tank was brand new, and the second was after I changed out the rock and removed a lot of sand. @hobbyreefer @eshtog I'm just wondering if you're still having the same success of continued declining alkalinity, and the need to dose? Also - a question for @Randy Holmes-Farley - the fact that this has now happened twice - does that add any clues to this?
I have a few other threads that are just detailing my tank woes and the fact that I cannot get my SPS to grow at all. It is frustrating - the SPS are staying alive, but there is nearly zero growth, no encrusting... nothing at all except for 2 of my 25 frags. It strikes me that something in the tank is either leeching or irritating these corals and stunting their growth, but I can't figure out what it is.
My first post in the forum.Id suggest taking out a bucket of tank water and test the alk. Areate with an airstone. Let it sit for a week and see if it rose.
Then id test that same water with a piece of your rock in it test and see if it rises.
Continue to do this to everthing.
Curious does your tank somehow recieve dust from something in the house that may slowly raise alk? In my basement and when my kids run around upstairs i can see dust fall sometimes. Now if that were co concrete dust that would raise alk.
Is this the same with calcium ?I do mean bacteria, or corals, macroalgae, etc.
But having a lot of any of them is not sufficient. Nitrate must be declining (not just low). In a steady state nitrate situation (whether high or low), the alk is depleted by the production of nitrate, and exactly added back by the consumption of nitrate. So no net effect happens to alk unless nitrate is changing.