Carbon Dosing pH Drop - Nano

[ncmonserud]

I have been dosing Carbon (Tropic Marin Bacto Balance and Elimi-NP for approximately 6 weeks. I was able to bring Nitrate from 60+ ppm and phosphate from 0.79 ppm to flat lining then stabilizing for the past three weeks to what is listed below. Yes a bit high but that is stable.

Current Parameters
Tank Size: 30 gallon AIO
Phosphate: 0.17 ppm (Hanna Checker)
Nitrate: 21.0 ppm (Hanna Checker)
Alk: 9.8 dKh (Hanna Checker)

My question to all is when I dose 0.7 ml of Carbon every morning I see a dip of ~0.05-0.08 in my Ph.

How much do I need to worry about this? My tank is pretty small so I did not know if this was fine or if I should mitigate this more.

Secondary question, should I try to bring N&P down more I don't want to be chasing numbers too much?

 

[Reefahholic]

I have been dosing Carbon (Tropic Marin Bacto Balance and Elimi-NP for approximately 6 weeks. I was able to bring Nitrate from 60+ ppm and phosphate from 0.79 ppm to flat lining then stabilizing for the past three weeks to what is listed below. Yes a bit high but that is stable.

Current Parameters
Tank Size: 30 gallon AIO
Phosphate: 0.17 ppm (Hanna Checker)
Nitrate: 21.0 ppm (Hanna Checker)
Alk: 9.8 dKh (Hanna Checker)

My question to all is when I dose 0.7 ml of Carbon every morning I see a dip of ~0.05-0.08 in my Ph.

How much do I need to worry about this? My tank is pretty small so I did not know if this was fine or if I should mitigate this more.

Secondary question, should I try to bring N&P down more I don't want to be chasing numbers too much?

pH should not be swinging more than 0.2 pH units. So if you’re only swinging .05-.08 then you’re good. No worries there.

Regarding your nutrients, 0.17 and 21 are decent numbers. I’d back off on your carbon dose so that it only drops PO4 by .01-.02 ppm per day now. Or NO3 by 3 ppm or less. Then when you hit your final target just reduce further and hold that dose to keep it in the target range.

 

[ncmonserud]

pH should not be swinging more than 0.2 pH units. So if you’re only swinging .05-.08 then you’re good. No worries there.

Regarding your nutrients, 0.17 and 21 are decent numbers. I’d back off on your carbon dose so that it only drops PO4 by .01-.02 ppm per day now. Or NO3 by 3 ppm or less. Then when you hit your final target just reduce further and hold that dose to keep it in the target range.

Thank you for your reply. I was very worried about the sudden drops but it makes since to start backing off now. I have never done carbon dosing before so I don't know what to expect.