Randy Holmes-Farley
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My Tank Thread
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Could the salt brand play any kind of a roll in this? I used to use reef crystals and ph was always over 8. Ever since I switched to tropic Marin it's below 8. Granted the time of year and I used to test with API vs salifert, and now one of my tanks has a probe.
The thing is, I have two tanks inside. I plumbed both skimmers to the outside Sunday morning. I'm still 7.78 today via apex on my one tank. Last night I did a salifert test on both tanks to compare. Color charts are hard to read but they were both the same color none the less. So I'm ruling out the kind of skimmers, length of the hose. Now wondering if it's related to how much air the skimmer can import in relation to how hard my furnace is working right now. So if I buy a reactor and use soda media vs the outside air, is it going to change anything? What would you do?
Salt mix won't impact pH unless you do large water changes daily, or the salt mix is driving the pH.
pH is determined mathematically by the alkalinity and the carbon dioxide level, neither of which are usually controlled by the salt mix.
The effect of skimmer air inlet CO2 levels will depend on how much aeration is via the skimmer compared to higher CO2 aeration locations such as the tank top and overflows.
If pH 7.78 is the low, I wouldn't agonize over it.