Hi. I´m new to the hobby, but i´ve been trying to read up on the subject of ph a lot lately due to my issue with my own tank. (sorry for long post, just trying to explain)
First of all. My tank is still cycling, but the reason i´m asking the question is because the PH gets below 7 after about 3-4 days and i´m afraid that will stop my cycling so I´m reaching out for some suggestions as to how to stabilize my PH.
So, still cycling but with water changes and kalkwasser I have been able to keep my ph above 7... barely. The Ammonia is more or less undetectable and nitrates is on it´s way down, so getting to the "end" of the cycle I guess soon. But I don´t want to introduce anything in my tank. I tried with 3 corals(kenya, gsp and a mushroom) last week as someone suggested these corals would survive during cycle and I made the mistake of not being patient.
Within 1 hour the kenya tree was hanging down and within 48 hours all corals had LITERALY melted away(though one of the gsp frags was still closed and hanging on a few extra days after this). I could see them dissolving in realtime almost. I quickly scoured the internet and bought ph strips and a ph probe. Both showing my water was at 6.5 - 7 range. (all other measures seemed normal, Salinity 30-31ppm)
I immediately did a 50% water change, then 20% the other two days and my ph got to 7.5 (new water is about 8 or 8.1). Then it started sinking again with about 0.2 every day. And after a few days i was back to 6.90. During this time I had been reading a lot and testing and testing. Ammonia still a little bit present and nitrates were at that time around 100ppm, but I did not have a nitrite test so I guess that may have affected my testing. But I ended up buying kalkwasser and Seachem prime. (prime to fix the new water i added and kalkwasser to see if that could get rid of excess co2)
After adding the kalkwasser the ph got to around 8.22 and stayed there for a few hours. This morning I woke up, ph 7.2. My alkilinity is at 12.5 so I don´t want to add anymore kalkwasser. I have a filter running, windows open(i live in the countryside so fresh air and no machinery here, far from any city and close to the sea with fresh air).
I am at a loss. I know i´m not supposed to be chasing numbers and that the tank will be more stable after the cycle is done and the tank is matured, but if it drops below 7 and kills my bacteria then that won´t help me much...
Should I just do daily 50% water changes forever to keep my ph above 7.5 , please, if anyone has ANY advice I would be grateful.
My tank is 120l(30gal)
I have about 2-3cm of substrate(Aquaforest 1-2mm sand)
I have about 12kg of live rock that had dried up
I used the shrimp method to start but I added Aquaforest Bio s to speed things up a bit.
I have a hang on the back filter
(I had the skimmer running during the first 2 weeks but took it off because i thought it was making the water worse when I saw what happened to the corals)
Wavemaker(not an expensive one, but aimed at the water surface to aireate)
No livestock other than the purple, probably dead gsp by now, and still a bit of decaying shrimp leftover
First of all. My tank is still cycling, but the reason i´m asking the question is because the PH gets below 7 after about 3-4 days and i´m afraid that will stop my cycling so I´m reaching out for some suggestions as to how to stabilize my PH.
So, still cycling but with water changes and kalkwasser I have been able to keep my ph above 7... barely. The Ammonia is more or less undetectable and nitrates is on it´s way down, so getting to the "end" of the cycle I guess soon. But I don´t want to introduce anything in my tank. I tried with 3 corals(kenya, gsp and a mushroom) last week as someone suggested these corals would survive during cycle and I made the mistake of not being patient.
Within 1 hour the kenya tree was hanging down and within 48 hours all corals had LITERALY melted away(though one of the gsp frags was still closed and hanging on a few extra days after this). I could see them dissolving in realtime almost. I quickly scoured the internet and bought ph strips and a ph probe. Both showing my water was at 6.5 - 7 range. (all other measures seemed normal, Salinity 30-31ppm)
I immediately did a 50% water change, then 20% the other two days and my ph got to 7.5 (new water is about 8 or 8.1). Then it started sinking again with about 0.2 every day. And after a few days i was back to 6.90. During this time I had been reading a lot and testing and testing. Ammonia still a little bit present and nitrates were at that time around 100ppm, but I did not have a nitrite test so I guess that may have affected my testing. But I ended up buying kalkwasser and Seachem prime. (prime to fix the new water i added and kalkwasser to see if that could get rid of excess co2)
After adding the kalkwasser the ph got to around 8.22 and stayed there for a few hours. This morning I woke up, ph 7.2. My alkilinity is at 12.5 so I don´t want to add anymore kalkwasser. I have a filter running, windows open(i live in the countryside so fresh air and no machinery here, far from any city and close to the sea with fresh air).
I am at a loss. I know i´m not supposed to be chasing numbers and that the tank will be more stable after the cycle is done and the tank is matured, but if it drops below 7 and kills my bacteria then that won´t help me much...
Should I just do daily 50% water changes forever to keep my ph above 7.5 , please, if anyone has ANY advice I would be grateful.
My tank is 120l(30gal)
I have about 2-3cm of substrate(Aquaforest 1-2mm sand)
I have about 12kg of live rock that had dried up
I used the shrimp method to start but I added Aquaforest Bio s to speed things up a bit.
I have a hang on the back filter
(I had the skimmer running during the first 2 weeks but took it off because i thought it was making the water worse when I saw what happened to the corals)
Wavemaker(not an expensive one, but aimed at the water surface to aireate)
No livestock other than the purple, probably dead gsp by now, and still a bit of decaying shrimp leftover