Help with pH

[Oilers]

Hi,
What is the best way/product to raise the pH level? I just measured the pH of my tank and it's only 7.7. Is it the reason why I found my cleaner shrimp dead this morning? I tested the water and the salinity, nitrate and phosphate numbers are alright. Help please!

[parkinsn]

What is your Alk/Kh level? If your PH is that low you KH is likely low as well

[kien]

Hi,
What is the best way/product to raise the pH level? I just measured the pH of my tank and it's only 7.7. Is it the reason why I found my cleaner shrimp dead this morning? I tested the water and the salinity, nitrate and phosphate numbers are alright. Help please!

Your shrimp may not be dead, he may have just molted and is now hiding.

[Oilers]

My Kh level is 12.
Kien: the shrimp is really dead. It's right at the side of the tank, upside down and didn't move at all the whole morning.

[mattdean]

How long has your tank been set up? If it's fairly new, your PH is fine. Mine was around 7.7 for months. Then it rose on it's own over time. What's most important is that it doesn't fluctuate greatly. As long as it's stable, things should be fine. I doubt it would kill your shrimp unless it dropped quickly.

Alk should definitely be tested as stated above. If the shrimp is dea, I assume you took it out. If it doesn't get eaten quickly it will just rot and poolute the water.

Good luck

[jimbo222]

I'v had the same issue for the past year
7.7 ph with no ill effect's on my shrimp.
Finally last month i found a solution by running a quarter inch hose to the outside and attaching it to my skimmer intake. and now ph is at 8.2 , never seen it this high.
and for some reason my skimmer is pulling twice the amount of goo.

[Oilers]

Matt: The tank was set up a couple months ago. Fairly new.
I removed the dead shrimp, dosed my tank with AragaMilk. I'll measure the pH tomorrow to see if that helps. Thanks for all the replies guys and gals.

[wingedfish]

dosing a 2 month old tank will cause you to rip your hair out.

[Gripenfelter]

Seachem Buffer. Won't let you overdose.

How many fish do you have? Maybe you're over stocked?

[Myka]

pH is the most misunderstood parameter. Don't try to adjust the pH with chemical and additives, all that will accomplish is a short term change, and the pH will drift right back to where it was. Next thing you know alkalinity will be up at 15 dKH and you're still wondering why your pH is low. You can very easily have high alkalinity and low pH. Alkalinity does not directly affect pH.

With your tank being so new, it is not a surprise at all as it takes several months for a tank to settle in. How big is your tank? Are you using a protein skimmer?

the two most common causes of low pH are an inability to off-gas CO2 because either you aren't using a skimmer or your house isn't getting fresh air (can't get rid of CO2 if the skimmer is sucking in CO2), and high bioload (fish poop is acidic).

[Aquattro]

dosing a 2 month old tank will cause you to rip your hair out.

lol, agreed :)

[Oilers]

I have a 150G tank and I have 2 cleaner shrimps, 2 fire shrimps, 30 hermit crabs, 10 snails, regal tang, yellow tang, sailfin tang, copperband butterfly, 2 percula clowns, 2 black clowns, coral beauty, naso tang, 2 chromis. Picked up a cleaner shrimp from Steve. Looking to add a flame angel later this week.

[Gripenfelter]

I have a 150G tank and I have 2 cleaner shrimps, 2 fire shrimps, 30 hermit crabs, 10 snails, regal tang, yellow tang, sailfin tang, copperband butterfly, 2 percula clowns, 2 black clowns, coral beauty, naso tang, 2 chromis. Picked up a cleaner shrimp from Steve. Looking to add a flame angel later this week.

What kind of skimmer are you running for that many fish?

[Aquattro]

You've got a hefty load in there for a new tank, I'd probably hold of on more additions until things level out. If the tank doesn't have enough bacteria to break down wastes, then some acids could remain, affecting your pH.

[Oilers]

I am using an Aqua C Remora pro skimmer. Looking to upgrade to a different skimmer soon. Ken from BWA recommended Bubble Magus skimmer. Has anybody used that brand before? What was your experience with it? Any other suggestion?

[Gripenfelter]

I am using an Aqua C Remora pro skimmer. Looking to upgrade to a different skimmer soon. Ken from BWA recommended Bubble Magus skimmer. Has anybody used that brand before? What was your experience with it? Any other suggestion?

Don't add any more fish till you get a better skimmer. When you get a better skimmer you will probably see a more stable PH as well.

The skimmer you have now is not up to the task for what you have in the tank.

Save up and get the skimmer first. :)

[Cal_stir]

I am using an Aqua C Remora pro skimmer. Looking to upgrade to a different skimmer soon. Ken from BWA recommended Bubble Magus skimmer. Has anybody used that brand before? What was your experience with it? Any other suggestion?
I have a BM180-CS on my heavily stocked 90 gal, had it about 6 months now, no problems and works well, I also run a co2 scrubber on the air intake, boosted my ph 2 points and made the foam denser

[ALang]

I have a BM NAC-7 for my 130 gal sps dominated tank.
I have had it for 10 months. Got it from Ken at Blue World for a great price.
No problems, and runs extremely well for me.
I'd recommend it.

[Myka]

Oh my...I agree, the Remora skimmer is not up for the task at hand. Imo, the Remora barely even counts as a skimmer...more like an expensive air pump.

One thing you will learn one way or another is you need to GO SLOW when it comes to stocking a marine tank. Slamming that many fish in a brand new tank so fast is really teasing disaster. Please tell me you are at least using 100 lbs of live rock, not dry base rock...???

Btw, your hermit crabs will eat your snails. The shrimp should not have been added before the tank was at least 6 months old...they will have a tough time in there. The Regal, Naso, and Sailfin tangs will all outgrow the 150 gallon tank. The Copperband Butterfly has very, very poor long-term survival...I would be surprised if it lives 6 months. Please don't add the Flame Angel yet! Your tank should be 8-12 months old for the amount of stocking you have in there.

At this point, I really think you need to stop adding anything to the tank for at least 2-3 months. I have a feeling you're going to be having a lot of trouble in the next little while. Go tell Steve (or Ken) how old your tank is and what is in there already and see what they say.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, I'm trying to save you from a disaster that would put you off on carrying on in this great hobby.

[Oilers]

I've changed my skimmer to a Bubble Magus NAC66. I hope that will be able to handle my tank.
Myka, thanks for the advice. I have about 200lbs of live rock in my tank. However, I think I am committing the newbie sin. I see everything being so beautiful and I want everything at once :biggrin:
Flame angel has been added along with a purple firefish. I will refrain myself from adding any more fish until later down the road. I was thinking of a purple tang. I know it will outgrow my tank but I might upgrade to a bigger tank later down the road. Cheers.

[cwatkins]

Click on my sig and you'll see a graph of my daily pH swing. 7.7 is low but not crazy if it's stable.