Ph

[dudley moray]

I have an apex with ph probe I use aquavitro 8.4 and balance as well as ions and calcification the salt mix is supposed to give these levels
Cal-400-443mg/l
Mag1269-1403mg/l
Ph8.40-8.60
Alk3.2-3.8meq/l
Mine should be that as I only do 30%~50% water changes weekly and dose a teaspoon of the three (and a tiny bit of balance when ph get below 8) in fresh water top offs throughout the week I don't test most parameters any more only phosphorus and ph I do run carbon and a tablespoon on phoslock in a reactor
The reason I ask is because I'm having trouble with phosphate and I'm sure it's low ph allowing it to be released from the rock

[Reefer Rob]

I don't think that PH level will dissolve your rock. If your rock has PO4 it will leach regardless of the PH. I would increase you GFO amount and change it more frequently until you have the PO4 under control. As well I would look for the other sources of PO4.

[Reefer Rob]

BTW is Phoslock lanthanum chloride?

[mrhasan]

I don't have any knowledge regarding the low ph being responsible (or not responsible) for leaching po4 from the rocks. I am assuming that you are using dry rocks? Possibly that's enough to leach po4 rather than the ph. The only time ph would cause any significant issue is when it starts to approach the neutral level (7.0) which is not very easy to do unless you have a sudden decrease in oxygen level or keep the tank in an airtight area. To me, 8.4 and balance would be a very poor thing to add to the tank due to the fact that it gives a temporary boost and then will go back to the "equilibrium" that you tank maintains; the primary factor (I think) would be the ventilation in the room.

[Myka]

Your tank would have to be around pH 6 to start dissolving any bound phosphate. Needless to say, I don't think your tanks' inhabitants would be doing very well at that pH.

A pH around 8.0 is nothing to worry about, but if you're that concerned, the CO2 released from human and animal respiration impacts pH by lowering it. The amount of CO2 in a home is often significantly higher in the winter months when windows and doors are kept closed. Better air exchange near the sump can make a big difference as well as airing the house out a few times per week by opening a couple windows and allowing a breeze to go through for awhile. Try this before messing around with the pH directly. If you're messing around with the pH directly you're very likely casing pH swings which stress the inhabitants more by leaps and bounds.

[Lampshade]

Any time i've gone to "correct" a bad PH I've had bad results, the most recent pretty much nuked all my sps. So I bought another PH test kit and did my old one and new one side by side, one at 6.5, the other one at 11PH. Obviously a bad reading, so re-did tests few times, still same results, bought a third PH test to see what one is right, and it said 8. So now I don't touch my PH at all, ever. Tanks been great since, never dosing again, also never trusting thousands of dollars of corals to a test kit either.

[Treebeard]

If you opened your windows for more than a few minutes in S'toon this time of year you would be scraping the frost of the fish tank to see your fish!

Originally Posted by Myka

Better air exchange near the sump can make a big difference as well as airing the house out a few times per week by opening a couple windows and allowing a breeze to go through for awhile. Try this before messing around with the pH directly. If you're messing around with the pH directly you're very likely casing pH swings which stress the inhabitants more by leaps and bounds.

[Reef Pilot]

As a well known mod has said before here,...LITFA!!