quick question about ph

[jcs11236]

hey guys -for some reason my ph seems to decrease everytime i do a water change. i use distilled water for top off and i use naturesocenan already mixed saltwater. i checked the ph of the salt water and it is always at a constant 8.3 -but once i do a water change -it goes down

what might be the cause?

 

[Anonymous]

do you age your water before adding the salt - sometimes CO2 in the water can deplete the buffers in the salt mix. I put fresh water in a mixing tank with a pump and heater let it sit for 24 hours, mix in the salt let it sit another 24 and then use it - just a thought

 

[jcs11236]

no--john---i use already mixed saltwater--it comes with salt -trace elements and ph buffer already done/mixed---

 

[incysor]

Even with pre-mixed saltwater, most people find they still need to use additives.

All the major salt mixes have different amounts of the trace elements/additives that are necessary. Your mix of corals and critters differs from everyone elses, so they're gonna use the trace elements, or affect the water chemistry differently from everyone elses. The only way to know what you need to add is to run tests.

B

 

[djconn]

I ALWAYS have to use a pH buffer with my tanks. Oceanic usually is a tad low in ALK.

 

[jcs11236]

this question may be dumb but what happens if your ph goes high--lets say like 8.6
is that bad as well as a low ph? and how would you bring a high ph down?

 

[incysor]

Check your calcium, alk, pH, are all sort of related. A low magnesium level can cause them to bounce around. If one is up too high usually one or both of the others is a bit low.

Honestly the best way to deal with one of them being seriously high, is through a couple large water changes. Do that, test and then use your additives to get things back to normal. It's much easier to raise levels through additives than trying to lower high ones by using different/complimentary additives.

Except in the case of a high salinity of course.

B