Mr. Saltwater Tank TV Friday AM Quick Tip: The pH Trap of Saltwater Tanks
One big mistake people make in the saltwater tank world is to chase numbers. And one number people chase the most is pH.
Browse the Store! Questions?
One big mistake people make in the saltwater tank world is to chase numbers. And one number people chase the most is pH.
Browse the Store! Questions?
Amen Mark, keep up the good work.
good video report. But I didn’t know keeping and aquarium was a career! 🙂 Obsession sounds a bit less lofty and a tad more accurate! 🙂 Best, JasPR
also wanted to introduce an idea ( always a dangerous thing). measurements are measurements- facts. BUT put those one dimensional facts into a dynamic living system and facts become — well– trivia. And also possible reminders of trend lines. It may be true that we get silly requiring our glass boxes to read just like the ocean. on the other hand, not knowing the trending dynamic in a glass box means potential for system domino crashes. Let me explain– pH is both a reading and an indicator of how close one is to a crash. The core issue is alkalinity or alkaline reserve. SO depending on your routine ( adding carbonate or not) doing water changes or not, overstocking or not, well water additions or not, new tank syndrome or not, a lower pH ‘might’ be a sign of flirting with an ‘edge’. when it doubt, keep your pH higher than lower. JaspR
I have found in out green hone, that the ph of my tank is directly proportionare to the quality of oxygen in my home. During the spring and fall months where we keep our windows open for the most part my ph runs around 8.1. In the summer and winter months it runs 7.8. Heard carbon dioxide has add lit to do with that
Interesting observation! and yes, I agree, its not so much the oxygen level as it is the carbon dioxide level. evaluate your algae presents and reevaluate the stocking level. Often friends who I have gotten into the hobby tell me ” but I’ve added no new fish so stocking levels are the same”. Not true! The fish get bigger and more importantly than length is MASS as that is what will demand oxygen and in return, deliver carbon dioxide to the system. in addition many of the ‘wolf packs’ of heterotrophic bacteria in mature and brand new systems can steal organic material and inorganic ammonia from autotrophic species ( the ones we want). this also uses alkalinity and produces carbon dioxide as natural protein and carbohydrate chains are broken down. in this regard, protein skimmers are invaluable in robbing the heterotrophic species of some of their substrate.
It’s all about flow, exchang,e and quality salt…
I had been in the lower pH side of the hobby for years with freshwater. In order to sustain pH I initially felt salt alone was getting me there and weekly water changes of 10 percent were enough.
After placing a probe into the tank connected to a digital, always on monitor I could see pH readings change and see the direct impact on tank life. 7.8 pH was typically where I settled. Clowns and gobies and inverts seemed to handle it. But tangs and larger breeds languished.
I kept reading about flow and open windows and thought it to be fantasy. But I picked up a 420gph pump, pointed it at the surface creating “surface waves” and instead of plexiglass covers (to keep jumpers in the aquarium) I switched to egg crate. This has my pH stabilized now at 8.35 and every species is much happier.
To reach 8.6 promised land is now my goal… more oxygen? I bet some PC fans across the water surface will boost it further…
My tanks sets at 8.0 no matter how much or little I do as far as dosing kalk. I did some reading about CO2 and oxygen levels and one solution people have come up with is to pull your intake air for your skimmer from outside. The little airline on the intake isn’t big enough for long runs and will choke it so depending on the run length as to how big the pipe needs to be. I haven’t gotten to it yet but I have a 1/2 pvc ready to be run through the wall and 8ft to my tank. The reason for the surface waves you mentioned is to promote air/water contact. You can’t get much better air/water contact than your skimmer. Don’t take my word on this. Do a little research and decide for yourself. Maybe I’ll get mine done this weekend.
Yeah, It’s not that big a deal. Thanks Mark!
I’ve never monitored pH in my tank. In fact, I couldn’t tell you right now what it is to save my life. But as far as tangs go, and I have a big yellow and a really big blue, what I have learned at the unfortunate expense of Golden Boy I and Dory I, is that nori is king. As long as you give them enough of that magic stuff, I feed mine nori about once every 2-3 days, they remain healthy and look fantastic. As for my pH, maybe I’ve just been lucky for the past 10 years…
Thank you for the weekly advice Mark.
Did the vodka dose thing in my coral tank it looked stunning before I went to bed woke up to a dead tank everything dead this was a 90 gallon on a 30g sump killed that off toobeforw I did this everything was crisp and clear I tried a 15 percent waterchange no luck infraction made it worse needless to say my tank is dead and now drained of water so I’m did this 125gallons has two built in black boxes can’t recall name but alsoboughta 55gal sump so I’m upgrading Skimmers going to switch to Led lighting ditching my sand and going to use the very fine stuff upgrading the heaters and circulation fans upgrading to large rock instead of the Med stuff this tank should be awesome but one thing ill never ever. Do is vodka again! !!! Thanks for the video Mark will update on 125 soon