PH won't stay up

[Kasasah]

The dkh is at 10 and i've been using the Kent Marine superbuffer dkh and it's not keeping my PH stable... Calcium is 420, ammonia is 0, nitrate 0, and nitrite 0. The PH will only go to 8.0 at most and in the mornings is 7.8 which i know is normal because i don't have a 24hr fuge light. Should i use a PH booster or get the alkalinity up a little more?

[Emerald525]

The first question I have for you is how is everything doing? The second question is what are you growing? In one of our tanks our dkh runs low but everything is doing well so we stopped stressing about it. A DKH of 10 is not bad.

[Bigjohnwoody]

My PH is almost always 7.8-8. I don't care at all anymore. It's too much of a battle to worry about.

[tanktop74]

Our pH on our tanks runs at 7.8-7.9 in the am to 8.0-8.1 in the evenings.

Nothing to worry about if all the corals look good and are growing!

[MVPaquatics]

use some baked baking soda to buffer...it has a tendency to keep ph around 8.3 at proper levels and drops to 8.0-8.1 at night...

7.8 is pretty low, past the point of good returns on growth. And if it is down that low for 10 hours or more you are missing out on some prime growth time. People like to run elevated levels on just about everything it seems, if you do that, you would want pH to be to different. Balance is just as important as levels

[Kimberlee]

+1 on the baking soda. I've been dosing w/ it to bring up my DKh and it keeps my PH between 8.0-8.3. Morning and evening #'s.

[Kasasah]

How much baking soda should I dose on a fifty gallon?

[Kimberlee]

Here is a good place to start
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

I think you want to bake it for the higher PH. I've only made up 1 dose so I'd have to reread it.

[markvo]

If the CO2 level in your house is high, you will not be able to get the pH up for long. Because when you get the pH up, it will only be temporary as the CO2 in the air will disolve in the water and bring the pH down. This is what is making the oceans more acidic. Check the Chemistry forum at Reef Central to verify.

[Algae]

If the CO2 level in your house is high, you will not be able to get the pH up for long. Because when you get the pH up, it will only be temporary as the CO2 in the air will disolve in the water and bring the pH down. This is what is making the oceans more acidic. Check the Chemistry forum at Reef Central to verify.

Agreed! There are ways to bring air inside or going to a co2 scrubber. 7.8 to 8.0 is not terrible. Your DKH should not go higher. If anything it may be beneficial going lower. Instead of using Kent I would go to soda ash for the economics.