Tank Journal Archive

[Ben Daley]

Here's a graph from a few weeks ago that is fairly typical of the daily pH swings in this tank.

A couple of days ago I made some adjustments and was surprised to see this happen!

The changes made on Sunday were:
- Clean skimmer (disassemble and clean everything thoroughly)
- Remove biopellets
- Add NOPOX (10ml per day)
- Increase magnesium to 1280pm (was ~1200)

My theory is that:
- correcting the magnesium levels have helped reduce the daily swing?
- Removing the biopellets (and/or cleaning the skimmer) has increased dissolved O2 which raised the pH?

Does this sound about right? Can anyone explain to me why this might have changed?

Happy reefing and thanks for reading :)

 

[daveH]

Interesting post.
My current and past tanks have all run at about 7.9, very consistently.
My Kh/Alk always runs around 10 and Mag 1350 - 1400.
No reactors just a bucket of chaeto.
I’ve never really bothered to chase or start additives to increase my pH due to how (apparently) well my tanks tick over.

 

[macca_75]

Increasing Mg will buffer pH swings.

Some organic carbons are also known to drop pH.