Raising and keeping the PH level

Tain't fresh, and tain't marine! Talk about brackish setups.
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Ti_CLaD
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Raising and keeping the PH level

Post by Ti_CLaD »

When I had the GSPs in my 26g tank, the PH always was at roughly 8... Now they passed away so got a single F8 in the tank, I did a 50% water change just before putting the F8 in, using the Prime product for the first time, always used Nutrafin before that, and notice that the PH went down to between 7 and 7.5...

I just wanted to raise it back up and keep it stable a bit, water is still freshwater, trying to maintain water quality before going brackish... so I went to the LPS and demanded some crushed coral, they sold me a bag of "pacific gravel", took a 2kg (4.4lbs) bag... It's called Aquarium substrate and warned on the bag that it may buffer the PH...

Is this what I needed??? Should I put it all inside the tank or just a little bit of it??? I red somewhere on the internet that you should bag the crushed coral so that if you have to remove when PH is good, it it's easily done, is this a good way to go or just letting it in the tank is better???
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Re: Raising and keeping the PH level

Post by bertie 83 »

Never heard of pacific gravel. A stable ph is better than messing with it by adding and removing stuff etc. arognite sand is the best ph buffer as recommended by rtr, crushed coral will also buffer your ph, you simply use it as substrate. Don't go too deep with the substrate in a f8 tank as it will be a pita to clean if you do
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Ti_CLaD
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Re: Raising and keeping the PH level

Post by Ti_CLaD »

bertie 83 said: Don't go too deep with the substrate in a f8 tank as it will be a pita to clean if you do
What do you mean by this??? Not familiar with the "pita" expression... :)
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bertie 83
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Re: Raising and keeping the PH level

Post by bertie 83 »

Pita = pain in the a$$
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Re: Raising and keeping the PH level

Post by Puffydave »

I raised my PH level from 7 to 8 by adding handfuls of crushed coral,
Do it week by week until you get the level your looking for.... Works for me
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Re: Raising and keeping the PH level

Post by Iliveinazoo »

Ti_CLaD wrote:When I had the GSPs in my 26g tank, the PH always was at roughly 8... Now they passed away so got a single F8 in the tank, I did a 50% water change just before putting the F8 in, using the Prime product for the first time, always used Nutrafin before that, and notice that the PH went down to between 7 and 7.5...

I just wanted to raise it back up and keep it stable a bit, water is still freshwater, trying to maintain water quality before going brackish... so I went to the LPS and demanded some crushed coral, they sold me a bag of "pacific gravel", took a 2kg (4.4lbs) bag... It's called Aquarium substrate and warned on the bag that it may buffer the PH...

Is this what I needed??? Should I put it all inside the tank or just a little bit of it??? I red somewhere on the internet that you should bag the crushed coral so that if you have to remove when PH is good, it it's easily done, is this a good way to go or just letting it in the tank is better???
Pacific gravel as I understand it is a form of calcium carbonate whether it be aragonite or crushed coral. If there is a warning on the bag that it will buffer pH then I would reckon that you have the right stuff just make sure that it isn't 'live' as this will contain saltwater bacteria that will die off at lower salinities.

As for how much you need there will probably be advice on the bag but essentially it should keep the pH between 8-8.2. It buffers the pH by dissolving - the more acidic the solution the quicker it will dissolve. It won't keep "buffering up" as it will stop dissolving at a steady level around 8.2ish.
As an aside: the marine salt that you add to your source water at water change time will also "buffer" the pH.

Assuming that your tank is cycled then your current Figure 8 will benefit from a little marine salt now, there is no reason why you would need to 'maintain water quality' before adding the salt. The salt that you add will reduce the toxicity of nitrate so it can only be a good thing to start going Brackish.
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