Don't you have some new Alk and Ca levels to report
 Laird wrote:
...My ph was low for a while so I was slowly using a concentrated buffer to bring it up. |
That is a common mistake. You are not alone.
I hope what I say next makes sense.
Number one: Is pH the same as Alkalinity? No. Basically, pH is a measure of the amount of CO2 in the water. Simply said, Alkalinity is a measure of the amount of carbonates in the water. The "Buffer" products talk about raising pH but what they are really raising is Alkalinity. Because pH follows Alkalinity, when the Alk rises, so does pH. It's a chemistry thing.
Number two: Should a hobbyist even worry about pH? Yes, but not really. There are two things that should be done so that a hobbyist never has to be concerned about pH.
1. Test Alkalinity regularly and add baking soda solution to keep it somewhere near the middle of 8-14 dKH, 3-5 meq/L or 150-250 ppm. This topic has received a lot of discussion here lately so that's enough here.
2. Get CO2 out of the aquarium as fast as possible. The biggest CO2 producer in a typical reef aquarium is the sand bed. CO2 is moved best when water flow is moving swiftly from the depths to the surface; from the bottom of the aquarium to the surface, but it doesn't stop there. The surface water must be rolling or agitated by the rising water stream. A follow-up point to this is to ensure that the rolling water comes into contact with plenty of fresh air so that the CO2 can dissipate and O2 can enter the water. This is why it's bad to have glass covers or tight fitting canopies over a marine aquarium unless there is a fan to blow in fresh air.
I hope this makes sense. For what it's worth, I have not tested pH forever, but I test Alk and Ca regularly.
Edited by Mark Peterson - September 10 2010 at 9:25pm
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