Hello again, I was wondering what you can do to eiether HIGHER or LOWER you're pH levels. Just like temperature. To higher it u would use a heater, and by loweriung it u could use a chiller.
What do u do to keep the pH level's between 7.9 and 8.2?
ThanX!

you would use a ph buffer. Ask your LFS

In Scotland the water is very soft...ie there is virtually no dissolved minerals in the water so i very often have had problems getting the pH to sit where i want it..

If i leave a tank, especially a FW one set up for six months the pH can crash as low as 4 or 5!

So the best thing to use is a buffering agent, but you can help this by using a product like calcium plus and mix that into the gravel... just something like that sold as an LFS for buffering the water... that;s probably where the problem lies

I've had very good luck with a product called "B-ionic" ...a two part buffer that you add once a week or so...works like a charm!
Greg

ThanX!

So let me get this straight. pH is how many dissolved minerals or calcium is in the water?
So in order to keep the pH level bwteen 7.9 and 8.2 I would get a pH buffer and see if I can add more calcium and minerals in my sand bed to keep it right there right?
ThanX!

pH, pH scale -- ((chemistry) p(otential of) H(ydrogen); the logarithm of the reciprocal of hydrogen-ion concentration in gram atoms per liter;

provides a measure on a scale from 0 to 14 of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution (where 7 is neutral and greater than 7 is basic and less than 7 is acidic

Acidic - the pH is between zero and 7.0
Neutral - the pH is 7.0
Basic (also called alkaline) - the pH is between 7.0 and 14.
EDITED- thanks for pointing that out melissa :oops:


several factors determine your ph. i would suggest a ph monitor. and alkalinity tests i like fastest's alk test kit ,you want an alk of 3.5-4.5.

alkalinity is the same thing as KH (carbonate hardness) is the indicator of pH stability. again proper alk will help your ph to be more stable

i also like b-ionic's two part buffer system...one is for alk and the other for calcium{salifert test kits are reccomended for calcium}


Half a teaspoon of baking soda per 25 Gallons will raise the kH by about 1 dH (17.8 ppm). you can also make limewater .

i think you should goto http://www.reefcentral.com and read some..very nice site similar to tonmo- tons of info.another usefull site is http://www.wetwebmedia.com/

i hope this helps some. do you already have an octo?

EDIT----ps.. calcium has no major role in ph.

pH, pH scale -- ((chemistry) p(otential of) H(ydrogen); the logarithm of the reciprocal of hydrogen-ion concentration in gram atoms per liter;

:shock: :shock: :notworth: :notworth:

That's more than I remember of Chem 101!

What's an Ion again :?: :lol:

J

i just looked over some of your other posts. i saw someone said there is no reason to add calcium in a ceph tank. where i would not worry if its not in the right levels i wouldnt dismiss it all together. it boosts coralline growth from your live rock many other inverts use calcium in many different ways.
do yourself a favor and spend some quality time reading on these topics and see what you want to do after that..i would never take advice based on the opinions of one person. not that people mean anything bad by it, but whats best or at least preferable to someone else might not be so to you.

i'm gonna quote neal boortz{talk radio genius}" do not believe anything you hear{see} here, UNLESS you research it for yourself, or it's consistant with something you already believe to be true." i think thats right.

anyway .. good luck with everything

What's an Ion again
"A compound or element with a charge" i think :wink:

i just looked over some of your other posts. i saw someone said there is no reason to add calcium in a ceph tank.

That could have been me as i have stated in the past that the quantity of water changes we have to do for a ceph tank and the fact that other than corraline algae we have hardly any demand on calcium in our tanks... There should be enough calcium in our water without having to add any more.

Our ceph tanks are very different to a reef tank which has a heavy demand on calcium due to corals etc

cheers