noob question..

[chrisdaphish]

why would ph drop during the night? what makes it drop and how would it affect ur corals if it swings tooo much

also

wut would a temperature drop do to ur coral? i recently got a nice small acro colony.. however about a week after i got it i accidently left my fan on during the nighta nd hte temp dropped to around 65-70 i thikn.. then my acro started to lose its tissue.. a kinda stringy substance the color of hte acro started coming off.. do u think the temp drop is what caused it? why wouldnt my other corals suffer hte same effects

also how would low alkilinity affect ur reef... what are some symptoms of low alk.

any help would be appreciated thanks

 

[jake65]

help us out a bit, need to know water parameters, tank size, equipment, other inhabitants etc...

jake

 

[NaH2O]

why would ph drop during the night?

It basically has to do with the process of photosynthesis and respiration. Here is a quote from the article: Low pH: Causes and Cures

Why Does pH Change During the Day and Night?

The diurnal (daily) change in pH in reef aquaria comes about because of the biological processes of photosynthesis and respiration. Photosynthesis is the process whereby organisms convert carbon dioxide and water to carbohydrate and oxygen. The net reaction is:

5. 6CO2 + 6H2O + light à C6H12O6 (carbohydrate) + 6O2

So there is net consumption of carbon dioxide during the day. This net consumption leads to many aquaria becoming deficient in CO2 during the day, and the pH rises.

Likewise, organisms also carry out the process of respiration, where this carbohydrate is converted back into energy for other processes. In the net sense, it is the opposite of photosynthesis:

6. C6H12O6 (carbohydrate) + 6O2 à 6CO2 + 6H2O + energy

This process is happening all of the time in reef aquaria, and it tends to reduce the pH due to the carbon dioxide produced.

The net effect of these processes is that pH rises during the day and drops at night in most reef aquaria. This change varies from less than a tenth of a pH unit, to more than 0.5 pH units in typical aquaria. As is discussed in other parts of this article, complete aeration of the aquarium water to drive out excess carbon dioxide, or pull in excess carbon dioxide when deficient, will prevent the diurnal ph swing entirely. In practice that is often not attained, and there is a pH change between day and night.

In addition to aeration, the amount of chemical buffering in the water will impact the magnitude of the pH swing. Higher carbonate alkalinity leads to a smaller pH swing as the combination of carbonate and bicarbonate buffer against pH changes. Boric acid and borate also buffer against pH changes. Both of these buffer systems have more capacity at high pH (8.5) than at low pH (7.8), so aquarists with lower pH may see a larger pH swing for that reason alone. I have detailed all of these buffering effects and concerns about the diurnal pH swing in a previous article.

Here's another link for ya: The Relationship between Alkalinity and pH by RH-F

 

[My2heartboys]

Chris, I would agree that it would help to know your tank size and what you current water quality is. Please do checks on the following temp, sg, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH, dKH, cal, mg, strontium. With acros in your tank, I think that is all--somebody else if I didn't get them all, please pipe up with any I missed. I'm just a noob myself--but from what I have read acros are VERY picky about their surroundings. From the amount of light (or rather lack of) right down to water flow and how much nutrients are in the water.

Again, I don't know very much--but to me it sounds like your acro is expelling the algea part.

Anne

 

[reedman]

key with acros is stability.

How long has your tank been setup?

For parameters, I test Alk, Ca, and SG weekly or bi-weekly, just to be sure. Temp is monitored all the time with a controller. Those are the key parameters in my mind. PH can vary from tank to tank without too much negative impact as long as it's in the 7.9 to 8.3 range and doesn't swing wildly.

Once you post some more info, we'll get you some advice on what to do.

 

[chrisdaphish]

okay.... welll im a pretty nooby reefer.. i started out iwht a fish only tank so reefs are kinnda new to me my tank, which has been set up since late july/early august is a 20 long wih 35 lbs of live rock and 15 lbs of live sand 2 175 watt hallides (i just put new 10k bulbs in i thinkthat also might have been a problem)...the only things i have tests for are nh4 and no3 which both are at zero..im betting u guys will suggest i get a test kit for alk and calcium... haha... for calcium ive been dosing the kent liquid calcium according to the instruction on the back.. i have never done anything for alk.. my temperature normally stays 78-80.. but as i have said before my temp had gone down about 10 degrees the previous night... i think that might be what did the acro in.. but everything else is still okay.. so its kidna weird.

 

[My2heartboys]

What kind of salt are you using? Acro is an sps coral which means that it is a very tough coral to grow. It is very picky and it requires more mineral monitoring than just calcium. I can guarantee you that if your salt is short on calcium---dosing the kent liquid according to directions on the bottle will not catch you up on it. That is why we need all of the information we asked you for.

Anne

 

[reedman]

a good general rule to follow is that you should not dose anything you do not test for. How can you know how much to dose? I'm not being critical, just trying to get you off on the right foot.

As Anne stated, SPS are some of the more challenging corals to keep. They need a stable environment with Alk and Ca in a range that will allow them to build their skeletons.

I would definitely get a salifert test kit for both Alk and Ca to see where you are at. You may be all out of whack and not even know it.

Do you do regular water changes? If you do that will help to keep you in balance and the liquid calcium might be enough to bring you up to the necessary Ca level. On the other hand, if you are dosing more Ca than your tank is taking up then your Alk will fall as your Ca climbs and that may be the issue.

Get some test kits, run the tests and post the results. We'll guide you from there.

When in doubt you can always do a water change. It will help to bring the tank back into chemical balance.

 

[chrisdaphish]

yah i do regular water chagnes ever 2 weeks or so and im using instant ocean salt.. ill look toget a ca test kit within hte next week.. have thanksgiving comingup ... i think i can wait a week since everythign else seems to be doing okay.. ill come back with results then. thankss

 

[Krish]

I run a light on my sump which is an alternate photoperiod from my tank, which I haven't tested yet (ph wise), but is said to keep ph a little more consistant...Or have I been fooled!

 

[NaH2O]

krish - do you have macroalgae in the sump you are lighting up?

 

[Krish]

krish - do you have macroalgae in the sump you are lighting up?

Not yet...I have some chaeto ordered, but what's weird is I have some brown slime algae all over the glass in my sump in the chamber I keep some LR where the chaeto will go, and is lighted, and nowhere else in the sump or anywhere in my tank at all. I guess it is probably from the extra wattage per gal in my sump. I would assume that photosythesis is not really taking place in there as I have no type of algae to use it (besides the little brown I have), so ph shouldn't be affected yet...Right?

 

[wrightme43]

Hey man, if your chaeto order falls thru let me know. I toss a bunch every week. I should sell the crap on ebay huh? Thats where I got my starter.

 

[Krish]

LOL...Sounds good!

 

[My2heartboys]

As Anne stated, SPS are some of the more challenging corals to keep. .

__________________________________________________________

You mean I actually got something right!!!!!! :lol:

Good to know that--especially after coming home from being gone two nights and finding two dead fishies in my tank No idea why--but the lfs owner we talked to and that had also run tests on my water said--when in doubt change it out. So I am going to be busy doing some pretty heavy duty water changes over the next few days. I also took the time to go ahead and start re-aquascaping (scaring my critters half to death). Yeah, it means that I had to take out most of my live rock---but I had some hair and red slime algea on some of it anyway--so decided to scrub those. Needless to say-been busy since walking in the door. It also gives me a chance to move all of the rocks around and knock off all of the dust and stuff.

Anne

 

[reedman]

When doing water changes try to match the parameters (temp, salinity) as much as possible so as not to shock the inhabitants. If you do this then they will help to get you back to balance. Patience and careful observation of the tank. It will come together.