[swansondan]

Well some of you are famillar with my setup. But just in case here it is.

90 gallon tank
Custom Oak 36 inch Tall Stand and Halide Canopy
ASM skimmer G1X
2x250 Watt PFO Metal Halide Lighting with 20,000 K XM bulbs
250 watt heater
40lbs sand
20 lbs live sand
100lbs jakarta live rock
Odyssey 700gph return pump
100 micron filter socks
2 600gph hydor korali powerheads.
20 gallon sump

I waited about 3 1/2 weeks to 4 and got a firefish goby and a candalactis (sp) anenome. Anenome was a little rough on me at first, getting big, shrinking up etc. thought it was the water at first but everything for the most part was testing great. He moved to a different rock and has been great for about 2 1/2 weeks now...my favorite thing in my tank. Added a clean up crew, 10 turbos, 10 naisurrus, 10 emerald hermits, 10 blue legged hermits, 5 emerald crabs, 1 sally lightfoot crab, 1 lettuce nudibranch, and one coral banded shrimp. Also one coral..Green ricodrea. Everything seems to be doing great, getting bigger (maybe, could just be my imagination..) Everything is testing great, at home and at petco. Ok..here is the question.

Last night I took my stuff to a lfs about 2 1/2 hours away and had everything tested.

Salinity 1.024
Nitrates 10
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
Calcium 475
Phosphate-barely noticable

The PROBLEM......ph is 7.6

Should i just add some Kent Pro Buffer DKH, to bring it up..or is there something better...I really dont know why it is so low, I do 10 gallon water changes everyweek, mine you it has only been 3 weeks since I started changing water. I am also due to due one tomorrow. So that may raise the ph a little. So all suggestions would be great...have not added anything new in a week and a half and that was my cleaning crew. Also the fish and anenome have been in there about 2 1/2 weeks.

thanks a lot guys!

Dan

[Marc Smith]

Here a good fix...

Bake some baking soda. Do about a cup. Put the stove on about 375-400, and dry the powder out. Your just trying to remove the moisture from the powder. This will take about 2 hrs to 2:30 mins.

after you are done take a teaspoon, and mix welll in a quart of your water. Mix well. Add this solution to your sump or tank slowly over about an hour or so. Test Ph, and you should be fine. The extra baking soda just put in a tightly sealed containor, and dose this when needed.

Also when you do a water change don't add your water directly to the tank. Put a pump in the buckett, and airate the water for 24 hours. Then add. this will also help your Ph issue.

Marc

Ohhhh and stop buying expensive additives. This will work just fine if not better for half the cost.

[swansondan]

Thanks for the input, I have never heard of that. I do usually mix and heat my water changes for at least a day before changing the water out. Also I have not bought any additives as of yet, I am just putting a order in and was wondering if I should get some. Has anyone else heard of this idea?

Thanks
Dan