PH Stability ?

[z28pwr]

I seem to have a problem with my PH. Last week I noticed my PH started going down therefore I added some buffer which kicked it a little bit back up then when I checked again it had gone down some more therefore I added more buffer and a few hours later it was down to 8.0. Scared that it would keep going down I did a 10% water change and the PH slowly came back up to 8.20 but is slowly starting to trickle back down. Do you guys think this is a lack of Magnesium ?

Only thing I dose is Kent Tech A&B for Calcium supplement, Iodine and I buffer the water when needed.

Thanks.

[Nano_Steve]

the first question needing to be asked is what size tank do you own? i can tell you from my 10 gal nano experience that i must add buffer every single day in order for it to keep stable. you may want to look into a kalk wasser drip(something i hope to soon gets some plans made for; and if i do you're more than welcome to check them out)

hope it helps, steve

ps if you have a larger tank i have no clue as to how to deal with it(i specialize in the small reefs ) you'll definitely want to talk to tim or jim since they seem to have the largest setups and quite a bit of experience.

[z28pwr]

Thanks For The Response Guys.

The Tank is a 150 Gallon Tank.

I'm dosing Kent Super Buffer DKH to the makeup water and whenever I do a water change.

[Jimnorris]

Z28pwr,
My large tank use to have a very large swing in PH. During the day when all the lights came on the PH would rise to 8.3. By morning time the PH was 7.5 to 7.45. (I use a pinpiont PH monitor). This was after I installed a calicium recactor. I have since removed the calcium reactor and use a kalk reactor made by JimD. PH during the day is 8.3 and at night is 8.1 to 8.2!!!!! Now I still add a two part additive for calcium and alk. This allows me to keep my calcium at 430 to 440 and ALK at 10. to 11. If I had more room under my tank I would most likely hook up my calcium reactor and have the best of both worlds.
Jim

[ratboy]

I dose Kalk 24/7 and have a refugium on a reverse daylight schedule. This way when the lights in the main tank go out and corals/plants respire CO2 the lights below are on and the macros and mangroves utilize the CO2. I havent had pH fluctuations since Ive been using this method. Best part is its cheap and easy.

[Tim Marvin]

Kalk adds tons of buffer and will stabilize everything. You must start with a calcium level of 350-450 though as kalk won't bring up calcium very fast.