ph problem...

[7thheaven]

Hi~ guys~~

I'm writing to question in this board for the first time.
I'm not good at English very well.I am sure you guys understad
that. Hmm~ very nervous........

My tanks PH level was 8.2~8.0.
Since a week, I have given kalkbasser becase of many benefits
(additional Ca, PH stability etc...)
Soon the level increased 8.4~8.2
so I thought "oh~ it's cool...."

But from the day before, the level is strange afer giving kalk

My tank
KH : 11dkh, ca : 400 NO3 : 20 and my tank is 30gallon.

I gave kalk all day long. becase my ph level have never been increased above 8.4 by day


1. By day, ph level decreased 7.6~7.8 and in ph monitor,
it changed rapidly between 7.8 and 7.6 it was very instable.
2. when I came back home, I gave buffer,and then the level
was 7.8~7.9(about 7 PM)
3. when the lights' off(11PM), Since then the level was 8.3~8.4
So weird!!!
4. In the morning(7 AM), the level was 8.1

this state was repeated everyday....
Basically. is it normal that ph of the day is higher than the night??

I thought that problem (no 3) happened because I gave buffer
at 7 PM,So I gave it in the morning, but the result was same
(day : 7.8 night 8.27)

My tank has many diatoms and others...
Why does this problem happen? very strange....
The corals and fishes have no problem yet....
but not sure...

Because of my bad English, I'm not sure you understand my problem

would you help me?? Please....

Have a good day ~~~

[organicreefer]

7thheaven,

first of all welcome to reefland!

dont be "nervous" to ask questions,youre english is actually not bad,and it is certainly better than my korean

i think youre problem has to do with an upset in ionic ballance,i have had similar experiences when dosing kalk imo,ime,the best thing you can do to make youre ph/alk/ca stable is to add one of the two part buffers,like b-ionic,daily.

can someone maybe move this to the reef section,so 7thheaven can get more responses/help?

[7thheaven]

thank you very much~~~

I appreciate your kindness~~~

[bongobrian]

7th heaven- welcome to the board!

I don't really know why your ph dropped after you started adding kalkwasser, HOWEVER, I would suggest that when you test you PH you should do it at the same time of day every time. The rise in PH at night is normal and nothing to be worried about. I believe salinity rises at night as well (somebody correct me if I'm wrong). I always run my tests at the same time of day, that is the only way to have a consistancy in your tests and it is the best way to compare changes in your tests. I can't remember why the PH rises at night, but it does, so don't worry. Maybe someone can tell us the scientific reason why this occurs. Anyway, to get your PH back into the normal range, I would just keep adding buffer until you're back in the 8.2-8.4 range. Also, what kind of buffer are you using? are you adding anything else on the same day as the buffer?