My 60 gallon cube is relatively new, and currently contains a few hermits, snails, an emerald crab, a trio of green chromis, and 20lbs of ocean LR. Since establishing the tank, I haven't been dosing anything, and had just been monitoring pH, ammonia, and nitrite. pH has been in a nice stable range, as shown by my Apex.
Yesterday, I had an emotional rollercoaster of pH mistakes, which I will share with you here! Also see the exciting annotated pH plot below.
For uninteresting reasons, we suddenly had 6-7 people at a time in the room with the tank and all of the windows were closed. In the afternoon, I took a look at my Apex dashboard and saw that the pH was dropping, and dropping fast. The room was having active video recordings going on, so I couldn't go out there and actually do anything. I watched the pH continue its rapid decline, and as it approached 7.8 I was able to get someone to open a window. Almost instantly the pH took a corner and started to rise, even faster than it went down. I couldn't believe how much of an effect CO2 could have on the tank's pH. I have no idea how low it would have gone if I didn't notice and get someone to straighten it out.
Later that day, I did my first alkalinity tests and sure enough I was only at 6.4 dKH (I've never dosed before on this tank). I added about 0.5ml/gal of B-Ionic alkalinity supplement which should increase it by ~2 dKH, which was twice the amount of the minimum recommended dosage and half of their recommended max. And oh man did the pH shoot up. Normally I wouldn't be worried about it, but I just had such a big swing earlier in the day. I checked the alkalinity today and it did increase it by about 2, and I dosed a little more to get up to 9.
Things I learned: If you're going to have a ton of people in your tank's room, make sure there's adequate air flow and double check that your alkalinity is in good shape. Crack a window!
Yesterday, I had an emotional rollercoaster of pH mistakes, which I will share with you here! Also see the exciting annotated pH plot below.
For uninteresting reasons, we suddenly had 6-7 people at a time in the room with the tank and all of the windows were closed. In the afternoon, I took a look at my Apex dashboard and saw that the pH was dropping, and dropping fast. The room was having active video recordings going on, so I couldn't go out there and actually do anything. I watched the pH continue its rapid decline, and as it approached 7.8 I was able to get someone to open a window. Almost instantly the pH took a corner and started to rise, even faster than it went down. I couldn't believe how much of an effect CO2 could have on the tank's pH. I have no idea how low it would have gone if I didn't notice and get someone to straighten it out.
Later that day, I did my first alkalinity tests and sure enough I was only at 6.4 dKH (I've never dosed before on this tank). I added about 0.5ml/gal of B-Ionic alkalinity supplement which should increase it by ~2 dKH, which was twice the amount of the minimum recommended dosage and half of their recommended max. And oh man did the pH shoot up. Normally I wouldn't be worried about it, but I just had such a big swing earlier in the day. I checked the alkalinity today and it did increase it by about 2, and I dosed a little more to get up to 9.
Things I learned: If you're going to have a ton of people in your tank's room, make sure there's adequate air flow and double check that your alkalinity is in good shape. Crack a window!
