Hi all! I seem to be having trouble keeping my temp under 80 in my RSM. It is usually fine 79-80 all day then at the end of the day (4-6pm) it will bounce to 81-83. I have been opening my lid to keep it down which works fine if I get home before the spike. My question is will a higher temp lower my PH or adversely affect my chemical balance? I have noticed a lower PH and unhappy Zoa's but my RBTA and ACROS seem to be just fine and look great. Thanks for the help!
Temp and PH/DKL
- Thread starter Ghxst
- Start date
Well that's news to me! I was always told to never temp over 80. I am suspicious of my test results, everything comes out fine but I don't think it is. Some of my corals look sad 
Do you guys have a recommended place where is a place I could take a sample of my water to get fully/comprehensively tested? Thanks again for the help
Do you guys have a recommended place where is a place I could take a sample of my water to get fully/comprehensively tested? Thanks again for the help
In my experience, 83 is a bit high for temp... It's not that this temp doesn't happen naturally (water temps in the red sea have been recorded higher) but your daily fluctuation is probably what's stressing out the fish and coral the most. Before I had my reef keeper, I would be concerned with a fluctuation of more than 1 degree. Now with my reef keeper I don't see more than .2 degree fluctuations on my tank.
Alkalinity (DKH) and calcium have direct effects on each other. You need acceptable levels of both for stony corals to build their skeletons. The consensus of this forum, as well as several experts, is that your alkalinity should be between 8 and 11 Dkh and your calcium between 400 to 460 ppm for the best coral growth. Also note that changing alkalinity can affect your pH... And above all else consistency is again the key here. If you need to raise either level, it should be done slowly over the course of at least a week, to allow corals to adapt to the changing chemistry. There are several products, as well as several methods available to raise and maintain these levels.
Alkalinity (DKH) and calcium have direct effects on each other. You need acceptable levels of both for stony corals to build their skeletons. The consensus of this forum, as well as several experts, is that your alkalinity should be between 8 and 11 Dkh and your calcium between 400 to 460 ppm for the best coral growth. Also note that changing alkalinity can affect your pH... And above all else consistency is again the key here. If you need to raise either level, it should be done slowly over the course of at least a week, to allow corals to adapt to the changing chemistry. There are several products, as well as several methods available to raise and maintain these levels.
Thank you for the replies, I will test tonight and post what I have. I do have a reef keeper lite I have a nano Korella, led mod, fans for led plugged in it now. I will get my heater plugged in it to help stop the swing. I don't know how to use the reef keeper other than a fancy power supply with timers that tell me what the temp is, I will read up on that tonight also.
In past test my calcium is 400-420, ph 8, dkh 10-12, sal 1.026, temp 80 in the morning, 83 by evening. In the winter it stayed 80 day and night with no flux.
My Fish, inverts, RTBA's (recent split), slimer acro and another sps and coraline are all growing and seem very happy, its just my Zoa and pally frags and mushrooms that dont want to open up and look in bad shape.
I am wondering if the verstick led I added to the hood could be too strong or hurting the zoas and pallies? They looked good for a while. I have some homework to do to figure this out, I will update when I find out. Oh and maybe this needs to be moved to the newb corner, lol, I thought I was past that stage.
In past test my calcium is 400-420, ph 8, dkh 10-12, sal 1.026, temp 80 in the morning, 83 by evening. In the winter it stayed 80 day and night with no flux.
My Fish, inverts, RTBA's (recent split), slimer acro and another sps and coraline are all growing and seem very happy, its just my Zoa and pally frags and mushrooms that dont want to open up and look in bad shape.
I am wondering if the verstick led I added to the hood could be too strong or hurting the zoas and pallies? They looked good for a while. I have some homework to do to figure this out, I will update when I find out. Oh and maybe this needs to be moved to the newb corner, lol, I thought I was past that stage.
I have [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2x 55w 50/50 10,000k & Actinic T5 Power compact lamps and 1 [/FONT]verstix Illumilux Marino Blu 50/50 Royal Blue(450nm) - Blue(470nm) 6 Cree XPE LEDs total added in the hood.
I used a calculator which told me I have a total of 260 watts (110 from T5 and 150 from LED) of lighting for 34 gallons.
I used a calculator which told me I have a total of 260 watts (110 from T5 and 150 from LED) of lighting for 34 gallons.