Question about pH in my new tank

[charlieB]

Hello, my name is Charlie and I would first of all like to thank all the people on this forum for all the helpful information I have found so far. This is my first post but I have been reading the forum for a couple of months now while I was planning my tank and have definitely learned alot as well as gotten some great references on a couple of books I purchased pertaining to the hobby. Anyway, on to the question... I recently purchased a biocube 29 and yesterday I set it up. Currently the tank has 20 pounds of live sand and 30 pounds of live rock. My pH reading last night was 7.4 and today when I got home from work it was at 7.8. I understand this is still a little bit low and I am wondering if this is something that will correct itself over the next couple of weeks or if I need to add a buffer of some sort to manually adjust my pH level. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Bifferwine]

It will probably correct itself. During your cycle, the water parameters (including pH) are not going to be stable. Since you do not have animals in the tank (I assume), there is no need to worry about correcting the pH at this time. Did you add something besides to live rock to jump start the cycle? Like some food or cocktail shrimp or something?

 

[charlieB]

Thanks for the quick response. And to answer your question, I haven't added anything to jump start the cycle yet, the tank has only been full of water for 36 hours and I wanted to be sure all the equipment was operating properly first and foremost. By the way, can the piece of food be cooked? Since you mentioned it, I did eat crab for dinner tonight and have some leftover, and am now wondering if a chunk of crab meat would work? Thanks!

 

[little_fish]

Hello and Welcome!

Use raw stuff, it rots better.

 

[ErinCahir]

Hello and welcome!!

The girls have you covered!

 

[Smitty]

Hello and welcome to the site...glad to have you aboard.

 

[kbuser92]

Just wanna add one more thing: as long as it stays stable after your cycle, 7.8 is fine as long as your alk is 7-11 dkh. The buffers dont work well, Id suggest opening a window to get fresh air if it starts to drop at some point.

But welcome Charlie, and enjoy your stay. Theres plenty of good people here.