Reef Tank pH

Your reef tank pH (power of hydrogen) level is something that is important to monitor and maintain at appropriate levels. Read on to discover what it is and how it affects your reef.

The power of hydrogen is simply a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. As you learned if you read the previous section, alkalinity is a measure of the ability of a solution (your test water) to resist a decrease in pH when acids are added.

A power of hydrogen of 7 is considered to be "neutral", that is, neither acid nor alkaline. Levels above 7 are considered to be alkaline and levels below 7 are considered to be acidic.

In your reef, the level will normally drop as time goes on. This is because of the various acids constantly being released in your reef. There is excess carbon dioxide from the respiration of your animals, organic acids from wastes, and nitric acid from all the biological filtration.

When you notice the level dropping, there are a few things you can do to raise or stabilize it. There are a number of commercial additives that are available and they do work.

The absolute best approach to having a stable level is to do regular water changes. A regular water change of 5 to 10% with a good salt mixture restores the trace minerals in your reef and refreshes the natural buffers.

The acceptable reef tank pH level is between 7.8 to 8.4. Try to keep your levels within that range.