So since I'm sitting around waiting for my new tank to arrive (delayed because of covid glass shortage) I've been spending time watching videos from the many online reefers. As you know there are loads of them on YouTube, and you get to see how people from all over the world run their reef tanks. The hot topic now is pH. In the past it used to be "don't chase numbers and don't worry about pH". Personally, I never followed that advise, but I figured it was because I'm just more neurotic than most. So I was pretty surprised to watch Chris Meckley of ACI Aquaculture say that pH was the most important parameter to watch and control on ReefBums latest podcast. And he's not the only one. Boy the times have changed . I'm sure a lot of people are not going to agree with that statement. It's going to take a lot convincing to knock alkalinity off the top of the most important list. But I understood the point he was trying to make.
Some of the effects I've observed when my pH ranged lower is anecdotal. This would be seeing more cyano in the tank and more instances of STN. I always suspected a link but I have no proof. What really convinced me of the importance of keeping pH up was what I saw in my frag tank. I could never understand why my frags did so poorly in the frag tank. The water was tied in to the display and the lights were the same. The only difference was the lights were on opposite to the display. The frag tank was lit at night. I did this to help with the daily pH swing. When I looked hard at it I saw that the corals in the display had a daytime pH that rose to 8.2 and sometimes 8.3. The corals in the frag tank never had a daytime pH that was anywhere near 8.0. Sometimes the pH dipped below 7.8 during the time when they were getting the most light . Every coral that I placed in the frag tank lost color and looked different than the mother colony. Every single one. And the longer they stayed in the frag tank, the more they changed. Since the daytime pH was the only difference between the two tanks, this was proof to me of the importance of keeping pH levels up.
The hard part of this is that I think pH is the hardest parameter to control. I've found that good aeration of both the tank and the room is the best remedy. But that is a lot easier said than done. Venting your skimmer to the outside helps some. An air exchanger for the house would be awesome but pricey. There are CO2 scrubbers but they aren't a good option for larger systems. A refugium on an opposite light schedule can help too. It usually takes a combination of strategies to have a noticeable effect. So if your wondering if your reef would look and do better if you could get your pH up, I would have to say most definitely yes. It's not easy though finding that fix.
Some of the effects I've observed when my pH ranged lower is anecdotal. This would be seeing more cyano in the tank and more instances of STN. I always suspected a link but I have no proof. What really convinced me of the importance of keeping pH up was what I saw in my frag tank. I could never understand why my frags did so poorly in the frag tank. The water was tied in to the display and the lights were the same. The only difference was the lights were on opposite to the display. The frag tank was lit at night. I did this to help with the daily pH swing. When I looked hard at it I saw that the corals in the display had a daytime pH that rose to 8.2 and sometimes 8.3. The corals in the frag tank never had a daytime pH that was anywhere near 8.0. Sometimes the pH dipped below 7.8 during the time when they were getting the most light . Every coral that I placed in the frag tank lost color and looked different than the mother colony. Every single one. And the longer they stayed in the frag tank, the more they changed. Since the daytime pH was the only difference between the two tanks, this was proof to me of the importance of keeping pH levels up.
The hard part of this is that I think pH is the hardest parameter to control. I've found that good aeration of both the tank and the room is the best remedy. But that is a lot easier said than done. Venting your skimmer to the outside helps some. An air exchanger for the house would be awesome but pricey. There are CO2 scrubbers but they aren't a good option for larger systems. A refugium on an opposite light schedule can help too. It usually takes a combination of strategies to have a noticeable effect. So if your wondering if your reef would look and do better if you could get your pH up, I would have to say most definitely yes. It's not easy though finding that fix.