han012

i'm going for a FOWLR setup with a 55 gallon tank. i have just put the water & salt in. the salinity's perfect but the pH is 8.8. is that normal please put my mind @ ease

Callum The Cat

sgould

pH doesn't turn into ammonia. It is a measure of the acidity of your water and is not related to the cycle except in that the higher your pH, the more toxic any ammonia in your tank will be. Most saltwater fish are recommended to be kept in a pH of 8.1-8.4. I am pretty new to saltwater myself, but freshwater fish can tolerate a pretty diverse set of pH values with no problem. I suspect that so long as you gradually acclimate your fish to your water, your slightly high pH will not bother them. In other words...I don't think you need to worry about it. However, please wait for a more experienced response to confirm or correct that!

agsansoo

I agree with sgould, not to worry until ph gets higher than 9.0. At that point you might start seeing some precipitation of calcium carbonate on your equipment and clogging of pump impellers.

Callum The Cat

han012

during the cycling process, will the live rock/sand make the ph go down? should i buy a ph balancer to reduce it?

-just answered my own question from research. i'm going to add proper ph 8.2 tonight before i add my rocks/sand. will keep updated

han012

update-just decided to start over & changed the whole tank out. my salinity & pH is perfect now.