Nitrate 5.0

My father who has a 55 gallon tank and not alot of computer skils has asked me to ask u guys if this looks right to you Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 , Nitrate 5.0 , PH 7.8 water temp 81.

 

Looks normal.. PH maybe gettin a little low but still ok. At 7.7 I would do something about it.

 

Nitrate at 5.0 is pretty acceptable. I know a lot of people that would love to get them that low, Being that low, if he is really seeking 0, it could be as easy as adding a little rock, a few extra macros, feeding a little less, or slightly larger water changes.

 

Copy that. How do u raise the PH? AND when is Nitrate bad?

 

I know a lot of guys in here don't like additives... but I used a product called PH 8.4 just once and it basically set my PH to 8.4 and since then I maintain it with my A/B. I have never had an issue with it since.

The issue with your father's PH where it is now is that I imagine that he is measuring it during the day when the lights are on. During the night with no lights the PH actually drops (something I didn't know until I got into this hobby) and if it drops to 7.6 it starts getting bad for the little guys that eat ammonia!

Nitrate starts getting bad at 40 to 60 PPM... but that's mostly for corals ... fish can handle higher. However, it's a good idea to keep in under 20 as a habit... because once it get's high... it's a pain to get down and keep down.

Oh and on tempurature... 81 is fine... really the big questions is how much does it fluctuate between day and night... if it's a couple of degrees then you are ok in this range... if it's 4+ degrees in a day... that can stress corals and fish out.

 

If you can find it, use a product called Kent Marine Superbuff - dKH. I use it all the time. To buff the water twice a week and when my ph is too low i add it every day until it gets back up. Works like a charm.

 

Great help thanks!

 

Unless it's a FOWLR I wouldn't recommend buffers to chase PH, it's only a temporary change anyway and can mess with your alkalinity. There are ways to address the root cause of low PH without resorting to PH buffers.

If you keep your alkalinity in a good range, 8-10dkh and the room the tank's in is well ventilated you'll probably have good PH (a few other things can affect it but those two are the main ones). Also depending what time the PH is checked will make a huge difference on what the PH reads, in the morning it might read 7.8 but bounce up to 8.1 before the lights shut off.

More info:
Low pH: Causes and Cures by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

This is absolutely good advice. Really, my point was living in central Florida we are notorious for low PH water and like I mentioned above... I only used the buffer to get my water to 8.4 initially and have never used it since (7 months and several water changes later). If you buffered it up to 8.4 and it continually drops and you keep using the product... then IMO is when the PH chase starts and you really should be looking for the reason it is continually dropping.