30 gallon build

Yeah, 320 is a bit low. Lol shoot for 450 calcium, anything in the 400's is considered good by most. But 450 is a good number to shoot for. 9-10 dkh is good because then you have a bit of leeway on either side if your alk is to swing for some reason. 1300-1400 is a good number for magnesium as well. Your ph seems a little low. At night it probably drops below 8. What time did you test your ph at?

 

When the actinics are on. So at night. It seems okay though. If my alk is already good, should I just be dosing with the one bottle until its the same?

 

I use kent marine buffer. It keeps my alk stable and my pH at 8.3. Without it my pH was at 7.6.

 

I can move my alk if I need to but my ph is pretty hard for me to move. I heard open up a window and other things like that would help. I run a reverse lighting schedule for the night on my fuge so it should get up there later at night.

 

Honestly 8.1 isn't too bad IMO. As long as it stays stable(that's the key) I wouldn't worry.

 

What's the relation between alkalinity and ph?

 

alkalinity is what stabilizes pH. with a low alk you pH will be all over the charts. you want a higher alk to keep pH stable.

 

what the buffer does is it raises and sets the pH at 8.3. my salt mix has VERY low alk so i have to use it.

 

Oh okay. Well today my ph was 8.3 and alk at 10. Is this too sporadic?

Also, my calcium won't budge from 340, do I need to up the dosage? since I'm not dosing for alk right now, can I put in more than it says I should because it won't affect my ph?

 

im not very good with the more advanced aquarium chemistry but I'm pretty sure magnesium affects calcium. i think. norg?