pH trending down

I have a 50 gallon, with a sump.

40 lbs of ecocomplete, 50 lbs of color quarts
35 lbs of slate rock

Lighting currently is 6 hours 48 watts of t-5 10000K, 2 hours 175 MH 6500K. I plan on making the lighting 4 hours each as soon as I get the co2 and pH stable, and the plants start filling in.

Current Parameters GH-5 KH-9 pH-5.85

I have pressurized CO2 going through a home made reactor (phos ban reactor filled with PVC pieces, flow in at the top and out through the bottom). I am pushing about 90 BPM. Drop Checker is a blue green color, so I would like more CO2. CO2 is on 60 min before lights and off 30 before they turn off.

The tank is 4 weeks old, has been planted for 2 weeks.

My first recorded pH was 7.4 day after day I see a drop in pH, measured first thing in the morning, after the lights have been off all night. the reading this morning was 5.82. This is via pH probe on my AC3. I have good surface flow, drop checker is not showing full green yet, and still the pH drops and stays down.

Is this something to worry about? Should I be doing something about the pH? I am doing weekly water changes from the tap. Water is run through a water softener (nothing I can do about that) and carbon filter.



Thanks,
Bryan

 

yes the water softener is a sodium kind.

I have the dh4 (or kh4) solution in the dropchecker as provided with it from AGL.

When I started the GH 3 was KH was 5 I have been adding Barrs GH booster 1/2 tsp on each water change, and I added some baking soda to bring KH up.

 

I have one hose bib that is not filtered (maybe), I may be able to run from it, although that would not be fun, and the extra work would likely reduce my likelihood to do water changes. I will have to test all my water outlets to verify. I am in FL the water is REAL HARD with out the filter.

here is what I am doing...

M/W/F - 2.5ml KNO3, 0.5ml kH2PO4
T/Th/Sa - 1/4 tsp k2so4, 10ml CSM+B, 2ml Iron
Sun - 50% water change 1/2 tsp Gh Booster

I have made liquids from dry fertz like this:

CMS+B - 2 cups water with 2 TBS dry
KH2PO4 - 500ml water with 3 TSP dry
KNO3 - 500ml water with 2 TBS bry
Iron - 2 cups of water with 35 grams iron

 

The probe is reading 5.45 right now...so I pulled the pH probe out and put it in a glass of water, for giggles...
So far the read out is not changing 5.45 ...
looks like my probe is bad. however, from what I am reading, pH is not something that I need to really worry about. I will go buy a test kit and randomly check it for fun, but I am thinking I have a probe problem, not a pH problem.

 

you mean a water report from the water company, I can... but like we established, my water is filtered.

here is a link to the report for my county...
http://portal.pascocountyfl.net/portal/server.pt/document/204907/2008+West+Pasco+Annual+Water+Quality+Report

 

so I f I am reading that correct, I should change my pattern to:

M/W/F - 25ml KNO3, 5ml kH2PO4
T/Th/Sa - 1/16 tsp k2so4, 10ml CSM+B, 2ml Iron

Leave CO2 alone (where it is at right now) and get the fertz stable first.

 

THANKS!

I can not even find the words.

 

Thank is looking pretty nice.

I have a few holes in some of the leaves on my plants, but I suspect that is par for planting a new tank.. Several plants "melted" but are growing new leaves at a nice clip. Several plants have grown more than 2 inches since planting.

My CO2 system is looking good. I estimate about 3 BPS give or take. My drop Checker is looking green, way more green than the bright blue when I changed the water yesterday. The combination of the CO2 reactor I made from my PhosBan reactor and my DIY sealed return chamber in the sump, I think I am outgassing much less CO2.

I made my sealed return chamber by taking a $3 Plastic cereal holder from Dollar Store and cutting a hole the diameter of my return pipe in the top. Squeezed my return pipe in it, put my filter sock in the holder, and drilled holes in the bottom for the water to enter the sump from. I see no bubbles entering the sump now, so that seems to be helping to rediffuse co2 in that little chamber. Seems to be working like a charm. On the next water change I am going to drill a few more holes, but all is well.

I am using the modified Fret schedule from above. Time will tell on that one, just started a few days ago.

Thanks everyone!