tank upgrade, cycling and ph

[Kenn]

Hello all,
I am back again and with a question.
First off I would like to take a moment to apologise to those of you I cut short a few months ago. My family had to deal with medical problems that caught us off guard 

Now.. heres my question. a few weeks ago we discovered a small leak in our 10g nano. Taking advantage of this we purchased a 26g bowfront. The 10g had been up and running for almost a year with no problems at all. I have had everything moved over for since 7/2/2009. More live rock was added at the time and I seeded the new sand bed with samples of the old 10g.

I have been testing daily and everything seems on track. I am experiencing what seems to be a small cycle as the tank is breaking in.

Ammonia:  <  0.25
Nitrite: < 0.25
nitrate: < 20

PH: flux between 7.8 and 8.4

The PH is what is confusing me. I make sure I havent done a water change ( I do top off but dont test for ph on those days) until the cycle stops.

I have a small load (i think) at present.

1 gold stripe maroon clown (very small 1.5")
6 Blue leg hermit
2 red leg hermit
1 ball sponge
2 zoa

I use only r/o
Salt: red sea coral pro

I have used Marine Buffer by Seachem in the past with the 10g but due to the small cycle I am hesitating to use it now.

anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on this?

[TechGuy]

What are you testing this with? A meter? Or good old liquid test kit?

[harleyrider]

Sounds like your going through a normal cycle, adding new live rock, and there must have been new sand moving up in size, then adding your critters, takes time to get it up to snuff

[Kenn]

I am using a good old fashion liquid test kit 

[TechGuy]

I am using a good old fashion liquid test kit 

Good deal

PH is affected by many things, one of them is gas saturation. Especially CO2. When CO2 enters your tank it becomes carbonic acid. The bacteria thats cycling now probably has a large affect on it.

So I wouldn't worry about it to much right now. Give it time to settle in. Looks like the cycle is well on its way anyways from your results.

[lazylivin]

It is very important to do water changes during the cycle. Your live stock will appreciate it and it will help with your PH problem. Very little of the good bacteria is exported in a water change, If that is what you were concerned about. By enlarge the ammonia & Nitrite consuming bacteria is on the Rock and Sand. Doing water changes will also reduce the likely hood of a bacteria infection or algae outbreak. I would consider your bioload at its maximum until the cycle is done so heavy skimming, running some carbon and more then the routine water changes is needed right now. Adding a PH buffer would be good assuming your alkalinity is low, if not adding some airstones could help. Good Luck and keep us posted.

[chromiumlux]

As was said earlier Ph is affected by many factors. A cycle being one of them. The addition of more live rock and new sand can be a contributing factor. Open some windows and let the tank have a breath of fresh air. Co2 drives Ph down. If you don't have a lot of corals requiring a stable Ph I would let the tank cycle and watch the use of buffers unless really needed. Ph is not a perfect measure for alkalinity and you could do more harm than good buffering during a cycle.

[Logzor]

It sounds like you just need to hang back, do water changes, and let the cycle finish. Everything sounds completely normal.

Last tank I cycled I just set things up like normal, ignored it for two months, and then it was ready for corals and fish

[Kenn]

UPDATE:

Over the past few days everything has settled down and all is testing normal. Thanks for all the reply's.

My next trick will be to add a HOB refugium 

Kenn

[lazylivin]

That is great news! Thanks for letting us know.