Nocturnal pH without chaeto but with lights on, very intriguing

[Paulo Mallard Scaldaferri]

Let me share with you a very interesting observation I’ve made... and intriguing...

My chaeto was not doing well because of low nutrient conditions... So I just decided to remove it and turn off my fuge nocturnal lights.

My nocturnal ph drop reappeared.

Then I just decided to put some very small frags on the fuge and turned my fuge light back on...

Surprisingly, with no algae on the fuge and those really tiny frags I just noticed my ph drop being readly attenuated again.

My interpretation is that it seems there are far more microscopic photosynthesizers than we usually assume. I have no concrete evidence of that.

 

[jkidd155]

So u just put frags in it and your ph went up what light did u use?

 

[Paulo Mallard Scaldaferri]

So u just put frags in it and your ph went up what light did u use?

White 50w garden LED. Same I used before for chaeto. Those frags are tiny, I hardly think they might be responsible. Lights were off for 3 days before that...

 

[homegrowncichlid]

Possible your system is limited by Fe or K, a little liquid fertilizer for planted aquariums will boost your macro algae, so they can continue to consume the N and P.

 

[Ocelaris]

Yeah, I think it's hard to draw conclusions; it can also vary dramatically by the amount of food fed. On days that I feed a lot my pH drop is much steeper, even continuing into the night. It's not reasonable that a few frags would be able to consume that much CO2.

 

[Paulo Mallard Scaldaferri]

Yeah, I think it's hard to draw conclusions; it can also vary dramatically by the amount of food fed. On days that I feed a lot my pH drop is much steeper, even continuing into the night. It's not reasonable that a few frags would be able to consume that much CO2.

Yeah, it keeps happening. No chaeto and the night drop is quite small. Neither do I think those corals are doing this, maybe microscopic plankton...