How can I keep my ph up?

[mike31154]

Must admit that I used to chase pH levels early in the life of my set up. I worry much less about it these days since, as highlighted by posters with a great deal more experience than I, it's often a losing battle causing more stress to the reefer than the tank inhabitants. I wouldn't say my system is ideal, there are issues with algae etc, but nothing real serious and my livestock is fine.

The more I read up on dosing stuff to adjust and correct certain parameters in a SW setup, the more confused I get. The more you get into it, the more you need to keep an eye on other parameters. I like the fairly simple 'water change' methodology. Works just fine for me. I consider keeping a close eye on my tank inhabitants and their day to day behaviour as more helpful than many a test kit. Watching the tank is what it's all about, stress reliever hopefully, not stress creator worrying about keeping certain parameters within a very narrow, possibly unrealistic scale. Obviously I do use them if something starts looking funky, but I've found my pH test kit in particular, difficult to match with what's on the chart. Maybe I should invest in a better kit...

Then there is the opposite camp with the complex probes, controllers, totally automated dosing systems. Successful for many highly experienced hobbyists, but at this point I prefer to keep it simple.