Alkalinity and PH are low

[Aaron1222]

So recently I have come across an issue where the tip of my alk dosing tube was clogged for multiple days and failing to dose alk. In that time my alk dropped from 8.5 to 7.2 in a course of about 4-5 days. My PH went from being 8.1 at night and 8.3 during the day to 7.3. I have spent that last 3. Days raising my alk back up to hopefully raise my PH as well. But no results. My alk has come back up to 8.5 and my PH still doesn’t go above 7.4. I even raised my alk to 9dkh and ph stays the same. Any suggestions as to how I can get my PH back to 8.1-8.3 like before?

 

[Formulator]

How are you measuring pH?

 

[Aaron1222]

How are you measuring pH?

Neptune PH probe, I have re calibrated it 4 different times, each with a new set of calibration sachets. All calibrations came out with the same results

 

[Formulator]

How long has it been since you raised alk back up?

 

[Aaron1222]

How long has it been since you raised alk back up?

little over a day

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The pH 7.3 is not likely accurate. Coral skeletons, rock, and sand would be dissolving.

 

[Aaron1222]

The pH 7.3 is not likely accurate. Coral skeletons, rock, and sand would be dissolving.

what do you recommend to test Ph with? Anything that I could get to me overnight on the weekend?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

what do you recommend to test Ph with? Anything that I could get to me overnight on the weekend?

I would not worry much about it as pH does not suddenly cause issues (except strange situations such as a CO2 cylinder leaking into the tank)

 

[Aaron1222]

The pH 7.3 is not likely accurate. Coral skeletons, rock, and sand would be dissolving.

Also i believe you because all corals seem to be very happy, Duncan’s, echinatas, favias, candy canes and goni’s all look very happy, and when i look at my sps, my poccilloporas, stylophoras, and acros all have tentacles extended. Even the acros had feeders out last night

 

[Aaron1222]

I would not worry much about it as pH does not suddenly cause issues (except strange situations such as a CO2 cylinder leaking into the tank)

Could I have a faulty PH probe?

 

[Formulator]

Could I have a faulty PH probe?

Measure the reference standards or some fresh salt water to find out.

 

[Formulator]

Also, although the paper test strips are highly frowned upon for most parameters as inaccurate, for pH they do an OK job. They could get you through until you get a new probe if that is the problem.

 

[Aaron1222]

Measure the reference standards or some fresh salt water to find out.

I’m all out of reference standards, but what reading should I be looking for with fresh saltwater?

 

[Formulator]

I’m all out of reference standards, but what reading should I be looking for with fresh saltwater?

I guess you can’t know for sure, so not ideal, but it should be higher than what your tank is showing. Probably in the 8-8.5 range.

 

[Aaron1222]

I’m going to run out and grab some test strips now, I’ll post the results shortly!

 

[Aaron1222]

I guess you can’t know for sure, so not ideal, but it should be higher than what your tank is showing. Probably in the 8-8.5 range.

So I went and picked up 2 different test kits, a imagitarium and an API, API says 7.8 and the other is between 7.5-8.0

 

[Formulator]

Well 7.8 is a lot better than 7.4. The rule is to stay above 7.8 because, as Randy said, below that starts to dissolve calcium carbonate. Everything above 7.8 is just icing on the cake for accelerated growth rates in stony coral, especially SPS.

 

[Aaron1222]

Well 7.8 is a lot better than 7.4. The rule is to stay above 7.8 because, as Randy said, below that starts to dissolve calcium carbonate. Everything above 7.8 is just icing on the cake for accelerated growth rates in stony coral, especially SPS.

Gotcha, now to try and see why my probe is way off