Another PH thread

[LEOreefer]

hello all as the title says I have another PH question. butt you can see by my picture my ph runs between 7.5 and 7.7 it goes up as high as 7.9 after water changes( indicated by red circles) . I live in a condo with myself and my wife. On a regular basis my ph will drop to around 7.4 at night. I use to top off with kalk but I was elevating my kh way to high. I’m not sure what other options I have. Running a outside line from my skimmer to outdoors is not a option either. I need some professional input

 

[Wieloch89]

Do you have a canopy?

 

[LEOreefer]

Do you have a canopy?

No screen top from Octo aquatics. My condo is built in 86 and is quite drafty so it’s not like it’s sealed tight

 

[Wieloch89]

Sometimes just opening a window close to the aquarium is enough, or you can try pointing a small fan at the top of the water to promote a better gas exchange.

What kind of substrate are you using or aquarium “decorations”? Those things can lower PH sometimes. Or if you had something like crushed coral substrate it would help naturally raise PH just like growing macro algae can as well.

 

[LEOreefer]

Sometimes just opening a window close to the aquarium is enough, or you can try pointing a small fan at the top of the water to promote a better gas exchange.

What kind of substrate are you using or aquarium “decorations”? Those things can lower PH sometimes. Or if you had something like crushed coral substrate it would help naturally raise PH just like growing macro algae can as well.

No decorations, substrate is live sand with about 40lbs of live rock. Opening windows really isn’t a option for me right now as temps are still in the 30’s most days and night time being even colder

 

[lambchops]

When did you calibrate your probe last?

I couldn't break 8 for the longest time as my house is closed up most of the year being in Minnesota. My wife then discovered the joys of succulents and that brought my levels to an average of 8.2. Maybe you could convince yours?

 

[LEOreefer]

When did you calibrate your probe last?

I couldn't break 8 for the longest time as my house is closed up most of the year being in Minnesota. My wife then discovered the joys of succulents and that brought my levels to an average of 8.2. Maybe you could convince yours?

My prob was calibrated about 2 months ago. That’s a real interesting idea. I’m sure my wife would be fine with suculants but my ***whole cats might have different ideas.
I’m currently at work and she’s home in bed sleeping. The tank is in the living room and ph has stabilized at 7.6

 

[Wieloch89]

You need to promote better gas exchange and if you can’t do that with better air quality in your home you have to almost force it and make the exhannge happen faster. I would put exhaust fans in the base in the sump area or point a small fan at the surface water.

 

[Wieloch89]

What is your ALK by the way?

 

[LEOreefer]

What is your ALK by the way?

My alk sits at 9.7 via Hanna checker as if yesterday. On a normal week that dose not really move as I’m religious with weekly water changes. My corals are fully open and happy I just don’t see much growth

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My prob was calibrated about 2 months ago. That’s a real interesting idea. I’m sure my wife would be fine with suculants but my ***whole cats might have different ideas.
I’m currently at work and she’s home in bed sleeping. The tank is in the living room and ph has stabilized at 7.6

Time to calibrate again. Anytime you see something that is well outside the norm (like pH 7.4), recheck calibration.

pH 7.4 is fairly unlikely to be true. Rock and sand will be dissolving at that pH.

That said, here's the way to tell the source of the CO2 if it is properly calibrated:

pH And The Reef Aquarium
http://www.reefedition.com/ph-and-the-reef-aquarium/

The Aeration Test

Some of the possible causes of low pH listed above require an effort to diagnose. Problems 3 and 4 are quite common, and here is a way to distinguish them. Remove a cup of tank water and measure its pH. Then aerate it for an hour with an airstone using outside air. Its pH should rise if it is unusually low for the measured alkalinity (Figure 2). Then repeat the same experiment on a new cup of water using inside air. If its pH also rises, then the aquarium’s pH will rise simply with more aeration because it is only the aquarium that contains excess carbon dioxide. If the pH does not rise in the cup (or rises very little) when aerating with indoor air, then that air likely contains excess CO2, and more aeration with that same air will not solve the low pH problem (although aeration with fresher air should). Be careful implementing this test if the outside aeration test results in a large temperature change (more than 5°C or 10°F), because such changes alone impact pH measurements.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

When did you calibrate your probe last?

I couldn't break 8 for the longest time as my house is closed up most of the year being in Minnesota. My wife then discovered the joys of succulents and that brought my levels to an average of 8.2. Maybe you could convince yours?

I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic, but normal amounts of house plants will not typically have a substantial effect on CO2 levels in a home. You'd have to live in a greenhouse for that effect to be big.

Think of it this way. Even ignoring massive sources of CO2 like a gas stove, the amount of CO2 that you and your family breathe out comes from metabolizing the foods you eat. Of course, not all of that is at home, but a lot of it is. For plants to offset what you are breathing, your plants would have to add as much tissue mass each day by growth as you consume in foods each day. Most homes are not even remotely close to that, even with a lot of plants in the home.

 

[Antegon]

I think pH is effected by the light cycle. If you are testing when it’s dark or in the morning, you will get a much lower pH reading. I don’t know your water goals or parameters, but I was aiming for 8.1-2, and 10-12 KH, and was seeing crazy spikes from not always testing at the same time. Dunno if that was already on your radar, just wanted to share something that helped me.

I dunno how long the tank/rocks have been set up and cycled, sometimes older systems can start to lose their carbonates as more bicarbonates form over time from the chemical process. There are products that “balance” that, supposedly helping sustain higher pH levels. There is certainly controversy on the subject, but I’ve heard people say it helped.

Good luck!

 

[Brew12]

First, recalibrate your pH probe.

Since you are using an Apex, do you have the DOS unit?

Instead of using Kalk in your ATO you could run it through your doser. Set up the doser to add a small amount 30+ times a day while ensuring the total amount added is less than your evaporation rate. I add 1L of fully saturated Kalk using this method and it does keep my pH higher yet stable. I also have to refill my ATO less often now.

 

[lambchops]

I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic, but normal amounts of house plants will not typically have a substantial effect on CO2 levels in a home. You'd have to live in a greenhouse for that effect to be big.

Think of it this way. Even ignoring massive sources of CO2 like a gas stove, the amount of CO2 that you and your family breathe out comes from metabolizing the foods you eat. Of course, not all of that is at home, but a lot of it is. For plants to offset what you are breathing, your plants would have to add as much tissue mass each day by growth as you consume in foods each day. Most homes are not even remotely close to that, even with a lot of plants in the home.

Hmm, I suppose correlation isn't always causation. We went from zero plants in the house to about 50 and I falsely concluded that my uptick in PH was due to my wife succulent addiction. Shes like a reefer but with plants, grow lights and all. I used to come home to a nice blue glow in my windows, now its a giant red beam shooting out of my windows lol.

 

[Brew12]

Hmm, I suppose correlation isn't always causation. We went from zero plants in the house to about 50 and I falsely concluded that my uptick in PH was due to my wife succulent addiction. Shes like a reefer but with plants, grow lights and all. I used to come home to a nice blue glow in my windows, now its a giant red beam shooting out of my windows lol.

I started to look into the same thing when I wanted to boost my pH. So I started researching how many plants I would need to handle the CO2 output from 3 people. Quickly learned that I couldn't fit that many plants in my house. So much for the natural way!