High Level PH Question

[Spartan_Neptune]

My high range pH is sitting consistently at 7.8

I have a protein skimmer, crushed coral, chem pure in my all in one. I have a wave maker and return pump advocating the surface water. Mixed rock aquascape and Carib sand substrate. It’s a 15 gallon tank about 4 months old. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5-10. Bunch of coral, 2 clowns, 2 hermits, few snails.

I can’t seem to get my high range pH up. I added marine buffer yesterday and messed up my coral - all fine today! But after adding the marine buffer I saw high range and pH spoke to 8.3 - after only one day it’s back down to 7.8

Is there any point chasing this or is it best just to leave it as is?

 

[Tangdora]

What are you using to measure ph and when was the last time it was calibrated. Ph typically fluctuated through out the day and is at it greatest right before your peak lighting is about to throttle down when photosynthesis is at it greatest. Not uncommon to see lower values as well if you’re approaching the winter season as windows and doors and kept closed for extended periods of time and the CO2 levels in your house begin to rise. Can pick up a cheap co2 monitor off Amazon if you suspect that to be your issue.

 

[ScottF]

Adding "buffer" is only going to give you a very temporary bump in pH and it's going to raise your alkalinity. pH is a tough one in an all in one tank.

Some of the easiest ways to raise pH involve a skimmer. Either running the air intake through a CO2 scrubber or running the air intake line outside. CO2 build up in our houses is one of the major contributors to low pH. Most of us don't run skimmers in an all in one tank though.

Another option to help with pH is using either a refugium or algae turf scrubber to raise pH. Photosynthesis consumes C02 from the water and in turn raises the pH. Again, most of us don't use a refugium or ATS with an all in one.

One thing that you can do is use a high pH alkalinity supplement like kalkwasser or even soda ash on a dosing pump.

Do you have stony corals or just soft corals. I wouldn't worry too much about pH unless you have stony corals in the tank.

 

[Spartan_Neptune]

I have just one sps at the minute but would like to introduce more once I see its thriving and doing well.

It’s a fair point about the CO2 as much as I have a skimmer it’s not really going to make a difference if the air quality in the room isn’t better and your right I can’t really keep opening the window for extended periods of time to make a difference.

Not really sure what the answer is then if I want to keep more sps ‍

 

[Spartan_Neptune]

What are you using to measure ph and when was the last time it was calibrated. Ph typically fluctuated through out the day and is at it greatest right before your peak lighting is about to throttle down when photosynthesis is at it greatest. Not uncommon to see lower values as well if you’re approaching the winter season as windows and doors and kept closed for extended periods of time and the CO2 levels in your house begin to rise. Can pick up a cheap co2 monitor off Amazon if you suspect that to be your issue.

I’m using an API salter water test kit to check, iv heard API isn’t all that reliable when it comes to other tests, is it similar for high range Ph?

CO2 scrubber could be a shout, how often would the medium need to be replaced in a small scrubber?

 

[Fish Fan]

I would just leave it alone, unless you're growing corals professionally or for competitions, etc. Many here at R2R have a pH at about 7.8, and their tanks do fine, even with Acros. I know many very successful R2R members that don't even bother to test for pH at all.

Good luck!

 

[Tangdora]

I’m using an API salter water test kit to check, iv heard API isn’t all that reliable when it comes to other tests, is it similar for high range Ph?

CO2 scrubber could be a shout, how often would the medium need to be replaced in a small scrubber?

Never been a fan of the API test kits as they are prone to error due to the fact that the colors can simply be interpreted differently based on the lighting that is in the room and whether the room has daylight bulb, cool white , warm light etc….. also the difference between running 7.8 and say 8.2 is only 0.4 and I don’t personally think any drop kit of ph can provide that level of seperation between 7.8, 7.9, 8.0 etc . Even the Hanna ph handled that’s uses drops has a variance of 1 full ph point. Might want to consider a decent handheld probe if you plan to monitor.

Can’t speak on co2 scrubbers as I have never ran one.

 

[BryanM]

I'd get a better test kit, or a 2nd opinion from your LFS, you may be chasing something that doesn't need to be chased.

 

[ScottF]

pH is logarithmic. The difference between 7.8 and 8.2 is massive. Coral skeleton will start to very slowly dissolve in the mid 7's.

You say your pH is sitting at 7.8, but is this when the tank lights are on? It is probably dropping further in the middle of the night while you sleep. Plenty of people say that plenty of people have super nice SPS tanks with super low pH, but I personally don't trust statements like that.

It's a fact that stony corals grow faster in higher pH tanks. A lot of people, including myself, believe that stony corals are more resilient in higher pH.

I personally would try to keep it above 8 if you are trying to grow things like stony corals, clams and even coralline algae.

C02 scrubbers work pretty well, but they do tend to go through a lot of media. You can drastically reduce the media consumption by recirculating the air coming out of the skimmer back into the scrubber, but I wasn't a fan when I tried this.

My personal journey started with a CO2 scrubber. Then I converted it to a recirculating setup. Then I removed the scrubber and ran an airline outside. Then I added the scrubber inline to the tube running outside. Now my skimmer sucks air from outside, through a granular activate carbon reactor, then through the CO2 scrubber. The media gets consumed very slowly with fresh air from outside. The reason for the GAC reactor is that Miami Dade County sprays pesticides for mosquitos.

One-off additions of "ph buffers" don't really help. Using a high pH alkalinity supplement (kalkwasser/sodium carbonate) vs a pH neutral alk supplement (All For Reef/sodium bicarbonate) can help if dosed throughout the day/night with a dosing pump.

It's up to you if you want to put forth the effort of raising your pH. Half of the people on here will tell you it's not important and the other half will tell you it's the most important.

Edit:
But I also would probably ditch the test kit in favor of a decent pH probe.

 

[ScottF]

All of that being said, I have another tank that is all soft corals, anemones and a mangrove tree and I don't even test the pH in that tank. I obsess over pH in my SPS dominated reef, but don't care at all in my softie tank.

 

[Sam7]

i wouldnt worry about testing ph imo. I dont test anything anymore but alk , granted my tank is not fancy so theres that

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

i wouldnt worry about testing ph imo. I dont test anything anymore but alk , granted my tank is not fancy so theres that

While I’m not pushing pH testing, I would alert folks that one person not measuring pH and being fine doesn’t say much for someone else’s tank in a different home with different ambient CO2 levels and degree of aeration.

 

[Sam7]

While I’m not pushing pH testing, I would alert folks that one person not measuring pH and being fine doesn’t say much for someone else’s tank in a different home with different ambient CO2 levels and degree of aeration.

I only said i wouldnt worry about it in my opinion. Then theres your opinion that your not pushing ph testing. We all have different situations and opinions agreed

The Secret of Higher pH

Introduction There are tons of great resources that talk about the benefits of higher pH on coral growth but many of them merely use anecdotal evidence from their own tanks, and while this is great there are tons of variables on our own reef...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[salty joe]

. Can pick up a cheap co2 monitor off Amazon if you suspect that to be your issue.

Bought one of those a few years ago and found it unreliable...