High ph 8.6

[Aggro]

So I’ve been monitoring my ph via apex probe it was recently calibrated with apex 7-10 solutions. The first few days everything was normal was reading 8.3-8.4 then a couple days ago it shot up to 8.5 then dipped down then back to 8.6. I’m not exactly sure what to do tank is 150g plus roughly 25g in the sump. I dosed 125ml of white distilled vinegar that brought it down to 8.25 and since it has been slowly rising back up within 2 hrs its jumped .1 I have good surface agitation and the room window is always open. My alk was 8.8 calc 340 and mag was 1200. Ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrates 10.
I do havea cyano outbreak that started up about the same time as the ph started rising is that what could be causing it??

thank you in advance for the help.

 

[Daddy-o]

I wouldnt worry about 8.6 ph. Most reefers dont really even bother with PH unless it is waaay low. Do you have any fish?
Cheers! Mark

 

[Aggro]

I wouldnt worry about 8.6 ph. Most reefers dont really even bother with PH unless it is waaay low. Do you have any fish?
Cheers! Mark

I have a 6 line wrasse until Wednesday then I got a few more but they’ll be in qt for 3 weeks. I also have coral banded pistol shrimp and cleaner shrimp and of course like 20 sum odd corals

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I suspect you have a testing problem of some sort, but if the pH is 8.6, more aeration must lower it. High pH is very uncommon outside of folks who dose high ph additives. It requires a lot of photosynthesis and low aeration to allow ph to climb.

These have more:

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

and

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/

 

[Clownfishy]

I had a similar issues last week as we in the UK had a heat wave and all my windows were kept open day and night reducing the C02 level to 450ppm and I was dosing a lot of Kalk for top off. I ended up replacing dosing kalk with just RO/DI water and eventually the heat dropped so it came back down to 8.30 - 8.40. Do you know what the cause was to the rise? Has anything changed?

 

[Aggro]

I had a similar issues last week as we in the UK had a heat wave and all my windows were kept open day and night reducing the C02 level to 450ppm and I was dosing a lot of Kalk for top off. I ended up replacing dosing kalk with just RO/DI water and eventually the heat dropped so it came back down to 8.30 - 8.40. Do you know what the cause was to the rise? Has anything changed?

The o ly thing I can think of I have a start of red cyano outbreak I haven’t done a water change yet my windows are always open because it’s a office my wife works out of and she says it smells lol. But I have 2 2k gyres for surface agitation. One is set at the surface 100% of the time the other alternates. But outside of that I can’t think of anything I do feed heavy and only have the one fish.

 

[Aggro]

I suspect you have a testing problem of some sort, but if the pH is 8.6, more aeration must lower it. High pH is very uncommon outside of folks who dose high ph additives. It requires a lot of photosynthesis and low aeration to allow ph to climb.

These have more:

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

and

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/

Ya I’ve not heard of high ph before it’s mostly low and such I didn’t have any issues on the 110 with ph but I transferred everything into the 150 and it was good for the first week then it started to climb. I do have one window usually open but blinds are down and closed so my thought would be aeration I have 1 2k gyre on the surface for agitation and one which goes into reverse to white surface every so often. I’m going to read those articles and see. Appreciate the link.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I think it likely the measurement is incorrect.

 

[Aggro]

I think it likely the measurement is incorrect.

I’m going to test it with api test kit when I get home but I have apex ph probe which I calibrated upon transfer to the 150. I’m also going to add two more pumps in to help move the water around more. Throughout the day it’s steadily climbed to 8.45 so I guess all I can do is recalibrate the probe and add more movement within the tank.

 

[Daddy-o]

My reef is in our garage that is mostly open to fresh air. Even with completely saturated Kalk, my PH never went over 8.6
Cheers! Mark

 

[Michael Gray]

I'm opposite. Bay are I'm at 110* outside. And even at 4am still 80*. So unable to open windows at all. pH is 7.8 at night and tops 8.1. I'm looking for a co2 scrubber

 

[Aggro]

So this is what my apex is showing me the duo is when I dosed vinegar. I’m about to hook up two more small pumps and recalibrate my probe

 

[Clownfishy]

I'm opposite. Bay are I'm at 110* outside. And even at 4am still 80*. So unable to open windows at all. pH is 7.8 at night and tops 8.1. I'm looking for a co2 scrubber

I run a C02 scrubber and would not be without one now. But before you invest in one, I would really recommend you measure your C02 levels in the room you have the aquarium. This was my issue and I now continually measure C02 in that room and I can predict where my pH will be based on that but more importantly, take action as I see the C02 rising. I use Awair to measure C02 but I am sure there are other. I rigged up a system that when Awair detects C02 level in the room reaches 1000ppm, it triggers IFTTT and turns on a plug with a fan on that pulls air from the outside into the house. Best thing I ever setup
I do not have aircon so not sure if pulling small amount of air from outside into the house is an option without heating your rooms too much? Also do you have your skimmer pulling air from the outside or does that raise your tank temperature too much?
Living in the UK, it is only on rare occasions that we need to worry the outside temperature is too warm!!!

 

[Clownfishy]

So this is what my apex is showing me the duo is when I dosed vinegar. I’m about to hook up two more small pumps and recalibrate my probe

I suspect re calibrating the probe may fix the issue so would hold off trying to lower the pH until then. I notice my pH probe drifts upwards after a few months so I now re calibrate every 3 months and normally see a correction and lower pH afterwards.

 

[blasterman]

If that pH is what your tank runs it with no cheato, no C02 scrubber, no kalk or soda ash being added then you've solved global climate change

Sorry, but 8.6 is not possible without artifically removing C02 from the tank on a large scale or adding a base (,calcium hydroxide or sodium carbonate). Im with Randy.

 

[Aggro]

If that pH is what your tank runs it with no cheato, no C02 scrubber, no kalk or soda ash being added then you've solved global climate change

Sorry, but 8.6 is not possible without artifically removing C02 from the tank on a large scale or adding a base (,calcium hydroxide or sodium carbonate). Im with Randy.

So I’m not dosing anything like calcium or whatnot I do have chaeto in the refugium with cultivating pods in there as well. I added the extra pump lastnight after work and that seemed to stabilize it but not paying attention I unplugged my ato and when I got home today is was spurtin bubbles everywhere but it’s fairly stable so far 8.4-8.5 I’m going to give it another 24 hrs and see what happens.

 

[Aggro]

I run a C02 scrubber and would not be without one now. But before you invest in one, I would really recommend you measure your C02 levels in the room you have the aquarium. This was my issue and I now continually measure C02 in that room and I can predict where my pH will be based on that but more importantly, take action as I see the C02 rising. I use Awair to measure C02 but I am sure there are other. I rigged up a system that when Awair detects C02 level in the room reaches 1000ppm, it triggers IFTTT and turns on a plug with a fan on that pulls air from the outside into the house. Best thing I ever setup
I do not have aircon so not sure if pulling small amount of air from outside into the house is an option without heating your rooms too much? Also do you have your skimmer pulling air from the outside or does that raise your tank temperature too much?
Living in the UK, it is only on rare occasions that we need to worry the outside temperature is too warm!!!

My skimmer isn’t ran to the outside I do have a window that is open 24 hrs about 6”. There isn’t a lot of human traffic in the room my wife when she’s working from home is in there but other than that my daughters don’t go in there and I go in after I get home from work so I’m in there for maybe an hour two before I go to bed.
My tank stays between 77-79 when it hits 79 apex turns the heater off and I have a heater that has a thermometer on it as well so I periodically check them against each other.

 

[Pistondog]

Ran a co2 scrubber for 6 months, then drilled for skimmer line to outside.
Best solution, if it's not too hard.