Low PH. High KH. Need advise?

[Stv]

Hello all,
I’ve struggled with getting PH up using LFS purchased real ocean water. It’s typically at 7.8 PH.

heres my current parameters:

77.9F

PH. 7.8.

KH. 10.5

Cal. 400

Nitrate. 5.0

Phos. 0.25

Sal. 1.0255

I need to do a water change of 10-15% anyway and planned on doing it with the same store bought ocean water. Mainly because it’s time to and in theory will help nitrates and KH come down a bit. BUT…. Is there anything I can do to get the KH to come down AND get the PH to come up? Can’t seem to ever get the KH down despite added water being at 7.5.

I’m a newb so any help is much appreciated. Tank is 32 biocube 6 months old. Ugly stage is over. Tank critters, clown and BT anemone. Green frog swawn. Diamond hobby, CUC. Cleaner shrimp. Small puffer and tang. Tiny recordia.

 

[Stv]

Don’t want to use 8.3 buffer because I was and it raised the KH to where it’s at trying to get the PH up.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

pH is determined by the alkalinity and the CO2 level.

A buffer is not a good way to raise pH, and drives alk too high.

This has more:

pH and the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION

by Randy Holmes-Farley For many aquarists, pH is not something that they have much experience with aside from their aquarium. For many, pH is almost a black box measurement: something to be considered, but whose physical meaning makes little sense to them. This article will Read more here...

www.reefedition.com

 

[Stv]

pH is determined by the alkalinity and the CO2 level.

A buffer is not a good way to raise pH, and drives alk too high.

This has more:

pH and the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION

by Randy Holmes-Farley For many aquarists, pH is not something that they have much experience with aside from their aquarium. For many, pH is almost a black box measurement: something to be considered, but whose physical meaning makes little sense to them. This article will Read more here...

www.reefedition.com

thank you nice. I have read this before posting and it explains so much but not how to possibly deal with my specific issue. Low PH and high KH. Any direct advice to my specific issue? Thanks so much for everyone’s mentoring.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

thank you nice. I have read this before posting and it explains so much but not how to possibly deal with my specific issue. Low PH and high KH. Any direct advice to my specific issue? Thanks so much for everyone’s mentoring.

Stop adding any alkalinity supplements or buffers, and let the alk fall on its own (if you want it lower, 10.5 dKH is OK)..

If you want pH higher, you have to do something to remove CO2, like more fresh air, a CO2 scrubber, etc.

 

[Stv]

Stop adding any alkalinity supplements or buffers, and let the alk fall on its own (if you want it lower, 10.5 dKH is OK)..

If you want pH higher, you have to do something to remove CO2, like more fresh air, a CO2 scrubber, etc.

Thank you again. It’s a small biocube 32 with the top lid attached so would running a typical air pump under my cabinet and placing the air line up under the lid to help add fresh air? I would just raise the lid for a few days but that takes away the lighting and that’s not an option.

stupid question but should the fresh air be on the surface or in the water via an added air stone in the water?

thanks again for dealing with newb questions. It’s much appreciated.

 

[Stv]

I’ve also been thinking of removing the lid completely and upgrading to a different light set up to kill two birds with one stone?

 

[Biokabe]

An airstone by itself isn't going to do much, because all it's going to do is infuse the same air into your water. It's likely that the air in your home is what is high in CO2, so if you don't address that (which simply adding an air pump doesn't do), then you can't raise your pH.

The most common way to raise pH is to attach a CO2 scrubber to your protein skimmer, but with a BC32 you might not even have a skimmer; even if you do, it likely doesn't have the oomph to really make your scrubber effective. You can, however, plumb an air pump into the inlet on a CO2 scrubber, and then run the outlet hose into your tank. To prevent crazy bubbling, you'll probably want to attach an airstone to the end of the outlet hose.

It'll likely require some adapters to get it to work, but that would be your best bet for raising your pH.

As a former owner of a BioCube, I do highly recommend ditching the lid for entirely different reasons, though. =)

 

[Stv]

Thanks again. I’ll look into both these options. You’ve been a huge help.

 

[Celestion]

What Sodium carbonate

 

[Celestion]

Food grade

 

[Stub]

Stop adding any alkalinity supplements or buffers, and let the alk fall on its own (if you want it lower, 10.5 dKH is OK)..

If you want pH higher, you have to do something to remove CO2, like more fresh air, a CO2 scrubber, etc.

I have the same problem, low pH (7.8) and high Alk (280 ppm). Stopped dosing Kalk and after a couple of months dropped to 217 and leveled out there. Now for C02 - the most direct measurement I could find was to take a sample of my water (jam jar size) outside and aerate with a small air pump for 1 hr and measure the pH. Raised pH 0.1 and I believe this is consistent with what I am seeing in my system. I have a large system with about 300 gal capacity spread over 4 tanks including the sump (partially filled 125 gal tank). I have a considerable aeration capacity in the system, including a 2 cubic foot bio tower, 4 ft skimmer and heavy surface aeration from water movement. Outside air is pumped into the house year round via the HVAC system. I cannot move the pH beyond 8 for short periods and need some opinions.

Thanks, Stub