Low ph

[Pridedcloth3]

Guys I have a guy I have a guy battling crazy low ph and he's losing the battle. I have him coming over and it's beyond my knowledge so if you can help him out

 

[Pridedcloth3]

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[oscar81]

Guys I have a guy I have a guy battling crazy low ph and he's losing the battle. I have him coming over and it's beyond my knowledge so if you can help him out

 

[Matt Bravo]

Surface agitation helped me bring my ph up really nicely, I hadn’t tested in a while so it was like at 7.7 but I moved my wave maker higher about 2 weeks ago, tested today and it came up to 8.1.

 

[Miami Reef]

We need more information.

How is he measuring his pH? It should be measured with a calibrated 2 point probe (7pH and 10pH solutions if it’s for a reef tank).

There are many ways to increase pH.

More surface agitation
Opening windows
Dosing carbonates (smaller boost) or hydroxides (larger boost) to maintain alkalinity.
Run skimmer air intake to outside or a CO2 scrubber.
Grow photosynthetic organisms in a refugium, algae scrubber etc

Some of these may not work, or even work against you, depending on the cause of your pH issue. If the alkalinity is around 7-11dKH, low pH issues is almost always from high CO2.

 

[Miami Reef]

@oscar81

It’s possible, but unlikely your pH is that low. I’d first recommend recalibrating your probe, using the 7 and 10 pH solutions. Neptune Apex sells them, as well as other brands, like Milwaukee.

The first step to solving a low-pH-issue is making sure you have a low pH issue in the first place. Probes need to be routinely calibrated for accurate results.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

@oscar81

It’s possible, but unlikely your pH is that low. I’d first recommend recalibrating your probe, using the 7 and 10 pH solutions. Neptune Apex sells them, as well as other brands, like Milwaukee.

The first step to solving a low-pH-issue is making sure you have a low pH issue in the first place. Probes need to be routinely calibrated for accurate results.

I mentioned that to him not sure if and when he did it yet

 

[oscar81]

Surface agitation helped me bring my ph up really nicely, I hadn’t tested in a while so it was like at 7.7 but I moved my wave maker higher about 2 weeks ago, tested today and it came up to 8.1.

I have a mp 40 for a 90 gallons tank

 

[oscar81]

@oscar81

It’s possible, but unlikely your pH is that low. I’d first recommend recalibrating your probe, using the 7 and 10 pH solutions. Neptune Apex sells them, as well as other brands, like Milwaukee.

The first step to solving a low-pH-issue is making sure you have a low pH issue in the first place. Probes need to be routinely calibrated for accurate results.

I’m using apex and Hanna’s ph pen and is off by .2

 

[oscar81]

We need more information.

How is he measuring his pH? It should be measured with a calibrated 2 point probe (7pH and 10pH solutions if it’s for a reef tank).

There are many ways to increase pH.

More surface agitation
Opening windows
Dosing carbonates (smaller boost) or hydroxides (larger boost) to maintain alkalinity.
Run skimmer air intake to outside or a CO2 scrubber.
Grow photosynthetic organisms in a refugium, algae scrubber etc

Some of these may not work, or even work against you, depending on the cause of your pH issue. If the alkalinity is around 7-11dKH, low pH issues is almost always from high CO2.

I’m already doing co2 scrubbing and re circulation of the media as well

 

[oscar81]

I’m already doing co2 scrubbing and re circulation of the media as well

Also my alkalinity is at 11.6

 

[oscar81]

I mentioned that to him not sure if and when he did it yet

I did my calibration ph probe calibration 2 weeks ago

 

[Pistondog]

Elevated co2 levels are the main cause of low ph in our tanks.

 

[LgTas]

Dosing Kalkwasser did it for me

 

[Miami Reef]

I did my calibration ph probe calibration 2 weeks ago

Can you explain how you did the calibration process? A difference of .2 is large.

 

[oscar81]

Dosing Kalkwasser did it for me

I can Problably do that but my alkalinity is already at 11

 

[oscar81]

Can you explain how you did the calibration process? A difference of .2 is large.

What I’m saying I calibrate my probe already 2week ago and I’m also testing my ph with a Hanna pen and and is. .2 more with the Hanna ph pen thean my apex probe

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would not be sure the pH 7.65 is accurate, but I suggest trying this aeration test:

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.

 

[Dburr1014]

Amazing, I just opened the windows for an hour.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

Amazing, I just opened the windows for an hour.

Told you you'd get an answer here