My tanks pH is usually locked in at 8.3 +/- 0.02. I've been trying to stabilize Alk which has been between 7 and 7.7dKH.
I was making the assumption that with a stable pH, my target Alk should be around 7.7dKHish to have natural CO2 levels. If my dKH is below 7.7dKH, my tank would be below natural levels.
Yesterday I had all the windows open in the house. I assumed that since my dKH was below 7.7dKH, at around 7.3dKHish, I wouldn’t see a pH swing. I'd just see my skimmer working less to drive out CO2.
Instead, my pH went as high as 8.37. This leads me to believe that my CO2 levels may instead be higher than normal.
I have two explanations:
1. Kalk drip plus outside air is able to raise pH and further drop me below normal CO2 levels
2. GHL pH probe is off and my real pH is lower than its showing
If #2 is correct, and say pH is closer to 8.2, then I'm targeting the wrong AlK levels and should be targeting something closer to 7dKH for natural CO2 levels.
Interestingly enough, I can't seem to keep my Alk at 7.7dKHish as it keeps trending down. I'm using AFR which doesn't show up immediately in Alk readings and have gone from 7ml to 22ml over the last week (0.1dKH to 0.3dKH addition).
So any thoughts on what I'm seeing?
I was making the assumption that with a stable pH, my target Alk should be around 7.7dKHish to have natural CO2 levels. If my dKH is below 7.7dKH, my tank would be below natural levels.
Yesterday I had all the windows open in the house. I assumed that since my dKH was below 7.7dKH, at around 7.3dKHish, I wouldn’t see a pH swing. I'd just see my skimmer working less to drive out CO2.
Instead, my pH went as high as 8.37. This leads me to believe that my CO2 levels may instead be higher than normal.
I have two explanations:
1. Kalk drip plus outside air is able to raise pH and further drop me below normal CO2 levels
2. GHL pH probe is off and my real pH is lower than its showing
If #2 is correct, and say pH is closer to 8.2, then I'm targeting the wrong AlK levels and should be targeting something closer to 7dKH for natural CO2 levels.
Interestingly enough, I can't seem to keep my Alk at 7.7dKHish as it keeps trending down. I'm using AFR which doesn't show up immediately in Alk readings and have gone from 7ml to 22ml over the last week (0.1dKH to 0.3dKH addition).
So any thoughts on what I'm seeing?