PH drop after UV sterilizer installed to fight dinos?

Tuffloud1 · Apr 16, 2021

I installed a UV sterilizer to fight dinos - Coolia and Prorocentrum.

I noticed the next morning my ph had dropped significantly and has continued that trend. Nothing drastic but it is significant considering my ph has been like clockwork.

Had anyone else noticed this?

My theory (and hope) is that the dinos are dying and no longer consuming CO2 which could be lowering my ph.

dank reefer · Apr 16, 2021

If you are using a probe to measure PH, make sure that UV power code is no where close to the PH probe as electrical interference can occur and totally screw up your PH readings.

Happened to my when I installed a UV to my tank and made my PH reading constantly wrong until I re-ran the PH probe cable and UV power cable.

Tuffloud1 · Apr 16, 2021

dank reefer said:
If you are using a probe to measure PH, make sure that UV power code is no where close to the PH probe as electrical interference can occur and totally screw up your PH readings.

Happened to my when I installed a UV to my tank and made my PH reading constantly wrong until I re-ran the PH probe cable and UV power cable.

Its 10 feet away from the ph probe.

dank reefer · Apr 16, 2021

get a cup of tank water and drop the PH probe into it and see if the reading drop back to normal.

Tuffloud1 · Apr 18, 2021

Yeah, it’s definitely not the power cable messing with the PH probe.

This is when I installed the UV and started stirring the sand bed and blowing off rocks to get the dinos into the water column so the UV could hit them.

Pretty obvious drop when nothing else changed.

And it isn’t from CO2 buildup in my house, I’m running skimmer intake outside as well as an ERV unit in my house.

KalamazooReefer · Nov 2, 2022

Tuffloud1 said:
Yeah, it’s definitely not the power cable messing with the PH probe.

This is when I installed the UV and started stirring the sand bed and blowing off rocks to get the dinos into the water column so the UV could hit them.

Pretty obvious drop when nothing else changed.

And it isn’t from CO2 buildup in my house, I’m running skimmer intake outside as well as an ERV unit in my house.

Did you ever figure out what was happening? I’m seeing an identical result after installing a small UV sterilizer on my own tank. The graph is a shot-for-shot of my own APEX pH trend.