- Joined
- Apr 30, 2018
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My pH is at 7.6 right now. I'm worried about my fish, no corals yet. The tank is only 63 days old. I have been oscillating between 7.9 and 8.05 (night/day) consistently for a while. Over the last couple days my pH has been trending lower.
I realize from reading the many great articles from Randy that CO2 is the main driver of pH. Thinking about what might have happened mechanically to increase CO2 recently, I did close the basement registers a few days ago, because we switched from heat to AC. But this is an older leaky house and aside from a week of 70's we have had the windows closed for months. I re-opened the registers and basement windows over 12 hours ago and see no change in pH.
KH could be a factor, I am using Red Sea salt which measures 4.0 new (just measured a batch), and my tank had dropped to 3.0 over last month. I wasn't concerned since 3.0 seemed maybe closer to nominal.
All other parameters I can measure are okay: NH3/NH4/NO2/NO3 all zero.
90 gal tank 40 gal sump, plenty of flow/skimmer capacity. I have a big air pump that is meant for power outage (not running skimmer), I turned that on yesterday also and no change.
I'm have been adding a fish per week for the last 4 weeks (5 weeks into cycle when NH3,4/NO2 at zero).
I have also been having the "normal" new tank/new sand/dry rock Diatom bloom, it seems to be slowing down. When doing maintenance I use a canister filter with only mechanical filter (sponge/pads) that I use as a sand vacuum and occasional water polisher. My reasoning is if I brush off the Diatoms from the rock and suck them off the sand into the canister vac it should remove them and the silicates that causes them before they decompose and recycle the problem.
My best is guess some secondary bacteria cycle making more acid. I'm worried that 7.6 pH might harm my fish. What can I do besides water changes to help them if this is dangerous (Soda Ash..?). Any other ideas? What else can I tell you to help you to help me?
I realize from reading the many great articles from Randy that CO2 is the main driver of pH. Thinking about what might have happened mechanically to increase CO2 recently, I did close the basement registers a few days ago, because we switched from heat to AC. But this is an older leaky house and aside from a week of 70's we have had the windows closed for months. I re-opened the registers and basement windows over 12 hours ago and see no change in pH.
KH could be a factor, I am using Red Sea salt which measures 4.0 new (just measured a batch), and my tank had dropped to 3.0 over last month. I wasn't concerned since 3.0 seemed maybe closer to nominal.
All other parameters I can measure are okay: NH3/NH4/NO2/NO3 all zero.
90 gal tank 40 gal sump, plenty of flow/skimmer capacity. I have a big air pump that is meant for power outage (not running skimmer), I turned that on yesterday also and no change.
I'm have been adding a fish per week for the last 4 weeks (5 weeks into cycle when NH3,4/NO2 at zero).
I have also been having the "normal" new tank/new sand/dry rock Diatom bloom, it seems to be slowing down. When doing maintenance I use a canister filter with only mechanical filter (sponge/pads) that I use as a sand vacuum and occasional water polisher. My reasoning is if I brush off the Diatoms from the rock and suck them off the sand into the canister vac it should remove them and the silicates that causes them before they decompose and recycle the problem.
My best is guess some secondary bacteria cycle making more acid. I'm worried that 7.6 pH might harm my fish. What can I do besides water changes to help them if this is dangerous (Soda Ash..?). Any other ideas? What else can I tell you to help you to help me?