Ph Levels

[rbourgeois64]

I've tried everything including outdoor air to the skimmer, Co2 reactor, Kaltwasser at 25 mls per second and a wooden air stone and I can't get my PH to a good level. I'm currently using a combination of all above and still see no notable increase. I would like to have the PH about 8.2 daily and down to around 8 in the night. Parameters are in in range with some elevated nutrients from my overfeeding Nitrate 29.8 and phosphate at .10. I have reduced my feeding regiment and the nutrients are lowering with no visible changes in anything including PH, I don't think those affect PH from my research. Alk 9.1 - Calcium 475 - Mag 1368.

This really has me confused and any input would be great! Thanks so much for your input!

 

[Garf]

I've tried everything including outdoor air to the skimmer, Co2 reactor, Kaltwasser at 25 mls per second and a wooden air stone and I can't get my PH to a good level. I'm currently using a combination of all above and still see no notable increase. I would like to have the PH about 8.2 daily and down to around 8 in the night. Parameters are in in range with some elevated nutrients from my overfeeding Nitrate 29.8 and phosphate at .10. I have reduced my feeding regiment and the nutrients are lowering with no visible changes in anything including PH, I don't think those affect PH from my research. Alk 9.1 - Calcium 475 - Mag 1368.

This really has me confused and any input would be great! Thanks so much for your input!

Obvious question. Have you calibrated your pH probe, and how?

 

[rbourgeois64]

I have and with the packets from Neptune. May be a bad batch???

 

[Garf]

I have and with the packets from Neptune. May be a bad batch???

Have you done this test;

The Aeration Test

Some of the possibilities listed above require some 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 the pH. Then aerate it for an hour with an airstone using outside air. The pH should rise if the pH is unusually low for the measured alkalinity, as in Figure 3 (if it does not rise, most likely one of the measurements (pH or alkalinity) is in error). Then repeat the same experiment on a new cup of water using inside air. If the pH rises there too, then the aquarium pH will rise with more aeration because it is only the aquarium that contains excess carbon dioxide. If the pH does not rise inside (or rises very little), then the inside air contains excess CO2, and more aeration with that same air will not solve the low pH problem (although aeration with fresher air should).

Ref;

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

 

[GarrettT]

I have and with the packets from Neptune. May be a bad batch???

It's suspect. Kalk adds about 0.3 and Co2 scrubber 0.2 PH to my system. You have many people living with you? Whenever my in-laws come stay with us my PH drops from 8.4 to 7.6. It's pretty amazing how much Co2 can be generated from just two more people.

 

[arking_mark]

It's suspect. Kalk adds about 0.3 and Co2 scrubber 0.2 PH to my system. You have many people living with you? Whenever my in-laws come stay with us my PH drops from 8.4 to 7.6. It's pretty amazing how much Co2 can be generated from just two more people.

Your 7.6 pH is suspect. It would most likely require indoor CO2 levels of about 2000ppm. At these levels you would have health issues with extended exposure.

Post in thread 'Aquarium pH Distilled' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aquarium-ph-distilled.853474/post-9330359

It's certainly possible to get to those high levels in an inclosed room with lots of people...

 

[GarrettT]

Your 7.6 pH is suspect. It would most likely require indoor CO2 levels of about 2000ppm. At these levels you would have health issues with extended exposure.

Post in thread 'Aquarium pH Distilled' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aquarium-ph-distilled.853474/post-9330359

It's certainly possible to get to those high levels in an inclosed room with lots of people...

7.69 pH. I had to make it sound dramatic though.

 

[hllb]

The aeration test is a good one to do, but the next question I'd have is, if it's NOT CO2, then what is the cause? I don't have the answer as I'm battling the same thing. What I found after adding a CO2 scrubber, was that I didn't see a big jump in the max, but I did see it dropping less at night. Then, I looked into making the scrubber recirculating, meaning the input into the scrubber is hooked to the skimmer cup so it's pulling in moist, already scrubbed air, rather than room air that has a higher CO2 count. That is when I saw my biggest jump. My pH, instead of running 7.8 to 8.0, was now running 8.0 to 8.15. I called that a total win...for all of the 3 days it worked LOL. Then, I realized that water had been pulled into my CO2 scrubber from the skimmer. That seems to ruin the media, and kills the color changing property.

That said, I swapped out the media last night, and put a water collector container right before the scrubber intake. My pH only dropped to 7.95 last night, instead of 7.85, so we'll see if it peaks a bit higher today. So far, it is around .05 higher than it was yesterday, overall.

 

[arking_mark]

Start with the aeration test and post results...

Lessons learned in trying to maintain pH stability

For those interested in maintaining pH stability around +/- 0.05 I have a couple of lessons learned. These are things that I found out on my journey to pH stability. Prior to seeking pH stability my tank pH was consistently around ~7.9. However, much of this journey went on before the tank was...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The aeration test is a good one to do, but the next question I'd have is, if it's NOT CO2, then what is the cause?

There is nothing possible except test error, low alkalinity, or high CO2 in the water.

 

[arking_mark]

There is nothing possible except test error, low alkalinity, or high CO2 in the water.

...Calcium Carbonate reactor dosing low pH effluent... (high CO2 content)

 

[hllb]

There is nothing possible except test error, low alkalinity, or high CO2 in the water.

Thanks for that confirmation Randy!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

...Calcium Carbonate reactor dosing low pH effluent... (high CO2 content)

That's certainly a possible source of the elevated CO2 in the water, if that's what he means by CO2 reactor. More and more folks mean a CO2 scrubber.

 

[arking_mark]

That's certainly a possible source of the elevated CO2 in the water, if that's what he means by CO2 reactor. More and more folks mean a CO2 scrubber.

I was just listing something that could lower pH. The OP didn't mention using one...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I was just listing something that could lower pH. The OP didn't mention using one...

Certainly true, but I'm confused. That 's just the source of the CO2, not something different than what I stated:

"There is nothing possible except test error, low alkalinity, or high CO2 in the water."

 

[arking_mark]

Certainly true, but I'm confused. That 's just the source of the CO2, not something different than what I stated:

"There is nothing possible except test error, low alkalinity, or high CO2 in the water."

Oh. Completely agree...I was just identifying another source that would contribute CO2...not just house air.

 

[MichaelReefer]

I use a Co2 scrubber AND a Kalk Stirrer and still, the highest I can get mine to is 8.3, and drops to about 8.05 at night. No 8.5 for me

 

[rbourgeois64]

Thanks everyone for all the input! I have been able to raise my PH to 8.2 but what I'm noticing is the ALK seems to rise with the level of PH. My alk has increased to 11.5 over 3 or 4 days. I've decided to just let everything to sort of level itself off and see where I land in a couple of days. Any input to what I'm seeing with the PH - ALK correlation. Thanks again!

 

[hllb]

Thanks everyone for all the input! I have been able to raise my PH to 8.2 but what I'm noticing is the ALK seems to rise with the level of PH. My alk has increased to 11.5 over 3 or 4 days. I've decided to just let everything to sort of level itself off and see where I land in a couple of days. Any input to what I'm seeing with the PH - ALK correlation. Thanks again!

How did you raise the pH? If it's kalkwasser that would also raise your alk.

 

[rbourgeois64]

I did use Kalk in combination with fresh air into the skimmer. I've never had Alk at this level so it is a little concerning but from my research it isn't an issue as long as you have slightly higher nutrients. Like I said I'm going to wait to see if things level off in the next couple of days.