PH won't go up, stays at 7.6-7.8

[Albertan22]

Yea yea I'll check it out thx. The document though I'll save for if I hit a wall thx or get some free time. I think my co2 media is trash its purple like a quarter of the way down the reactor, sux it's only been 2weeks. Supposed to last 6weeks. It's that 2 little fishies brand stuff cdx ordered some other media today. We'll see if that works

The media starts turning purple within a day. It gets used up from one side. You don’t need to replace it until it is all purple. If 2 weeks got you 1/4 purple you are set for it to last roughly 8 weeks total.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Randy Holmes-Farley @Madonia maybe my surface agitation isn't as good as I thought. Here's a quick video, excuse the "dirty" water.. had just recently feed and stirred up some crap as well.

https://youtu.be/k-FETV9P4Bk

To distinguish poor aeration from High CO2 in the home air, do my aeration test:

pH And The Reef Aquarium
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.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I set a cup of water outside to see what the difference is after an hour.

Might need to aerate it, not just let it sit outside.

 

[jaxteller007]

Might need to aerate it, not just let it sit outside.

Gotcha. So if the pH raises with outside aeration and inside aeration, than increasing my surface agitation may help increase the pH. At least if i'm reading that right?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Gotcha. So if the pH raises with outside aeration and inside aeration, than increasing my surface agitation may help increase the pH. At least if i'm reading that right?

yes.

 

[jaxteller007]

yes.

Good deal. Actually at LFS now to see what they test it at. Also may have to do a water change anyways as nitrates may have spiked.

 

[Joeg]

Just to add to this in case anyone finds the thread and has the BRS scrubber....if you start to see the scrubbers effectiveness decrease after a week, pop the reactor open and check to make sure there is still a little water in the bottom. If not, add a tablespoon of ro water and you'll likely see it start to increase ph again. I'm guessing that I may end up checking at least once a week for evaporation.

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

Started doseing kalkwasser 3mg every hour. PH stayed at 7.8 7.9 it just plummeted to 7.5 last night. My skimmer line is run outside,I have an air pump w/airstone in the sump its line is run outside also. My reactor is still just 1/4 purple I think it's expired. Wish there was another route besides buying this media every other week

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

Just wanted to clarify. I found out the problem was my seneye reef sensor. That dang thing had me freaking out for 2weeks. The first 2 weeks it read accurate and the last 2 weeks before the slide expired dang thing read super low. Bought a hanna and tested with salifert to confirm. The air line to my skimmer and air stone are run outside and my ph stays at 8.2.

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

Just wanted to clarify. I found out the problem was my seneye reef sensor. That dang thing had me freaking out for 2weeks. The first 2 weeks it read accurate and the last 2 weeks before the slide expired dang thing read super low. Bought a hanna and tested with salifert to confirm. The air line to my skimmer and air stone are run outside and my ph stays at 8.2.

So I'll just be using mr seneye as a par meter from now on. Just purchased the pinpoint ph meter and it's super easy and flawless. Prob gonna grab the Salinity one also. Haven't made my mind up on the apex trident yet. Half my friends say they love it and the other half says when the effluent is low all their readings are off. Another thing, I dont like having to buy a slide every month for it to work properly, just like another bill .

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Just wanted to clarify. I found out the problem was my seneye reef sensor. That dang thing had me freaking out for 2weeks. The first 2 weeks it read accurate and the last 2 weeks before the slide expired dang thing read super low. Bought a hanna and tested with salifert to confirm. The air line to my skimmer and air stone are run outside and my ph stays at 8.2.

Thanks for the update!
Happy Reefing.

 

[Lovefish77]

I am in the same boat, my ph is around 7.5 and I cannot raise it with surface agitation and i have an algae scrubber.
No idea how to raise it, if I ran the skimmer air draw to the balcony, would that help? I heard it would lower the skimmer's efficiency as well. Is that true?
Thanks