STUUMPED! pH flucuations...

bobssecrtsn · Aug 17, 2012

Hey guys. i recently ran into a problem when i moved house's. i had to move my tank and such. did not loose any sps whatsoever!

before i moved my pH would be around 8.03-8.25 throughout the day morning till night.( and again i did not change anything!) and so i moved house's then this started to happen. BY THE WAY I USE REEF KEEPER LIGHT TO MONITOR PH.

my pH would be at 7.45 in the morning and by the time my lights turn off it would be at 8.45! i know this isnt right because i would be loosing livestock by now.

my parameters as followed, (checked twice, using Red Sea reef Foundation)

Ca 460
Dkh 9.8
Mg 1550

i do dose kalk. but as i said before. my pH never spiked like this before. i have not lost any livestock yet. but a few of my SPS has less P.E then before.

i did read some threads, how to lower etc. skimming more and having more c02. i have very good surface agiation. my skimmer air intake is taking in good oxygen. i recalibrated my probe 3 times already. got all the same readings. all of my fishes (3) is not breathing heavily. and i know dKh has something to do with pH. but my params. are in line.

this is what's bothering me. when i plug in my pH probe. i jiggle the plug around and my pH moves around, 8.40-8.00 but it always come back where it started at. can it be i have a faulty sl2?

skinz78 · Aug 17, 2012

How old was your old house and how old is your new home?

bige · Aug 17, 2012

Are you seeing issues? Don't chase numbers. Your ph should change from night and day.

bobssecrtsn · Aug 17, 2012

my new house is VERY OLD! im changing out the outlets to gfi ones. just installed an A/C in the room.

as for issues. i do see a tad bit less P.E then before. . .

skinz78 · Aug 17, 2012

Can you try running an airline from your venturi on your skimmer to the outside of the house through a window and see if this helps? Some houses are more air tight than others and the carbon monoxide can cause PH fluctuation.

-Logzor · Aug 17, 2012

Have you re-calibrated since the move?

WillKatt · Aug 17, 2012

How often do you recalibrate the probe? I assume you didn't move far from where you were but if you did, did you change altitude significantly specifically from high alt to low? As Skinz was already alluding to if you moved into an older house its likely its not as energy efficient as your previous house and you might not have as much Co2 saturation in the house. It could be a combination of things such as the probe being out of calibration and a difference in the amount of fresh air making it into the house. Id try recalibrating the probe first I have to calibrate my DA Ph probe about every 3-6 months.

Here are some good articles which give common causes of high Ph and the relation ship Ph has with alk.

High pH: Causes and Cures by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

A Comparison of pH Calibration Buffers by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

46gReef · Aug 17, 2012

I may be in the minority with this thinking but I would agree with bige, a fluctuation in pH from day to night is normal....as long as your kH is stable I wouldn't worry about a 1.0 change in pH.

Pkunk35 · Aug 17, 2012

Time to bust out the old school test kit...

Double check your pH levels manually (or via LFS), if the probe is broke you'll never be able to tell without 2 or more readings from diff sources.

But I tend to agree with bige, chasing numbers can make your head spin. If all livestock is doing well, just keep up what you are doing and verify your numbers another way.

Pkunk35 · Aug 17, 2012

Thought this might help if you haven't read this article yet. pH fluctuations are normal from night to day, but if your probe is accurate then I'd keep an eye on the lower and higher levels of your pH swing:

The

"With that all said, however, I do not believe that the actual change in pH each day is particularly important. I won’t go into the reasoning behind this claim here, other than stating that it is my opinion, based on my understanding of how most organisms control their internal pH, but I do not believe that diurnal pH changes that stay within the range of pH 7.8 to 8.5 are particularly stressful to most reef organisms. That is, these changes are no more stressful than being at the same pH all day. A constant pH of 7.9 may be worse for many organisms than a pH that varies from 8.0 to 8.5 each day. Of course, if the diurnal swing takes the pH outside of this range, i.e., below 7.8 or above 8.5, then certain processes take place that should be corrected, as detailed below."

bobssecrtsn · Aug 17, 2012

thats with the window open. i just checked to see if there was any stray voltage in my tank. im not sure if i did it right. i got a multi meter and put it to ACV and unplugged everything. with everything off i had 65.xx V POSSIBLE? idk if im doing it right.

i do not have a GFI outlet plugged into it. its just some old outlet. im planning to change it out with one in a bit!