I'm not sure if I am posting this in the right section but let's do it !
I had a lot of problems with corals (almost dying to dying) in the summer time when the AC was turned on into a perfectly sealed house.
I had pH drop to 7.6 some times.
I read a lot about co2 but I also read a lot about "don't chase pH"
I decided to do some experiment but I had no co2 reference to base my experiment on.
I was convinced that my problems was caused by co2 but I could not prove it.
So I decided to buy a co2 monitor.
To my surprise, I found out that the co2 level in my house was over 2000ppm compared to around ~350ppm outside.
I then tried to fix this and the easiest method i found was to just keep the stove vent hood running to the lowest setting.
That way I managed to keep the co2 level under 1000ppm.
co2 level under 1000ppm leaded to a minimum pH of 8.0
On August 30th, we finally opened the windows, AC was not needed anymore and that made the co2 level stay under 500ppm.
If you can see on the image below, the first half is with the co2 level under 1000ppm and the second half is with the windows open co2 under 500ppm.
As you can see, with the windows open, the pH is pretty stable with a variance of only 0.08 pH
I also have to say that I have a reverse lighting caulerpa refugium, that must also help with pH stability I am guessing at night.
So.... did this make a difference ? OMG you can't believe how huge it made a difference !
All my corals are now opened like crazy and growing like never before !
I had to increase my KH dosing like never before, i'm now consuming 0.5 dKH per day where I was almost not dosing before !
In the image, each little peak is from day/night cycle.
In the first half, the large section with higher pH is with windows open on cooler days.
In the first half, the large section with lower pH is with the AC on on hot days.
I had a lot of problems with corals (almost dying to dying) in the summer time when the AC was turned on into a perfectly sealed house.
I had pH drop to 7.6 some times.
I read a lot about co2 but I also read a lot about "don't chase pH"
I decided to do some experiment but I had no co2 reference to base my experiment on.
I was convinced that my problems was caused by co2 but I could not prove it.
So I decided to buy a co2 monitor.
To my surprise, I found out that the co2 level in my house was over 2000ppm compared to around ~350ppm outside.
I then tried to fix this and the easiest method i found was to just keep the stove vent hood running to the lowest setting.
That way I managed to keep the co2 level under 1000ppm.
co2 level under 1000ppm leaded to a minimum pH of 8.0
On August 30th, we finally opened the windows, AC was not needed anymore and that made the co2 level stay under 500ppm.
If you can see on the image below, the first half is with the co2 level under 1000ppm and the second half is with the windows open co2 under 500ppm.
As you can see, with the windows open, the pH is pretty stable with a variance of only 0.08 pH
I also have to say that I have a reverse lighting caulerpa refugium, that must also help with pH stability I am guessing at night.
So.... did this make a difference ? OMG you can't believe how huge it made a difference !
All my corals are now opened like crazy and growing like never before !
I had to increase my KH dosing like never before, i'm now consuming 0.5 dKH per day where I was almost not dosing before !
In the image, each little peak is from day/night cycle.
In the first half, the large section with higher pH is with windows open on cooler days.
In the first half, the large section with lower pH is with the AC on on hot days.
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