Water change crash ph

[Fishfinder]

Does anyone have any idea why a water change would crash my pH? I use Red Sea blue bucket. Normally after a water change, my ph goes up. But it went from 8.1 to 7.7.

 

[DylanE]

Do you keep your RO in a confined space with minimal gas exchange? If it's stored in an area with high CO2 the water might have a high content and lower pH. Just a thought.

 

[Fishfinder]

It’s in a mixing barrel in the garage. I’ve never had it lower my ph before

 

[KrisReef]

Did you test the fresh mix before you added it? That’s a good idea when doing large water changes with home made water.

The “crash “
is probably not going to have much impact.

 

[DylanE]

It’s in a mixing barrel in the garage. I’ve never had it lower my ph before

Any way something got in the barrel and died (mouse, frog ect)? decomp would also produce co2/acidity

 

[skey44]

I’m not sure the reason so I’m interested to hear more, but I always notice a pH lowering effect (I wouldn’t call it a crash) when I do a water change. The tank always looks better after the WC and pH returns to my tanks normal over the next couple of days, so I don’t really question it

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That can only be due to the new salt water having a lower pH than the tank, but 8.1 to 7.7 sounds unlikely to be accurate unless you did a change of close to 100%.

The meter coming out of the water for a while might mess with readings.

 

[Fishfinder]

I’ll have to recalibrate my probe. It’s a day later and I’m still way lower than normal

 

[Fishfinder]

It was out of the water less than 10 minutes

 

[Fishfinder]

@Randy Holmes-Farley at the same time, I also removed a ATO water level probe that was sitting right next to the pH probe and had been leaking stray current. I’m not sure how pH probes work, but could the removal of this item leaking current have affected my pH reading?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

@Randy Holmes-Farley at the same time, I also removed a ATO water level probe that was sitting right next to the pH probe and had been leaking stray current. I’m not sure how pH probes work, but could the removal of this item leaking current have affected my pH reading?

pH probes can suffer something called a ground loop. Perhaps that can be a problem here.

How to deal with Ground Loops

Have you ever had problems with process controls and electrical instrumentation? The source may be ground loops. What is this? A potentially detrimental lo...

www.turtletoughsensors.com

 

[Fishfinder]

I’ll say that article is way over my head. But glad to know that was a potential issue. And not necessarily my water

 

[Celestion]

Add calcium hydroxide, and land it right on 8.3

 

[Fishfinder]

Add calcium hydroxide, and land it right on 8.3

I dont think it works like that. The ph effect from that is short