Battling Low PH - Help

[paulsvang]

Randy,

I will have to order some solution.

 

[paulsvang]

I meant to say sump. Lol.

 

[beaslbob]

I meant to say sump. Lol.

If I had a nickel for every type I made. LOL

 

[paulsvang]

For the sump, I have some ulva, gracilaria, and cauluerpa. I will have to take a picture later. I think I have a good amount but maybe it's still not enough. I know they have been growing like crazy

 

[beaslbob]

For the sump, I have some ulva, gracilaria, and cauluerpa. I will have to take a picture later. I think I have a good amount but maybe it's still not enough. I know they have been growing like crazy

that is a very good sign.

 

[paulsvang]

Yes its a good sign but the pH is still at 7.9. Maybe I should use kalk to raise it up a tad bit.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes its a good sign but the pH is still at 7.9. Maybe I should use kalk to raise it up a tad bit.

You probably would not notice a difference in the tank between pH 7.9 and pH 8.2, but doing it is also unlikely to hurt and may help some organisms.

 

[paulsvang]

Thanks Randy. I'm going to put kalk in my top off to see what it does. Hopefully raise it a tad bit.

 

[paulsvang]

Kalk has brought up the ph to 8.0 today. I'll test the cal and dkh to see where they are at.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sounds good.

 

[jhuntington12]

Okay so I've been battling this low pH issue. I've done water changes twice already with about 20% water change. I'd like for my pH to be around 8.2 if possible. Here are my stats

ph 7.5
Ca 580 (kind of high)
dKH 9
Nitrate 0
Phosphate .25

I thought it may be high in co2 so I've connected a tube to my skimmer and ran it outside for the past two days. My pH is now at 7.8 however it's still low.

I bought some Kalk and was wondering if I should dose it slowly. My concern is that Ca and dKH is be super high but the pH may just be at like 7.9 or 8.0.

Ever since I added an oversized skimmer (rated for 400g) to my tank (120g) I noticed a significant drop in pH. The swing is pretty consistent going from 7.77 to 7.9 or so daily. It originally would never dip below 8.0 at night if I remember correctly. This skimmer was installed about 8 months ago and if my memory serves me correctly; that week I installed it I suddenly lost a temperamental frogspawn coral I had that deteriorated over the course of the week. Everything else in the tank was doing well, but this one seemed to be a coincidence with the suddenly lower pH or maybe just bad timing. Regardless, I remember seeing a thread of someone using CO2 absorption media with good success and I had purchased some a while back to use in my tank as well. Apparently I put it in the back shelf and completely forgot about it until I saw this thread last week.

Anyways, I installed it two days ago and just wanted to share that I too am also having great results with it.

I have an apex to follow the trends but now I am seeing my low point at no less than 8.01 and high to 8.18. I bought some silicone tubing and plumbed that right into the airline of my skimmer with the other end into a small BRS media reactor full of this CO2 absorbent. Rather than try to dose and adjust your pH, perhaps consider doing this as well.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-color-changing-medical-grade-co2-absorbent.html

 

[paulsvang]

Very interesting. I'm still wondering if I need to absorb c02 if I'm already pulling air from outside to the inside. One thing that still bothers me is that with the seachem salt, I was measuring 8.2pH and with the Instant Ocean salt, I was getting 7.8pH. I'm going to buy some seachem to see.

 

[cvicente]

Ever since I added an oversized skimmer (rated for 400g) to my tank (120g) I noticed a significant drop in pH. The swing is pretty consistent going from 7.77 to 7.9 or so daily. It originally would never dip below 8.0 at night if I remember correctly. This skimmer was installed about 8 months ago and if my memory serves me correctly; that week I installed it I suddenly lost a temperamental frogspawn coral I had that deteriorated over the course of the week. Everything else in the tank was doing well, but this one seemed to be a coincidence with the suddenly lower pH or maybe just bad timing. Regardless, I remember seeing a thread of someone using CO2 absorption media with good success and I had purchased some a while back to use in my tank as well. Apparently I put it in the back shelf and completely forgot about it until I saw this thread last week.

Anyways, I installed it two days ago and just wanted to share that I too am also having great results with it.

I have an apex to follow the trends but now I am seeing my low point at no less than 8.01 and high to 8.18. I bought some silicone tubing and plumbed that right into the airline of my skimmer with the other end into a small BRS media reactor full of this CO2 absorbent. Rather than try to dose and adjust your pH, perhaps consider doing this as well.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-color-changing-medical-grade-co2-absorbent.html

I had just the opposite result in my system, I changed my skimmer to a 2520 l/h air draw, 12" contact chamber unit recommended for a 400 heavily stocked tank and my pH went up .15. My net water volume is 130 gal aprox.

 

[cvicente]

Very interesting. I'm still wondering if I need to absorb c02 if I'm already pulling air from outside to the inside. One thing that still bothers me is that with the seachem salt, I was measuring 8.2pH and with the Instant Ocean salt, I was getting 7.8pH. I'm going to buy some seachem to see.

I had a very similar problem in my system, not as low as 7.5 but 7.8 I changed my skimmer for a higher air draw unit and the pH went up .15 On top of that started dosing Aquavitro 8.4 at night and the pH is 8.14-8.32 through out the day. Aquavitro 8.4 works but it is expensive to use. I had a kalk stirrer a few years ago but it was connected the ATO I had a lot of pH swings, if you plan to use a kalk stirrer use a dosing pump instead and dose at night only. I also ran a remote refugium with LOTS of Chaetomorpha and it didn't bring up my pH to were I wanted it.

 

[nervousmonkey]

Ever since I added an oversized skimmer (rated for 400g) to my tank (120g) I noticed a significant drop in pH. The swing is pretty consistent going from 7.77 to 7.9 or so daily. It originally would never dip below 8.0 at night if I remember correctly. This skimmer was installed about 8 months ago and if my memory serves me correctly; that week I installed it I suddenly lost a temperamental frogspawn coral I had that deteriorated over the course of the week. Everything else in the tank was doing well, but this one seemed to be a coincidence with the suddenly lower pH or maybe just bad timing. Regardless, I remember seeing a thread of someone using CO2 absorption media with good success and I had purchased some a while back to use in my tank as well. Apparently I put it in the back shelf and completely forgot about it until I saw this thread last week.

Anyways, I installed it two days ago and just wanted to share that I too am also having great results with it.

I have an apex to follow the trends but now I am seeing my low point at no less than 8.01 and high to 8.18. I bought some silicone tubing and plumbed that right into the airline of my skimmer with the other end into a small BRS media reactor full of this CO2 absorbent. Rather than try to dose and adjust your pH, perhaps consider doing this as well.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-color-changing-medical-grade-co2-absorbent.html

I use that as well jhuntington and it works super well. I like CO2 absorption media, it's amazing. You can also get a bag of it for about $7 on med vet.

 

[FlyinBryan]

Ato Kalk. Its what I do. Ph is great and stable!

 

[paulsvang]

I'm going to try co2 absorbent and kalk

 

[WVReefJunkie]

I am curious to know has your ph always been low or has it dipped down here recently. I would check your air tubing cup on y0ur skimmer. Make sure the cup is not plugged off with salt buildup. That would cause a dip in ph if the skimmer is not pulling in fresh air.