Chasing numbers is one thing, but this....

[BestMomEver]

I’ve always had trouble keeping my pH up. I’ve done everything I know to do. I bought a CO2 scrubber because running a hose to the outside isn’t possible. It helps but I think this batch of media is bad. One brand I used to get was great. This brand.... not so much. I set up a mini fuge in the sump. I dose enough A,B and mag to keep parameters in a good place. The pH usually measures about 7.7 as best as I can tell from the Salifert kit.

But... I got an Apex for Christmas so now I have the display looking at me all day. Two days ago, the pH dropped to 7.53. I mixed up some kalk and put in two cups (mixed at two tablespoons per gallon) and the pH rose to 7.74. This morning it’s back down to 7.52.
The kalk I put in only raised the dkh from 9.1 to 10 so I’m ok there.

Should I add more kalk? I might have to make that part of my regular routine. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[Coralreefer1]

When are you testing your pH? PH will drop at night after the lights go off because photosynthesis has ceased. It will then rise back up once the lights get turned on. Test at the same time each day, do water changes regularly, aerate and agitate your water to add dissolved oxygen to your water, feed less and dose Kalk or two part in a balanced manner. These should help!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

What is your ALK measuring at? I wouldn't chase a pH number by dosing Kalk because it will also impact your Cal/ALK. I do agree with everything @Coralreefer1 said above. I see you're in FL, so maybe the next thing I'll mention isn't a big issue for you, but heating in winter can drive pH down due to more CO2 in closed up houses. If you're wanting to raise pH without changing ALK levels, maybe look at CO2 scrubber or running your skimmer line outside.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Ya need something else that uses co2.

Have pretty good ph for some reason.

 

[topjimmy]

Honestly when my ph probe went bad I never even replaced it. Between it needing constant calibration and interference from stray voltage it wasn't even worth looking at.

I think that unless you are running Kalk with a less than ideal setup, or a calcium reactor I would not worry about ph.

 

[Mical]

What are you parameters #s currently?

Salinity
DKH
cal
mag

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I would open all the windows in the house for a while to let some oxygen in, and see if that helps before you start chasing ph numbers.

 

[truepercs]

One thing I would ask is the probe calibrated correctly? Since it is displayed all the time on the Apex I too am curious about PH, however I don't concern myself with it... "As is" I had a swing of about .2 from 7.7 to 7.9 (**I purchased the Apex used and never calibrated the probe**) As an experiment I wanted to see if small changes would help make a tank more stable. (Just did this experiment over the last two weeks)

I have added a small refugium in my sump and have a small light go on as the main lights begin to lower in intensity (sunset) overall this reduced the swing from .2 to about .08, I thought that was interesting. In reading about a line outside I bought a long hose and temporarily ran it out a window. I seen an increase of about .15 The PH now is about 7.87 and has reached 7.98 @peak. Seeing it helped I drilled a hole and shortened the tube which I now have it permanent.

Very easy changes which made some improvements . I am now going to calibrate the probe, (I should have a better idea on how accurate the value actually is) One thing is for sure the changes have raised the value slightly and the swing has been reduced. Again I have not worried about PH but wanted to see if any of the things I have read lead to an increase in PH value or stability. My thought is if there is anything I can do to help stability I would give it a try. I am not sure how much this will affect my aquarium however anything that can be done to help stabilize the aquarium I think is good. I posted for you to get an idea on how much the values were affected by the small changes made.

Apex reading
7.87-7.98
35.4

Yesterdays test result
9.0
425
1325

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I think the pH 7.52 was probably not accurate.

 

[DiZASTiX]

I’ve always had trouble keeping my pH up. I’ve done everything I know to do. I bought a CO2 scrubber because running a hose to the outside isn’t possible. It helps but I think this batch of media is bad. One brand I used to get was great. This brand.... not so much. I set up a mini fuge in the sump. I dose enough A,B and mag to keep parameters in a good place. The pH usually measures about 7.7 as best as I can tell from the Salifert kit.

But... I got an Apex for Christmas so now I have the display looking at me all day. Two days ago, the pH dropped to 7.53. I mixed up some kalk and put in two cups (mixed at two tablespoons per gallon) and the pH rose to 7.74. This morning it’s back down to 7.52.
The kalk I put in only raised the dkh from 9.1 to 10 so I’m ok there.

Should I add more kalk? I might have to make that part of my regular routine. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Do you have heavy nitrate with carbon dosing?