Increase pH without skimmer. How?

[KonradTO]

Hi all,
As title say, I always had low pH. I think the causes are that I have an acrylic lid over my tank and also I never got myself a skimmer. The reason I went skimmerless is that I manage to keep nutrients low (actually so low that I got dinoflagellates) without it, just with the fuge.
Now. I measured pH in winter and was around 7.6-7.7. I thought it was due to windows being closed so I just left things the way they were. I measured it yesterday again, before lights went on and it is 7.8. I keep my windows 24/7 open in summer but it seems that the problem is not the indoor CO2 levels.
Kh was around 10 in winter and now I am keeping it around 7.5 (moved from black bucket to blue bucket).
I was reading that increasing oxygenation could help with pH. I have a lot of surface movement and a sump with an airstone running 24/7. Do you think this might not be enough?
What could I do in case to increase pH without getting a skimmer? would a skimmer pump alone work? or maybe I could run the airstone with a normal aquarium pump ?

 

[KonradTO]

Forgot to mention, the reason why I want to increase pH is that I do not see any coral growth as of now, after months. I think this is due to the low pH.

 

[ss30]

What is the PH just before the light's go off?

 

[KonradTO]

What is the PH just before the light's go off?

I will need to test. I still do not have a ph probe, so I am using the one at work for testing.

 

[KonradTO]

I will need to test. I still do not have a ph probe, so I am using the one at work for testing.

I don't expect it to be much higher though because I run the fuge at night

 

[BanjoBandito]

airstone and kalk might help. I used an airstone in my AIO setup. Kalk would definitely work but you need to be careful how you add it. It'll add alkalinity and Ca to your setup so just watch if you go that way.

 

[ss30]

What are you No3 & Po4 if they are low then there is no food for the corals to grow!

 

[BanjoBandito]

KH makes sense with the change from Coral Pro (black bucket) with a mixed alk around 10-12, to blue bucket which mixes around 7.

 

[Garf]

I will need to test. I still do not have a ph probe, so I am using the one at work for testing.

If you’re transporting the sample to work, and testing it there, it’s likely not to be very accurate.

 

[KonradTO]

What are you No3 & Po4 if they are low then there is no food for the corals to grow!

They have been bouncing up and down for months. I got dinos, then I added fish, dino gone-->GHA (I had nitrates around 30ppm for some weeks). Then GHA drove nutrients down, I added a fuge to fight GHA in the DT and nutrients went even further down-->dinos again. BLEAH.
So now they are at good levels NO3 10ppm (salifert) PO4 was 0.04 last week (Hanna URL) but I have been dosing 0.03 pmm PO4 a couple of times to fight dinos. I need more reagent to test again. I wish hanna included more reagent in the box, cause now in Germany it is forbidden to ship the test reagents. (end of the OT)
But anyway I understand that a pH value of 7.8 is a bit low for corals to grow healthy. Also higher pH would help me to fight dinos and remain at decent values in winter when I cannot open the windows as often.

 

[KonradTO]

If you’re transporting the sample to work, and testing it there, it’s likely not to be very accurate.

What difference does it make when you run an airstone for 1h and test or transport to work and test within 1h?
I only took water no substrate, there should not be much depleting oxygen in a short time.
I think I will get a pH probe in a couple of weeks to monitor day n night the pH levels but I fear that in will not be much higher

 

[ss30]

Taking the water out of the tank for 1hr will affect the result as light and aeration has a big part in a PH reading so if you took a sample and put in a dark area for 1HR and tested it it would be a lower PH than in your tank. You need to take a sample out of your tank and test straight away to get an accurate reading.

Until you can do that don't bother testing.

 

[KonradTO]

KH makes sense with the change from Coral Pro (black bucket) with a mixed alk around 10-12, to blue bucket which mixes around 7.

Yes was actually intentional because it was hard to keep kH stable at those levels

 

[BanjoBandito]

Yes was actually intentional because it was hard to keep kH stable at those levels

I dose kalk to hold alk and help PH. Might be something to explore. More mature and tanks with a lot of Ca will need another way to uptick the Ca and ALK drain though. Not familiar with your system.

 

[KonradTO]

re you taking your water to work to test or bringing the tester from work to home to test?

I take the sample from home and bring it to work for testing. It takes less than 1h, no temperature differences maybe 100m difference in altitude. The pH meter is very reliable (and $$$)

 

[ss30]

I take the sample from home and bring it to work for testing. It takes less than 1h, no temperature differences maybe 100m difference in altitude. The pH meter is very reliable (and $$$)

But will give you a false reading, don't bother.

 

[KonradTO]

I dose kalk to hold alk and help PH. Might be something to explore. More mature and tanks with a lot of Ca will need another way to uptick the Ca and ALK drain though. Not familiar with your system.

I am using sodium carbonate for kH (it should also boost pH, not sure for how long though) and red sea calcium for Ca.
With the black bucket I felt that it was overkill since I have literally 7 or 8 frags and no sps. Also I was always reading around 9 kH and having Alk spikes with bigger WCs

 

[KonradTO]

But will give you a false reading, don't bother.

Could you explain why you think is that the case? I do not expect a meaningful change in pH unless there is some big organism breathing in the vial. Also I collect 50-60ml of water, which should be pretty stable for that amount of time..

 

[ss30]

Could you explain why you think is that the case? I do not expect a meaningful change in pH unless there is some big organism breathing in the vial. Also I collect 50-60ml of water, which should be pretty stable for that amount of time..

Taking the water out of the tank for 1hr will affect the result as light and aeration has a big part in a PH reading so if you took a sample and put in a dark area for 1HR and tested it it would be a lower PH than in your tank or in a bright light for 1HR the PH will rise. You need to take a sample out of your tank and test straight away to get an accurate reading otherwise you are wasting your time.

Take the meter home and test in the tank.

 

[ss30]

What type of corals are not growing?