Lighting the Refugium increases PH by a lot

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astraycat

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Hi all,

I recently upgraded my tank from a 40G to a 75G (yaaaay) and gotta bigger sump with a bigger refugium area.

I also upgraded my refugium light from a dinky yellow LED to a H380 grow light, and well the chaeto grew from a ball to a refugium-shaped forest in record time. However, every night now the PH shoots up all the way to 8.6 or so, dropping down to a low of 8.3-8.4 during the day before lights off.

Any suggestions on properly controlling my PH here? Should I be programming my Apex to turn the light off if the PH gets too high? Maybe not light the refugium some nights? Or maybe other ideas?

Thanks!
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
Reeferdood said:
Sounds to me like the probe might need to be recalibrated, everything seems to be on the high end..
Click to expand...
I'll recalibrate and see if it changes. My PH was normal levels (8.2-8.4) before the refugium took off though.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
The setup is a couple months old, but it has a lot of my rock from the previous setup which was a couple years old.

My Alk was 8.68 yesterday. I dose Triton Core.

Ok, I just recalibrated and it seems my PH probe had drifted low! It's even higher now!
 
Hmmm,
if your probe is doing that I would try to do a manual test using a good test kit like Salifert or Red Sea and then compare the values. pH probes can go bad or read funny if they are dirty or have algae on the probe. If the probe is where light is hitting it, that might be the cause.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
Something amiss with the measurement - hard to see how one could get to 8.68 ......
 
The API kit is dang hard to read, but it does seem to be between 8.2 and 8.4 according to the kit.

I will stop by the store later grab another kit, and try giving my probe a scrub.
 
astraycat said:
The API kit is dang hard to read, but it does seem to be between 8.2 and 8.4 according to the kit.

I will stop by the store later grab another kit, and try giving my probe a scrub.
Click to expand...
Careful, they are delicate.. Perhaps a little vinegar solution with a soft toothbrush...
 
Deltec
The probe is several years old at this point -- maybe it's just time to replace it?
 
Standard grade probes start to go wonky after about 18 months - probably best to,replace them annually. I think lab grade may last longer.
 
Mine is a Lab grade, but looking at the data it looks like it may have started to go wonky a while ago. I was attributing it to the explosion of chaeto growth, but now I'm thinking that that was just coincidence (or maybe it exacerbated the wonkiness).
 
3a and 3b will boost your pH. In this graph from my aquaria you can see a sawtooth pattern. Every tip is 5 minutes after adding 4 ml of 3a or 3b. I have a small refugium with reversed light schedule but it is not enough in order to boost my night pH - therefore I add 3a and 3 b during night time.

Screen Shot 07-08-18 at 07.51 PM.PNG


Highest - 8.4 and lowest 8.17

Sincerely Lasse
 
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www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
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