Low pH?

[46gReef]

If all else appears well you should feel free to discount the results of a pH test.

That's to say, find the cause of your low pH if it really is low, but take heart knowing that if your tank's pH was off in any way that seriously mattered, you'd know it already by another indication that something was wrong.

-Matt


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

Agreed..

 

[bucfan]

What is the air-circulation like in the house? Is there central AC? Is it running much this time of year? Try running a fan in the room - either in a doorway to draw in fresh air or blowing into/behind the cabinet (or both).

I have central AC. Runs all year round. No fan option in that room. Problem is sump/skimmer sits inside a cabinet and I feel air is not circulating well in there.

Assuming everything looks good in the tank currently, how will you know what if any effect a change would have? With any luck the system still looks good like before the change so you are back to asking your pH test instead of looking at and trusting your animals.

SPS have been losing color. Some are 85% gone. Then not all SPS have been affected. Also have some powdery brown algae growing on my monti caps. Got some cyano too. Some other montis have green algae. I started with a BP reactor 2+ weeks back to combat high NO/PO that I've had for a while. Some of the monti problems (brown powder algae) were there before I started BPs. My BPs reactor is a Reef Dynamics which allows one to fine tune the effluent, which has been on a slow trickle.

Also, assuming your pH number is accurate, it almost certainly indicates nothing more than excess CO2 in the water. In an otherwise healthy environment, your corals will use all the CO2 you can throw at them.

I can bet my CO2 is high. Someone else mentioned the 2 Little Fishies CDX adaptor. Will probably try that since there is no way I can get the airline out of the house.

 

[mcarroll]

I have central AC. Runs all year round. No fan option in that room. Problem is sump/skimmer sits inside a cabinet and I feel air is not circulating well in there.

A cabinet well-sealed enough to trap CO2 should also trap heat just as well.

This is too easy not to test:

Just as a test, leave the door open to the cabinet - maybe also setting up a temporary fan to blow into the open door. Any fan will work. (Don't worry if you don't have one...just give it a few hours to work passively.) This might make a difference if it's as well-sealed you're imagining. If it does then you know an easy modification to the cabinet is a sure fix. Two holes - one down low for a fan to suck room air from about floor level into the cabinet, a second hole on the opposite side of the cabinet up high to let the fan push hotter air out of the cabinet. It might even work well enough without the fan.

If you want to get technical, hang a thermometer inside the cabinet with the door closed before you do anything and see what kind of temperatures you are getting down there. You'll also be able to tell very quickly whether your test is working or not.

SPS have been losing color. Some are 85% gone. Then not all SPS have been affected. Also have some powdery brown algae growing on my monti caps. Got some cyano too. Some other montis have green algae. I started with a BP reactor 2+ weeks back to combat high NO/PO that I've had for a while. Some of the monti problems (brown powder algae) were there before I started BPs. My BPs reactor is a Reef Dynamics which allows one to fine tune the effluent, which has been on a slow trickle.

These are not good signs. Did you ever determine (and preferably eliminate) the cause of your nutrient issues?

I'd be poking around in the sump/filters, sand bed and in/around the rocks looking for detritus.

Use a powerhead to blow out the rocks at least once to see what you get. If you get much, improve your flow to prevent it from happening as quickly next time and do this blowout regularly for a few weeks to clear things out.

Swizzle your finger or a stick around in the sand at strategic places - bases of rocks; underneath powerheads or return outlets; etc. If you see much, I wouldn't hesitate in starting to remove the sand bed. Begin with the worst areas and remove no more than 1/4 of the bed at a time, and I'd wait a week between sessions - allow the bacteria in the rocks (and your pellet system) to grow and stay ahead of the demand as you remove large amounts of surface area from the tank in the process.

I can bet my CO2 is high. Someone else mentioned the 2 Little Fishies CDX adaptor. Will probably try that since there is no way I can get the airline out of the house.

Simply getting the airline out of the cabinet may be enough. Again try the door open+fan test above before you do anything more involved.

If none of this helps, then you have some idea that it might actually be the house air that is the problem, possibly warranting a CO2 scrubber and/or other measures.

Good luck!

-Matt

 

[Pappy]

I doubt the low ph is the issue from what you described above. Have u tried the kalk yet? I ran low ph for quite a while as most people will tell you not to worry about and never had a problem with any montis or sps like you described above. However I did see an overall improvement in tank when I started a kalk reactor.

 

[bucfan]

I checked my pH at different times and get different readings. It varies from 7.4 to 8.0. Learnt that pH can vary by time. I did take an airline from the skimmer out the back of the cabinet so not sure if that's helping. There's no way to get a fan there for ventilation since the cabinet is real solidly built. It does get quite hot in there since there's a bunch of equipment generating heat so I'm sure it's a CO2 trap.

I am running a bare bottom tank so sand is not the issue. My montis continue to have problems and I am not sure if it's to do with biopellets I started running ~3 weeks ago. Then not all monits have issues, only some. I have the biopellet effluent running at a slow rate and thus far PO/NO have not taken a dive.

My Ca, Alk, Mg are spot on so I checked Iodine last night and got a low reading. Not sure if that could be contributing to the problems. I do a 15-25% water change every 10 days so not sure why that's depleted. And I use Tropic Marin Pro salt.

I have not tried kalk yet. Don't want to make too many changes too quickly.

 

[Pappy]

I'm going to guess and say that due to bare bottom and bio pellets your nutrients are way to low. Do u feed very heavy? If not I'd recommend starting!

 

[bucfan]

I'm going to guess and say that due to bare bottom and bio pellets your nutrients are way to low. Do u feed very heavy? If not I'd recommend starting!

Yes, I have tried that and only ended up with very high PO/NO. I do skim 24/7. Hence I got the bp reactor.

 

[beaslbob]

I checked my pH at different times and get different readings. It varies from 7.4 to 8.0. Learnt that pH can vary by time. I did take an airline from the skimmer out the back of the cabinet so not sure if that's helping. There's no way to get a fan there for ventilation since the cabinet is real solidly built. It does get quite hot in there since there's a bunch of equipment generating heat so I'm sure it's a CO2 trap.

I am running a bare bottom tank so sand is not the issue. My montis continue to have problems and I am not sure if it's to do with biopellets I started running ~3 weeks ago. Then not all monits have issues, only some. I have the biopellet effluent running at a slow rate and thus far PO/NO have not taken a dive.

My Ca, Alk, Mg are spot on so I checked Iodine last night and got a low reading. Not sure if that could be contributing to the problems. I do a 15-25% water change every 10 days so not sure why that's depleted. And I use Tropic Marin Pro salt.

I have not tried kalk yet. Don't want to make too many changes too quickly.

Go by the pH reading that is just before lights out. What you want is the tank to become a net consumer of carbon dioxide and producer of oxygen through algae action.

Also your params do seem fine but if your not already then start using the diy two part just to be sure. (I'm looking at the kH being in normal range).

Also if you don't already have mocro algeas in a refugium then add macro algaes to more fully consume carbon dioxide and return oxygen each 24 hour period. If you already have some then expand what you have.

just some rambling thoughts

Worth at most


.02