Low ph

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fishmaster818

fishmaster818

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I know your not suppose to test ph win your lights are off but i did and my readings say that my ph is at 7.4
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
Phew is that accurate? If so its really low. If your alk, salinity and other params are about right then its a sign of quite high CO2 in your water. Either from too little air exchange or high CO2 in your house air, unless you had just added something like sodium bicarbonate, 'buffer', etc.

I had low pH so I ran my skimmer air intake from outdoors through a long pipe and it caused something like a 0.5 pH units increase for me, others see usually about 0.2 pH units increase (I think it depends on how much CO2 you have in your fish room air), its effective at putting your pH in a more natural range. I also turned my skimmer air up to full BTW, and had to raise my skimmer cup to compensate.
 
BRS
UK_Pete said:
Phew is that accurate? If so its really low. If your alk, salinity and other params are about right then its a sign of quite high CO2 in your water. Either from too little air exchange or high CO2 in your house air, unless you had just added something like sodium bicarbonate, 'buffer', etc.

I had low pH so I ran my skimmer air intake from outdoors through a long pipe and it caused something like a 0.5 pH units increase for me, others see usually about 0.2 pH units increase (I think it depends on how much CO2 you have in your fish room air), its effective at putting your pH in a more natural range. I also turned my skimmer air up to full BTW, and had to raise my skimmer cup to compensate.
Click to expand...

What can i do other then a skimmer
 
Then the skimmer air line. I heard bubblers or i was think about a buffer
 
Deltec
Don't add buffer unless your alk is low (Randy stresses in many articles how buffer is not the proper cure to low pH). Buffer is just alk, it can make a short term increase in pH if its carbonate but its only short term (hours). If the api test is based on color then its probably like the paper strips Randy cautioned against above. If your other parameters are in order (alk, calcium, salinity etc) then people generally seem to say don't chase pH. If params are in order then its only CO2 I believe which can reduce pH, so it only means you have high CO2 in your air in your tank room (unless you are using a calcium reactor which injects extra CO2). If params are OK then don't worry too much about pH because its not going to be as low as your reading, it must be off as Randy said. And if you want to raise it a bit then either run the airline from outside as I said or use limewater (What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com for instructions). If the pH is truly quite low from CO2 buildup in the house, then you can reduce CO2 by opening windows a bit. Try doing the test again outside in natural light too.
 
Chewy.com
UK_Pete said:
Don't add buffer unless your alk is low (Randy stresses in many articles how buffer is not the proper cure to low pH). Buffer is just alk, it can make a short term increase in pH if its carbonate but its only short term (hours). If the api test is based on color then its probably like the paper strips Randy cautioned against above. If your other parameters are in order (alk, calcium, salinity etc) then people generally seem to say don't chase pH. If params are in order then its only CO2 I believe which can reduce pH, so it only means you have high CO2 in your air in your tank room (unless you are using a calcium reactor which injects extra CO2). If params are OK then don't worry too much about pH because its not going to be as low as your reading, it must be off as Randy said. And if you want to raise it a bit then either run the airline from outside as I said or use limewater (What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com for instructions). If the pH is truly quite low from CO2 buildup in the house, then you can reduce CO2 by opening windows a bit. Try doing the test again outside in natural light too.
Click to expand...

Okay thanks for the help. I think ill get a different test kit. My ca mg and alk are all high
 
What are they (Ca, alk, Mg)? Randys likely to be able to tell you whether the pH reading is definitely wrong if you tell him the alk. Also re the ph test kit, get a pH probe instead. Lasts for longer, even the $30 handheld one I have is good enough for basic stuff like tank pH as long as you calibrate it from time to time (a 2 minute job). Its also quicker to use (seconds), no mess, and most important its quite accurate (even a cheap one is far more accurate than the color change drops).
 
UK_Pete said:
What are they (Ca, alk, Mg)? Randys likely to be able to tell you whether the pH reading is definitely wrong if you tell him the alk. Also re the ph test kit, get a pH probe instead. Lasts for longer, even the $30 handheld one I have is good enough for basic stuff like tank pH as long as you calibrate it from time to time (a 2 minute job). Its also quicker to use (seconds), no mess, and most important its quite accurate (even a cheap one is far more accurate than the color change drops).
Click to expand...

Okay im not home right now but ill test later
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
UK_Pete said:
What are they (Ca, alk, Mg)? Randys likely to be able to tell you whether the pH reading is definitely wrong if you tell him the alk. Also re the ph test kit, get a pH probe instead. Lasts for longer, even the $30 handheld one I have is good enough for basic stuff like tank pH as long as you calibrate it from time to time (a 2 minute job). Its also quicker to use (seconds), no mess, and most important its quite accurate (even a cheap one is far more accurate than the color change drops).
Click to expand...

Okay so my ca 350 mg 1400 and kh 11.2 and my ph is now 8.4
 
Chewy.com

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