Low pH

[Icemam457]

I have a friend that has a Innovative Marine 40 gallon aquarium that cant seem to hold a pH of 8.0. I have tried every thing that i can think of and need some help figuring this out. I have Kalkwesser in the Auto top off and this keeps the pH around 7.6-7.8 I have also added a Co2 scrubber on to there tunze 9004 dc Skimmer. They have a small refugium that is running constantly. She dose water changes weekly with tropic Marin pro reef salt mixed in 0 tds rodi water. There is about 30 lbs of real reef rock in the tank as well as 30lbs of live sand. any idea or help you guys might have would be wonderful.


Oh and i have calibrated There apex pH probe with in the last 30 days. I also checked it against my Hanna pH pen. And Ph appears to be accurate.

 

[lavoisier]

Is there a reason she wants to raise her pH? What are the other parameters? Depending on Alk and Ca, you could dose Soda Ash to raise pH, also raising Alk of course.

 

[Icemam457]

alk is around 7-8 which is the weird part

 

[Adamantium]

Following, because I have the same issue. pH of my newly mixed SW (Neo-Marine) sits at like 8.1, but my tank is never above 7.8.

 

[mib86]

Did they try to ventilate the room? Usually, poor ph value means a low value of fresh air in the room. Let they try to open a window for one day, in my case it was helpful.

 

[lavoisier]

alk is around 7-8 which is the weird part

Dosing Soda Ash (Na2CO3) would raise both pH and Alk. Dose small amounts slowly (!!) to reach your desired levels.

 

[fermentedhiker]

I'm not sure I'd call that PH low with ALK at the levels stated. I mean if you had an ALK of 9 and a PH of 7.6 there would definitely be a CO2 issue. Looking over Randy's low ph article
( http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/ ) it gives an example of an ALK of 8.4 it should have a PH of just over 8.3. Can you increase your Kalk dose to drive the ALK up a bit or are you already at the limit with it?

 

[Icemam457]

I have had them dose the aqua vitro eight four for a month with no real change. I will try the soda ash. And yep they open the widow at least once a day to get some fresh air in the room

 

[lavoisier]

Use Randy's reef calculator (in the stickys) to figure amounts.

 

[Icemam457]

I am running the kalk at the max dosage. and i got the tank up to 8.3 the other day. after a big water change and mixed the kalk up with a stir. to ensure that it was mixed in solution. but by this morning it is back down to 7.71

 

[Coral Reef Keepers]

My PH fluctuates between 7.8 and 8.0 this time of year. With it being winter and with the house closed up I dont concern myself with it. I was running CO2 scrubber on my skimmer but I would blow through the media so fast and only gain .1-.2 in PH that it wasnt really worth the cost. What helps keep my PH more stable is small daily water changes via AWC.

 

[Stoneys'Reef]

I am running the kalk at the max dosage. and i got the tank up to 8.3 the other day. after a big water change and mixed the kalk up with a stir. to ensure that it was mixed in solution. but by this morning it is back down to 7.71

We also use the tropic marin reef pro. Our ph rarely goes up sbove 8. I believe it is the mix as it low in alk which will also lower ph. We have dosed alk to raise ph but it won't stay up. The fish and corals all seem to do great so we quit stressin over it. Tropic marin pro reef was nade to be used originally with a calcium reactor which drives ph and alk up. This is the reason for the low alk in the mix. I cannot say what will fix it but I know if you keep adding stuff you could get other parameters out of whack too. We have run tropic marin for years with no problems from the ph . I could be wrong but it works for us

 

[zapbap99]

not enough gas exchange, open a window for bit see if it raises, there is no need to chase ph it wont help an insane amount stable is key

 

[rmurken]

They have a small refugium that is running constantly.

I think 7.8 is good enough, even if we all want 8.3. I run at 7.9 and get happy when I hit 8. 8.1 is champagne time.

Few additional ideas to push it up a little: (1) more chaeto in the refugium to soak up more CO2, and (2) run the skimmer intake out the window to get the freshest possible air.