New tank low PH level issues

[Hellybell80]

Morning all,

I know this question gets asked alot. But because my tank is(has )cycled recently. I cant find the correct information.

Ok so I started my tank using colony. Worked very well. Hardly any ammonia spikes. Cycled with fish. After reading some great advice on here. Cycle itself was a lot easier with this tank. Levels have all maintained well, apart from PH. Now I'm not chasing numbers... been there done that got grey hair from it.
Cycle is now at the stage where I have the uglies... nice coating brown coming on the rocks,glass and sand.

Alkalinity 8.9
Ammonia 0.001 (consistently)
Nitrate 0.5.
Salinity 1.025
Calcium 410.
Phostphate 0.03
Using a seneye test kit with salifert.
PH swings from 7.17 -7.59.
Now I dont want to up my alkalinity too much. I have used sechem reef builder a little to up a low alkalinity at the start.
I used natural sea water from my LFS on set up. And never had a high alk or ph from it.
As its cycling I dont want to mess with it as it's still leveling out. But I'm a little worried about the PH levels.
Tried the fresh air. Currently sat her with extra layers to keep warm due to windows being opened. . Dosnt work. Excess water movement on the top of the aquarium too.
I am running a skimmer and will be starting my refugium asap. Which I believe will help overall.

But the question is do I chase the PH? And what's the best method?

Any help would be appreciated. As our lockdown starts soon and if I need supplies I need to grab them today.

 

[mitch91175]

Morning all,

I know this question gets asked alot. But because my tank is(has )cycled recently. I cant find the correct information.

Ok so I started my tank using colony. Worked very well. Hardly any ammonia spikes. Cycled with fish. After reading some great advice on here. Cycle itself was a lot easier with this tank. Levels have all maintained well, apart from PH. Now I'm not chasing numbers... been there done that got grey hair from it.
Cycle is now at the stage where I have the uglies... nice coating brown coming on the rocks,glass and sand.

Alkalinity 8.9
Ammonia 0.001 (consistently)
Nitrate 0.5.
Salinity 1.025
Calcium 410.
Phostphate 0.03
Using a seneye test kit with salifert.
PH swings from 7.17 -7.59.
Now I dont want to up my alkalinity too much. I have used sechem reef builder a little to up a low alkalinity at the start.
I used natural sea water from my LFS on set up. And never had a high alk or ph from it.
As its cycling I dont want to mess with it as it's still leveling out. But I'm a little worried about the PH levels.
Tried the fresh air. Currently sat her with extra layers to keep warm due to windows being opened. . Dosnt work. Excess water movement on the top of the aquarium too.
I am running a skimmer and will be starting my refugium asap. Which I believe will help overall.

But the question is do I chase the PH? And what's the best method?

Any help would be appreciated. As our lockdown starts soon and if I need supplies I need to grab them today.

You can chase whatever numbers you want just do it within reason and do nothing drastic to achieve them. We all "chase" numbers or we wouldn't test at all for our systems. The question comes down to if you are being anal about those numbers. With that said your pH is REALLY low. ph level of 7 is neutral, lower is acidic "acid". You will have major issues with keeping corals in such low pH water.

You can get some pH buffer but that won't solve your problem will just be a temporary bandaid on a much larger concern, having pH that low. I'd say make sure you have a calibrated pH probe as well to confirm those numbers.

If you confirm those ranges to be accurate, then you might want to consider a CO2 scrubber, but your levels are soo low it might just get you to 7.8-7.9. CO2 scrubber is going to be an expensive long term solution though. You'll have to figure out how to get the media to last longer. There is a massive thread here about using one.

Is your skimmer tuned? Can you run a line to the skimmer from outside to help a little bit? Do you have a refugium? Macro algae? Good things to consider to help decrease the CO2 in your system.

 

[homer1475]

PH that low will start to dissolve arrogonite, and rock in saltwater which would bring your PH back up to a level where thats not happening(above 7.4 I believe). Can you confirm those numbers?

What do you have in there for sand and rock?

 

[Phillthy]

Why not use a ph buffer 8.4?

 

[homer1475]

Why not use a ph buffer 8.4?

Absolutely do not do this!

PH buffers contain alkalinity and will skyrocket your ALK while only giving a short term boost to PH(you'll be adding it every couple hours trying to maintain that PH).

 

[Hellybell80]

You can chase whatever numbers you want just do it within reason and do nothing drastic to achieve them. We all "chase" numbers or we wouldn't test at all for our systems. The question comes down to if you are being anal about those numbers. With that said your pH is REALLY low. ph level of 7 is neutral, lower is acidic "acid". You will have major issues with keeping corals in such low pH water.

You can get some pH buffer but that won't solve your problem will just be a temporary bandaid on a much larger concern, having pH that low. I'd say make sure you have a calibrated pH probe as well to confirm those numbers.

If you confirm those ranges to be accurate, then you might want to consider a CO2 scrubber, but your levels are soo low it might just get you to 7.8-7.9. CO2 scrubber is going to be an expensive long term solution though. You'll have to figure out how to get the media to last longer. There is a massive thread here about using one.

Is your skimmer tuned? Can you run a line to the skimmer from outside to help a little bit? Do you have a refugium? Macro algae? Good things to consider to help decrease the CO2 in your system.

My skimmer is running and producing a nice thick skim. But obviously only been running a short time. About a week. So its settled a lot. Cant run an air line though..
Refugium is being set up this week. I'm waiting on some cheato. All sold out everywhere.

 

[Hellybell80]

PH that low will start to dissolve arrogonite, and rock in saltwater which would bring your PH back up to a level where thats not happening(above 7.4 I believe). Can you confirm those numbers?

What do you have in there for sand and rock?

Yes used a couple of test kits.
I'm using a seneye to monitor all the time.

 

[Hellybell80]

PH that low will start to dissolve arrogonite, and rock in saltwater which would bring your PH back up to a level where thats not happening(above 7.4 I believe). Can you confirm those numbers?

What do you have in there for sand and rock?

Rock is marco dry rock. And I used live sand.

 

[mitch91175]

Here is the thread that I was referring to about utilizing a CO2 Scrubber: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/co2-scrubber-testing.482361/

Definitely a good read for your current situation. Also, how many pets/people you have in your home? You might also be producing so much CO2 that no matter what you do it'll have a drastic affect on your pH in your tanks.

 

[Hellybell80]

Here is the thread that I was referring to about utilizing a CO2 Scrubber: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/co2-scrubber-testing.482361/

Definitely a good read for your current situation. Also, how many pets/people you have in your home? You might also be producing so much CO2 that no matter what you do it'll have a drastic affect on your pH in your tanks.

Unfortunately we are on lock down so 4 adults and 2 dogs..... so yea I know the co2 levels may be an issue for a while... I dont mind low. But some of the drops have been too low. Its reasonably stable at 7.59... I've added reef buffer for now.. not a long term solution I know.
I'll have a read of that thread.
Thank you

 

[dwest]

I would keep alkalinity stable and not worry about pH.

 

[mitch91175]

I would keep alkalinity stable and not worry about pH.

Sure he won't have much issues keeping dKH stable at that low pH. He won't have much growth to worry about.

 

[dank reefer]

If you have the items available, try a air stone/wood block in your sump and see if it raises it. And as for opening up windows, just open one closest to the tank, and one furthest away from your tank so that you can have a nice circulation of air. With 4 adults, and 2 critters and no air circulating might be the cause if your low PH.

Also might be worth trying another test kit just to validate your Senseye numbers are correct.

 

[Hellybell80]

Well I've just tested it with API ph test kit and that's saying 8.2... not sure which one is out. The seneye or the API test.
I'm not a massive api fan as I've had inaccurate tests before.

 

[homer1475]

While I've never used a seneye, can it's probe be calibrated?

 

[Hellybell80]

While I've never used a seneye, can it's probe be calibrated?

Not sure. Its slide get changed every 30 days. Already calibrated. .. it's only been running a short while. I've got 17 days left on the slide.

 

[homer1475]

yeah I just read that on the seneye site. It does say that you can drop the probe in some calibration fluid to check it though. And define the offset if you find it to be out with the calibration fluid.

 

[Hellybell80]

It is slowly coming up since I added the short term measure of the reef buffer.. on 7.69 on the seneye now. It did show for a couple of hours once at 8.2 about a week ago. But since then it's around the 7.5 give or take.

 

[Hellybell80]

yeah I just read that on the seneye site. It does say that you can drop the probe in some calibration fluid to check it though. And define the offset if you find it to be out with the calibration fluid.

I'll have to look at the calibration fluid and see if I can get hold of any.
Thanks homer

 

[homer1475]

BRS has them, but not sure if you can get it delivered.