Overall PH decreasing over days... Why?

[walkyp]

New tank set up 7th Feb. Recently installed an Apex and now trying to make sense of chemistry movement in the tank.

 

[Mhart032]

Do you have a refugium? PH swings with the lights, alot of us have refugiums and it combats the swings a little, by alternating the light cycles, CO2 in the house also causes PH to swing, so if you have a newer house thats more air tight and allows less fresh air in then it will happen as well.

here is mine

 

[GoVols]

Re-calibrate your ph probe with 7 and 10 solutions.

And... raise your windows to get Co2 out of your home.

 

[Gareth elliott]

if this is your actual ph variation. I honestly see your average ph as perfectly fine.
As for why it dipped, if you were to make a graph of the outdoor temperature.

You may see a correlation, whether is from windows open/closed, more people home, furnace on, all can drastically effect ph.

But overall the ocean currently has an average daily ph of 8.1(historically before the industrial revolution was 8.5).

In laboratory testing its dips below 8 that begin showing measurable decreases in calcification of corals.

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www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[ppatches24]

Do you guys think that 3 medium-large house plants near the tank (within a 10 foot radius) would affect the ph levels with the CO2 and O cycles of the plant? No apex so i can't look at graphs of before and after but have thought about it.

Not trying to high-jack thread i can move this but seemed ph related

 

[GoVols]

Do you guys think that 3 medium-large house plants near the tank (within a 10 foot radius) would affect the ph levels with the CO2 and O cycles of the plant?

Got your thinking hat on, gotta like that!!

I don't think so, but it's just a just an educated guess.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Do you guys think that 3 medium-large house plants near the tank (within a 10 foot radius) would affect the ph levels with the CO2 and O cycles of the plant? No apex so i can't look at graphs of before and after but have thought about it.

Not trying to high-jack thread i can move this but seemed ph related

If going for decor go for it.

I wouldn’t if sole reason was to remove co2. House plants do not take up enough co2 to scrub your air. Those articles about the ficus removes the toxic chemicals from the air were not written by botanists lol. But from a psychological perspective green live plants do have a positive effect on a persons mood. So another reason for indoor plants.

Fwiw the room next to my tank room has at any given time about 100 pounds of leaves during the winter months. I notice no effect on my tank ph. Year round there is a 2’ ficus right next to my tank. Again no effect on ph.

 

[Mhart032]

+1 on it not helping. as long as your not swinging like 1.0 - 2.0 difference i wouldn't worry to much about it, you can get co2 scrubbers and all that to help as well, but i cant see with the price of the media and the longevity actually being worth it in the end.

 

[Yates273]

Your other option if you have a skimmer is to run a line outside and connect to skimmer. Worked for me. My ph is now stable was 7.8-8.0 Now it’s 8.0-8.2. Def made a difference. Just make sure that’s your problem, Excessive Co2. Simple test is take some tank water put in a cup and place outside with an air stone. If your ph goes up then excessive Co2 is your issue. If not it’s something else. Or you can just open windows to allow for fresh air.

 

[Mhart032]

I didn't think about the air line outside trick. it does work..

 

[walkyp]

Its all relevant isnt it, and most of the posts seem to reference plant photosynthesis. Either algae or Fiscus. I'd stick a ph monitor under the fiscus!

I'm interested in acceptable ph swings. I'm at around 0.5 over a photoperiod (12hours). And thinking about Kalk to boost over night (and keep up with Alk / Cal). Which is one element of the PH, the other being my question... The gradual fall over 5 days by 0.1. Is this acceptable (and usual) and just the natural process of acidification in a closed system?
Ive no sump, as this is my sump that Ive set up in my cellar. Constant 10c 24/7. With a draughty door to outside. I'll be installing a bigger tank upstairs to feed the sump in the next couple of months but set the sump up early to cycle and get a feel for whats happening down there.
Its got a lump of Cheato in there, a Kessil H380, live rock, good turnover pointing at the surface and I'm using Red Sea Pro Salt with elevated levels. No skimmer.

 

[walkyp]

Ive just rigged a small air pump up to come on at lights out. Lets see if that helps.

 

[walkyp]

Accidentally moved the air line under a tunze stream and filled the tank full of tiny bubbles. Ive now discovered they have a name - nano bubbles. Whatever they are called they seem to be having a stabilising effect on the ph.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Do you guys think that 3 medium-large house plants near the tank (within a 10 foot radius) would affect the ph levels with the CO2 and O cycles of the plant? No apex so i can't look at graphs of before and after but have thought about it.

Not trying to high-jack thread i can move this but seemed ph related

No that cannot work. Too little consumption of CO2 to be useful relative to the massive sources in a home and the ambient air turnover.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The gradual fall may be pH calibration drift, or a lowering of alkalinity since the last dose (lower alk leads to lower pH with everything else held the same).