Ph always falls after going up.

Gary S · Mar 21, 2019

Hey I've been having a real struggle the last 2 weeks keeping my ph stable. After doing a change, my ph reads 8.2 as it should be, but after about 2 days it drops to 7.4 or so...my calcium is high (580ppm) and KH is good, so what's wrong?

Crabs McJones · Mar 21, 2019

PH fluctuations can be caused by a couple different factors. how much surface agitation, co2 build up in your home ect. Sometimes simply opening a window to let fresh air in your home can raise your PH. Another thing you can do if you're unable to open a window is get some airline tubing and run a line outside and hook the other end to the air intake on your skimmer (if you have one)

LiveWire · Mar 21, 2019

You can invest in a Co2 scrubber. It should help you out by absorbing the Co2 that is in the air being injected into your skimmer airline. You can pick up one at BRS. Its a matter of getting the Co2 out of the area so in the winter a lot of reefers will use a Co2 scrubber. When its nice out you can open windows and that will help a lot. And like @Crabs McJones said running your air intake out a window helps but the length that you can run it is kinda limited so it depends on how close to a window your system is as how effective it will be.

https://aquarium.bulkreefsupply.com/search?w=co2 scrubber&asug=

Gary S · Mar 21, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
PH fluctuations can be caused by a couple different factors. how much surface agitation, co2 build up in your home ect. Sometimes simply opening a window to let fresh air in your home can raise your PH. Another thing you can do if you're unable to open a window is get some airline tubing and run a line outside and hook the other end to the air intake on your skimmer (if you have one)

I've got two flows falling into the tank, and a bubbler to provide large amounts of oxygen. I'll try cracking a window tomorrow and see what happens...is there anything else that could cause a problem like that?

Crabs McJones · Mar 21, 2019

Gary S said:
I've got two flows falling into the tank, and a bubbler to provide large amounts of oxygen. I'll try cracking a window tomorrow and see what happens...is there anything else that could cause a problem like that?

Believe it or not (and I was amazed when I learned this as well) a bubbler doesnt add as much air into the system or release the CO2 as much as pointing a powerhead towards the surface and causing surface agitation does