PH and nitrate challenges

rhorn67 · Nov 15, 2015

I am on week 4 of my new JBJ RL30 reeftank. Things have gone pretty much as expected with the exception of nitrate and ph levels. Started the cycle with a deli shrimp. ammonia went up, nitrite then nitrate. Nitrate levels hit 40 and have not dropped. I performed a 5 gallon water change yesterday and rechecked nitrate. I am using a API test kit and the nitrate seemed to be about the same after the water change. Is this normal at this point? Will water changes eventually drop the nitrate levels?

PH has been as low as 7.71 and as high as 7.95 during the cycle. I used a ph buffer two days ago. I used one that does not impact alk/calc as these numbers are good (10alk/440calc). I slowly brought ph to 8.27 a few hours into the light cycle. This morning ph was down to 8.02. I don't understand why ph will not stay up and could drop so much. I have read about a closed house and that impacting ph. I do live in an apartment which is closed up most of the day. I had the apt open all day yesterday.

Any help will be appreciated.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40
Alk 10
Calc 440
mag 1350
salinity 1.025

melypr1985 · Nov 15, 2015

Welcome to the forums! Glad to have you. Your right, keeping the apt closed for long periods and then opening it up will cause PH swings.

twilliard · Nov 15, 2015

Water changes and a good balanced salt will help with no3 and your ph.
It will drop a little at night and come back up during the day.
I use a 24 hour refugium to help stabilize ph

And welcome to R2R!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 15, 2015

When and how did you last calibrate the pH meter?

rhorn67 · Nov 15, 2015

I installed a new reefkeeper lite that included their ph probe 7-10 days ago. The kit came with 7/10 calibration packets which I did prior to installing. My API test kit reads at 8.

Could this be a Co2 issue because the apartment is closed up all day? I am leaving everything open today with a good breeze coming through the apartment to allow for plenty of fresh air. I am monitoring the ph to see if it makes any difference.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 15, 2015

Low pH is caused by excess CO2 in the water (never anything else if the alkalinity is OK).

It is probably from your home air, but can possibly just be in the water with inadequate aeration.

You can check this by aerating a cup of tank water for a while (say, 30 minutes) with inside air and also with outside air. The pH should rise with outside air, and will probably rise with inside air. If neither rise from the 7.7 value, the pH measurement is off.

Tank pH can be raised in many different ways.

This has more:

pH And The Reef Aquarium

rhorn67 · Nov 15, 2015

The tank is rimless and I don't have the tank glass over it so it is completely open to the air. I think you are correct that it is an issue with the apartment air. I will perform the aeration test to confirm.

I am looking at a CO2 scrubber. Seems like a phosban reactor with scrubbing media may do the trick.

rhorn67 · Nov 15, 2015

Thanks twilliard this is a great site. I had a reef setup 15 years ago and really enjoyed it. I am beyond excited to be back in to the hobby.

I thought about a refugium but am a little short on space which is why I went with AIO.

rhorn67 · Nov 17, 2015

I performed the outdoor aeration and ph rose. I also ran a line from a window to my skimmer and the ph rose as well. I think between the two tests the issue has been verified as CO2.

Unfortunately leaving windows open and or running a line to one is not a permanent option. I think my next step will be a CO2 scrubber connected to my skimmer.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 17, 2015

Ok. Limewater (kalkwasser) is another option.

rhorn67 · Nov 17, 2015

I have thought about kalk. What are your thoughts on using ATO versus a doser for kalk? Evaporation is 7-8 cups every 24 hrs. I am concerned this would be too much if I added kalk to ATO.