Ph at 8.7

[jd371]

My Ph has always been at 7.9 to 8.4. One day last week it went up to 8.7. I didn't think anything of it because everything in the tank was fine and the next day it was back to normal. I get home today after stopping at the lfs to pick up some snails. I noticed the Ph at 8.7 again, thinking it might be the probe I tried it in the water with the snails from the lfs. It dropped right down to 8.2, so now it's got me thinking something is causing a Ph spike.
I haven't made any changes to the 2 part or dosing schedule, fresh air isn't a problem the windows are open in the room and the tank is right next to a sliding door. Besides adding a couple of frags no changes in the tank. Fish and corals are fine so just curious at what is happening.

 

[Ubergroover]

whats your Dkh? Dosing anything?open windows also help to get rid of carbon...

 

[jd371]

Not dosing anything besides the ESV 2 part. The tank is next to an open sliding door so it gets plenty of fresh air.
Here are the latest test results:
9/24
sg - 1.026
Mg - 1380
Ca - 440
Alk - 9.5
No3 - 2.5
Po4 - .03
Right now the 2 part is dosed separately throughout the whole day and it hasn't been a problem. I'm going to change it up and dose the Alk overnight and Ca during the day and see if that helps.
Tank's inhabitants are doing fine so I'm not too worried. Just bugs me that something is out of the norm.

 

[anthonywesty]

Try to calibrate the probe with the proper solution.

 

[jsker]

I would suggest to just cut back on the amount of alk that is dosed through out the day. Keep dosing like you are through out the day.

 

[Ubergroover]

9.5 Dkh will raise ph...maybe lower to 8.5 to 8. But PH is usually up and down anyway, close the window over night and see if it drops...

 

[Ubergroover]

I would suggest to just cut back on the amount of alk that is dosed through out the day. Keep dosing like you are through out the day.

+1

 

[jd371]

I have calibration solutions coming Thursday. Yeah, I'll cut back on the dosing during the day.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree it is most likely calibration, and the water from the LFS with snails was likely lower than 8.2.

If it is high, aeration will bring it down, but it is very, very rare to get pH that high without overdosing limewater.

 

[jd371]

Thank you Randy. I'm not dosing any kalk just the 2 part, besides the sliding door next to the tank I have the return nozzle pointing towards the water surface for aeration. I'll be able to calibrate tomorrow when I get the solutions.

 

[Newb73]

My PH seems to get up to around 8.4-8.5 with an alk of only 8.7 to 9.0.

Circulation doesn't seem to be much of a factor.

Actually reducing circulation may have even brought mine down.

A PH of 8.7 with an alk of 9.5 is probably about where I would land as well.

Maybe we all have a bad batch of hanna reagent.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My PH seems to get up to around 8.4-8.5 with an alk of only 8.7 to 9.0.

Circulation doesn't seem to be much of a factor.

Actually reducing circulation may have even brought mine down.

A PH of 8.7 with an alk of 9.5 is probably about where I would land as well.

Maybe we all have a bad batch of hanna reagent.

pH does not rise linearly with alkalinity. You need to double the alkalinity to "cause" a rise of about 0.3 pH units when equilibrated with the same air.

 

[Newb73]

pH does not rise linearly with alkalinity. You need to double the alkalinity to "cause" a rise of about 0.3 pH units when equilibrated with the same air.

Time for new probes then???

Perhaps related to other factors such as photo period, sump lighting, ozone use, clarity of water??

I have definitely seen the correlation between improved circulation and improving a low ph (haven't had low PH as a problem since i switched from kalk to 2 part w alk dosed at night and ca dosed during the day)

..i just haven't seen tinkering with flow have much of an impact on a higher PH.

Strange.

 

[jd371]

Calibrated and everything is good. I did go ahead and adjust the dosing so that Alk is dosed more in the night and early morning.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Time for new probes then???

Perhaps related to other factors such as photo period, sump lighting, ozone use, clarity of water??

I have definitely seen the correlation between improved circulation and improving a low ph (haven't had low PH as a problem since i switched from kalk to 2 part w alk dosed at night and ca dosed during the day)

..i just haven't seen tinkering with flow have much of an impact on a higher PH.

Strange.

Flow will only alter the pH (up or down) if the water is not in equilibrium with the air.

Before altering the flow of a tank to alter pH, it is easy enough to test in a cup of water.

 

[Newb73]

Flow will only alter the pH (up or down) if the water is not in equilibrium with the air.

Before altering the flow of a tank to alter pH, it is easy enough to test in a cup of water.

Just another of the endless variable then as I was down to 3 wav makers and just went back to 5....although they run at different schedules with very low turbulence between 5 and 10 so that my Lps stay fully open during viewing hours.

So yet one more thing which will likely vary depending on what time of the day it is....