PH levels too low

[Robert1994]

Yesterday, I changed out about 10% of my marine tank (no corals). I used RO water from a new drum. All seemed well until Apex sent me an alert this morning advising that my PH was too low. Normaly, I am able to keep it 7.9 to 8.1 with out any additives. It is now reading 7.3 which is actually a little higher than when I got the alert. Besides the water exchange, there have been no other changes made. Any ideas as to why the decrease in PH and how urgent is it to bring the level up ?

 

[Redfoxtang]

How much surface break do you have in the tank? Also you can open a window to help raise PH as well. When you did a water change did you forget to turn anything back on by chance?

 

[Robert1994]

How much surface break do you have in the tank? Also you can open a window to help raise PH as well. When you did a water change did you forget to turn anything back on by chance?

There really isn't a lot of surface break. Everything is back on. I did remove excess Chaeto from the refugium, but there's still plenty in there. Should I adjust the return pump outlet to break up the surface a little ? I am in Hawaii (hence no coral) so the windows are almost always open with lots of fresh air, but the skimmer intake is inside the cabinet (Red Sea)

 

[Redfoxtang]

Yea try adjusting your power heads or return whichever is easier for you and see if that’s helps. Adding a buffer only fixes your PH temporarily so I’d advise against this. Hope this helps!!

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Do you have a skimmer? Increasing the oxygenation in the skimmer helps

 

[Robert1994]

Do you have a skimmer? Increasing the oxygenation in the skimmer helps

I do have a protein skimmer, it's already fills the collection cup with foam. But I did raise the return outlet and it's now breaking the surface. I realize now I may have overfilled the tank yesterday and inadvertently put the outlet under the surface more than it usually runs. Will keep an eye on it, thanks all for the help.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I do have a protein skimmer, it's already fills the collection cup with foam. But I did raise the return outlet and it's now breaking the surface. I realize now I may have overfilled the tank yesterday and inadvertently put the outlet under the surface more than it usually runs. Will keep an eye on it, thanks all for the help.

What if you increased oxygenation and opened up the outlet for the skimmer to allow water to exit a bit faster. This should lower the water level in the skimmer if the bubbles are too high.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

If you have an internal skimmer.

 

[lavoisier]

How close is your tank to a window? If possible, run an air line to the outside. Drill a 1/4" hole in your skimmer top and run it to an outside air source. Depending on your budget a CO2 scrubber works really well.

 

[cassilyn]

Hello, we are having the same type of problem with our pH. We have a protein skimmer, a couple of bubble wands (they have actually seemed to raise the pH a little since we started using them), and we have now had to start using pH buffer. I understand that using the buffer is a temporary fix, but we have never had this problem with a tank so I'm at a loss at what to do. We do have an algae reactor, but we turn the lights on at night when the tank lights are out. We are at a high elevation, but others have said that it doesn't affect their tanks, so I'm at a loss. Can anyone give me any ideas on what to do now to raise the pH permanently? We buy RO water and perform 25% water changes weekly.

Thanks!

 

[Daddy-o]

Bubble wand? buffer? no
Run the airline from your skimmer to outside air
Cheers! Mark

 

[cassilyn]

Bubble wand? buffer? no
Run the airline from your skimmer to outside air
Cheers! Mark

Thanks Mark!

 

[Daddy-o]

Thanks Mark!

Your welcome! Being at a higher altitude, it is probably a little chilly up there and I would presume your home is pretty well sealed to keep this chill out. This may be causing an abundance of carbon dioxide which is driving your PH down.

 

[Lithoman]

I had the same problem.. 2 part dosing stabilized my calcium and Alkalinity.. ran a line outside from my skimmer intake.
Bam.. PH now stable 8.0-8.2

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I don’t get it. People are fussing about ph waaayyyy to much. It’s about stability. Not the actual number. Sure, you don’t want it below 7 but shooting for decimal places is just ocd. I haven’t tested ph in years. I know many other people that don’t care about ph and have much nicer tanks than mine.

 

[Lithoman]

I don’t get it. People are fussing about ph waaayyyy to much. It’s about stability. Not the actual number. Sure, you don’t want it below 7 but shooting for decimal places is just ocd. I haven’t tested ph in years. I know many other people that don’t care about ph and have much nicer tanks than mine.

This youtube video from Reef Builders WWC.. their take on PH.

 

[cassilyn]

Well, we ran the line from the skimmer to outside and now the pH is finally moving in the right direction. It's up to 7.8 and stable so far. We'll find out later today if it is still up there. It got down close to 7 at it's worst, so it was bad. I don't want to be OCD about all the numbers, but I know 7 is way too low. Thanks for all the help and I'll keep posting with my results.
Cassi

 

[LiamPM]

Anyone actually seeing any ill effects from their PH being lower than they'd like, honestly? I ask because i have tested PH once in my whole 8 years of reefing and have no interest in testing it unless i feel i really need to. Its extremely rare to have PH less than 7 in a marine environment purely because of the equipment we use. Unless you are seeing ill effects i would not be chasing decimal places.

PS. The skimmer to outside air is a good trick but just be aware people have done this in the past and had tank issues that can be traced back to air born chemicals then entering their tank.

 

[Brian barranco]

Dose kalk. I have 8.3 all day. Growth is crazy . Well I believe

 

[cassilyn]

We have been doing research on the Kalk dosing and that is our next move. And yesterday we found a new little polyp on our zoanthid finally, so it's growing! It's very exciting. When we got it, it only had four and now it has 5, maybe 6 (it's very tiny so hard to tell for sure yet).

Thanks for all the help everyone!
Cassi