PH of 7.6 hurting corals!

[TangsRLife]

Okay so I’ve been battling this issue for months. My ph use to always go from 8.0-8.3 all the time but I had a crash once school started and I got busy and let some stuff go. After correcting it my ph never gets above 8! It always goes from 7.6 to 7.85 and I don’t know why but that’s how it is. Because of this my corals lose their tips. So first I tried running an airline to outside to my protein skimmer, no change whatsoever. I used an air pump to pump fresh air into the house. No luck. I bought some medical grade co2 scrubber and placed my air pump inside of it, covered it with the media, and pumped air into my skimmer and had two airators in my sump litterally no change! My alkalinity is ranging from 8.0-8.3 so I knows it’s not that and I can verify it with two different test kits. But once I open windows in the house BAM it’s like normal. I don’t understand because I bought a 3000 LPH airpump and it didn’t even nudge it. Anyone have any suggestions? The only tging I can think of is since I set up the scrubber rig last night and I used lexal to seal everything that because it’s still wet (I wasn’t patent enough to let it completely dry) that that’s messing it up but honestly idk.

 

[BestMomEver]

I have the same issue.... I have trouble keeping mine up too. Unfortunately, I live in the Deep South and opening my doors/windows is not an option. I can’t afford to cool the air outside my house. So I keep trying!

 

[Huskymaniac]

Okay so I’ve been battling this issue for months. My ph use to always go from 8.0-8.3 all the time but I had a crash once school started and I got busy and let some stuff go. After correcting it my ph never gets above 8! It always goes from 7.6 to 7.85 and I don’t know why but that’s how it is. Because of this my corals lose their tips. So first I tried running an airline to outside to my protein skimmer, no change whatsoever. I used an air pump to pump fresh air into the house. No luck. I bought some medical grade co2 scrubber and placed my air pump inside of it, covered it with the media, and pumped air into my skimmer and had two airators in my sump litterally no change! My alkalinity is ranging from 8.0-8.3 so I knows it’s not that and I can verify it with two different test kits. But once I open windows in the house BAM it’s like normal. I don’t understand because I bought a 3000 LPH airpump and it didn’t even nudge it. Anyone have any suggestions? The only tging I can think of is since I set up the scrubber rig last night and I used lexal to seal everything that because it’s still wet (I wasn’t patent enough to let it completely dry) that that’s messing it up but honestly idk.

Honestly would not chase ph. Since your tank runs “ph low”I would compensate it with a higher alk. Somewhere between 11 and 12 dkh. That should prevent any swings and may even bump it up a bit. Junk the scrubbers, etc.

 

[TangsRLife]

For some reason my corals hate when I go above 9 on my dkh. They will get ***** and some will even bleach.

 

[Huskymaniac]

Go about it slow. Running alk over 9dkh should not cause any bleaching. It could cause some burnt tips if no nutrients but again that can be compensated with more feedings and fish. Either leave everything as is or up the alk. If you keep playing with everything your gonna end up with fluctuations which will make things worse.

 

[TangsRLife]

And you think that could bump up my ph consistently by doing that?

 

[Huskymaniac]

Should bump it up a little. This is common for those that run calcium reactors. With a low ph a higher alk offsets some of the tank issues with a low ph. Not sure what two part you are using but switching to kalk can certainly help as well.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

First and foremost, what is Lexal? Do you have any links? Are you positive that it is reef safe? It could be that this chemical is irritating your corals and not the pH.

In general, I agree that reefers should not be overly concerned about pH. Having said that, coral skeletons begin dissolving in pH around the mid 7's. So a pH of 7.6 could be cause for concern. Plus, there are other benefits associated with maintaining a higher pH.

A higher alkalinity will increase the pH, even if CO2 is elevated. The chart below is from Randy's article on low pH:

Note how the pH trends up with higher alkalinity, even if the CO2 is elevated. However, if your corals do not react well to higher alkalinity, this may not be an option for you. How quickly did you attempt to acclimate them to a higher alkalinity? Did you bump it up over several days or over the course of a few weeks?

You mentioned that a CO2 scrubber and pumping in outside air does not affect your pH at all, but opening your windows does? How many windows did you need to open, and for how long, to get the affect you describe? If your home has exceptionally high CO2, it's possible that just a single CO2 scrubber or a small airline from outdoors cannot overcome the overwhelming concentration of CO2.

 

[lapin]

My ph is between 8 and 8.1, depending on how hot it is and how long my a/c is on. We had one day it only got about 90 and ph hit 8.19. My alk was low, in the 7's. I used Randy's baked baking soda to raise it over 3 weeks to 9. I was seeing a ph drop when I first started my tank. After 2 months it hit 7.4. I started my cal reactor and my ph went up to 8 and has been there ever since. My alk has remained steady. I would not worry so much about ph. I would try to keep my alk steady. Coral will not like it changing up or down and can show bleaching on the tips like you see with too much light to soon.

 

[Sallstrom]

Make sure you have calibrated the pH probe before you try anything radical. Might just be a bad probe or in need of calibration.

/ David

 

[happyhourhero]

Don’t chase ph and just start dripping Kalk. Make sure you dial it in to not spike your alk but Kalk is honestly a god send for reef tanks.

 

[TangsRLife]

Okay so lexel (sorry I spelt it wrong) is a silicon based adhesive. Ive used it on all my plumbing and other repairs and it never irritates the corals. So I have calibrated my ph probe numerous times because I thought it was off. I work in a laboratory for undergrad work so I have access to high end ph probes and I still get the same results. My tank is in the basement and I only have to open the downstairs padio door and the ph will normalize. On my apex the days where the ph hit above 8 we had the windows open because it was nice enough out. This last day we had the windows closed and I had my jerry rig co2 canister in the back room.

 

[Gary Inwood]

First and foremost, what is Lexal? Do you have any links? Are you positive that it is reef safe? It could be that this chemical is irritating your corals and not the pH.

In general, I agree that reefers should not be overly concerned about pH. Having said that, coral skeletons begin dissolving in pH around the mid 7's. So a pH of 7.6 could be cause for concern. Plus, there are other benefits associated with maintaining a higher pH.

A higher alkalinity will increase the pH, even if CO2 is elevated. The chart below is from Randy's article on low pH:

Note how the pH trends up with higher alkalinity, even if the CO2 is elevated. However, if your corals do not react well to higher alkalinity, this may not be an option for you. How quickly did you attempt to acclimate them to a higher alkalinity? Did you bump it up over several days or over the course of a few weeks?

You mentioned that a CO2 scrubber and pumping in outside air does not affect your pH at all, but opening your windows does? How many windows did you need to open, and for how long, to get the affect you describe? If your home has exceptionally high CO2, it's possible that just a single CO2 scrubber or a small airline from outdoors cannot overcome the overwhelming concentration of CO2.

Hi, my windows are open 24/7 and my alk is between 8 and 9 and my ph never gets above 8, ever if i higher my alk my ph does not change. so i leave it as it is as my tank it doing ok.

 

[Lasse]

IMO - you have a CO2 problem.

The way to handle this (if it is possible - depends on the CO2 level in your house when running AC or close for heating) is probably through use a CO2 scrubber taking in outside air. In this case - it will help with a oversized skimmer. I have notice that if we are many people in our apartment - the huge contact area between air and water will affect the CO2 uptake in the water - in spite of the fact that I use a CO2 scrubber.

To solve the pH-problem im my aquaria - I convert to Triton Core7 system. Their alk is an combination of baked and unbaked soda and rise the pH. I let the alk dose during night time as you can see in my chart. In spite of this - do we gett visitors - the pH drip as you can see yesterday. At 10:45 we get a visit from two adults and 2 children Normally we have around 400 - 600 ppm CO2 in the air during summer - at 12:30 yesterday - we had around 900 ppm ! The pH start to rise by the photosynthesis around 14:00 - normally this happen around 12:00.

The small hatches seen in the curve between 23:00 and 10:00 are the addition of alk

Sincerely Lasse

 

[TangsRLife]

And converting to that system made a difference? What was your previous base and max during the day? Also I use BRS soda ash, their precious product before the new pharma pouches I don’t know what they use.