Ph swing question

[ddaddy2420]

Recently my ph has begun swinging a lot more than usual. It seems to swing with temperature and at night but the temp swing is small.

Something that may play a part is my tank is in my garage at the moment. There’s a small room at the back of the garage which holds everything so it’s convenient. I’m wondering if it swings when we get going for the day and open the garage.

You can see the swing from the graphs and alkatronic graph - goes from 7.5 to 8.1. Is this too much of a swing??

 

[laverda]

That is a pretty big swing. I would check your magnesium level first. Is the room sealed off so well it does not get a lot of fresh air when the garage is closed?

 

[ddaddy2420]

I leave the door open to the room, so only garage is closed. Magnesium hovers around 1480.
Crazy thing is it’s almost exactly a 12 hour swing from 8.0 to 7.5.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

More aeration will reduce the swing. Complete aeration will eliminate it is the air is constant Co2 level.

FWIW, it is the low end that is the concern, IMO, not the swing itself.

 

[ddaddy2420]

Let me ask you this: I just realized that this might matter. This room also has our hot water heater but it’s vent is piped outside. And if that is affecting it, why is it on a 12 hour swing? It’s almost the same every day, 8pm to 8am.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Let me ask you this: I just realized that this might matter. This room also has our hot water heater but it’s vent is piped outside. And if that is affecting it, why is it on a 12 hour swing? It’s almost the same every day, 8pm to 8am.

pH always swings with the lighting due to photosynthesis in the aquarium. High when lit, lower when not.

Hot water heater should not release CO2 into the room.

 

[Joedubyk]

i agree w/ randy. you have to understand that pH is not a linear scale. 7.6 is really low, assuming you are properly calibated. May not matter if you just have some clowns and some softies. but if you have acros and species that depend on calcification this is an issue

 

[ddaddy2420]

I’m currently not running my skimmer due to the micro bubbles it’s creating in the tank, would that help if I ran it?

What about leaving my garage open? Would that help?

Any ideas on what else I could try to aerate the tank more?

 

[Pistondog]

I’m currently not running my skimmer due to the micro bubbles it’s creating in the tank, would that help if I ran it?

What about leaving my garage open? Would that help?

Any ideas on what else I could try to aerate the tank more?

Yes, leaving the garage open would help keep ph higher.