pH Swing - Should I Ignore a 0.6 Fluctuation?

[>>klong<<]

I have a 2 month old tank in the common area of a 2 bedroom, 1200sqft open floor plan apartment. Currently, we have 2 adults and 1 child living in this space 24x7, and we have a gas range where we do all our cooking. There is no outside venting.. My range is from to ~7.5 - ~8.1. In the graph below, you can tell the days that it was warmer/colder based how low pH dips during the day. We opened the windows on the warm days to try to keep more fresh air in the apartment. The pH rises when we go to bed, then falls off when we come back into the common area in the morning. We typically have windows cracked during the night, too. The only photosynthetic activity is from a new lump of chaeto and some algae in the refugium. There are 3 fish and a couple of inverts - no corals yet.

Are these swings something I should try to fix? If so, how? Opening the windows is effective, but not always practical in Pennsylvania. I can't drill through my wall. I've experimented with dosing soda ash a couple times, but being that nothing is consuming alkalinity, this seems like the wrong approach. A CO2 scrubber will raise the overall pH, but from what I understand, will not normalize the fluctuation.

I'm left with two mantras I've read over and over on this board - "stability is key" and "don't chase numbers". They seem to be in conflict here. I'm inclined to ignore it, but a .6 swing seems to be pretty big.

 

[iamacat]

Post in thread 'Acceptable Ph swing?'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/acceptable-ph-swing.406304/post-4824584

 

[Mical]

Personally I wouldn't worry about it. That swing isn't so bad but you might want to consider a CO2 scrubber in the future.

 

[lapin]

+1
I would not worry too much about it. The tank is young and prob not very stable yet. Corals can get used to a lot of different conditions over time.

 

[iamacat]

Agree with the co2 scrubber. I can’t think of an easier way to control pH. These scrubbers are game changers for hobbyist. The benefits of a 8.3 pH are documented all over. Co2 scrubbing is probably the easiest piece of reef keeping to make the most dramatic difference

 

[>>klong<<]

Post in thread 'Acceptable Ph swing?'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/acceptable-ph-swing.406304/post-4824584

I *knew* someone would reply with the exactly relevant RHF article within 3 minutes. Thanks!

Personally I wouldn't worry about it. That swing isn't so bad but you might want to consider a CO2 scrubber in the future.

Thanks. The article from above recommends not dipping below 7.8 (mine goes down to 7.5), so while the CO2 scrubber may not fix the fluctuation, it would raise me to a better range. Maybe once I have corals 2-part will be the way to go.

 

[iamacat]

I *knew* someone would reply with the exactly relevant RHF article within 3 minutes. Thanks!


Thanks. The article from above recommends not dipping below 7.8 (mine goes down to 7.5), so while the CO2 scrubber may not fix the fluctuation, it would raise me to a better range. Maybe once I have corals 2-part will be the way to go.

Now is the time to get parameters where you want them. Once the corals are added you can easily track your additive dosing needs. Once your tank starts to mature the pH will get more predictable. The co2 scrubber will get you closer to 8.3 and you can implement other methods to keep it from fluctuating outside RHF recommendations

 

[lapin]

I found that in my current tank once I added the calcium reactor, Ph become more stable and a bit higher. This could have been a combo of both the reactor and time (algae growth?).

 

[>>klong<<]

Now is the time to get parameters where you want them.

Point taken. I'll give a calcium reactor a shot. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[blasterman]

Why would you add a calcium reactor without corals?

Next, even if you add corals it will take months and months before you will deplete enough calcium on a daily basis to bother needing a calcium reactor.

CO2 swings are normal in a reef tank. It would actually swing higher if you had soft corals. If your tank pH goes higher if you open a window its more of an indication you need more ventilation for your own health.

 

[iamacat]

Why would you add a calcium reactor without corals?

Next, even if you add corals it will take months and months before you will deplete enough calcium on a daily basis to bother needing a calcium reactor.

CO2 swings are normal in a reef tank. It would actually swing higher if you had soft corals. If your tank pH goes higher if you open a window its more of an indication you need more ventilation for your own health.

Agreed, calcium reactor doesn’t make sense for his situation. Easier options to curve his concerns at this stage.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, that low pH of 7.5 is a concern, and the level of CO2 in your apartment may also be a concern for your family.

FWIW, perfect aeration will eliminate any pH swing, unless it is driven by changes in the room CO2. However, a lower average pH may be worse than a bigger swing.

 

[>>klong<<]

Why would you add a calcium reactor without corals?

One of those days. I don't know how calcium reactor got into my brain. It's not even on the roadmap at this point. I meant CO2 scrubber.

IMO, that low pH of 7.5 is a concern, and the level of CO2 in your apartment may also be a concern for your family.

FWIW, perfect aeration will eliminate any pH swing, unless it is driven by changes in the room CO2. However, a lower average pH may be worse than a bigger swing.

I can only imagine that these swings are being caused by changes in room CO2. The dips and rises in my pH correlate exactly to when we close/open the windows. I'm going to see what we can do about minimizing the swings. It just gets *really* hard to open the window once we get below 40 degrees outside.

I'll try running a piece of silicon tubing stretched across the room from my skimmer to the window, but I'm afraid that the tube diameter combined with the length of the run will cause it to be pretty ineffective. Our windows are all sliders, so blocking drafts might be tricky.

 

[>>klong<<]

Maybe I'll pick up one of these too:

 

[Strad12]

+1 to the statement “low pH is more harmful than a daily swing”

Kalkwasser is one of the easiest ways to boost pH and worked wonders for my corals when I started using it in the ATO. A CO2 scrubber, refugium, and opening windows will also help.

To me, the phrase “don’t chase numbers” is more in line with “keep your numbers close to natural sea water but don’t fret if they’re off by 10%”. In your case, your pH is 1.0 below what it is in nature. pH is a logarithmic scale, so your water is 10x more acidic than found in nature. Definitely worth taking seriously.