Ph wont maintain

[MinNateSota]

Hi, I’ve been having some difficulty with my mixed reef tank. My ph has been continually dropping no matter what I do. We had to do a mad boost of bacteria because the cycle had dropped due to adding a large group of clean up crew. But I can’t get the ph to raise and stay raised. It keeps hovering around 7.8. I’ve been using aquavitro balance to try to raise the ph without raising kh but the kh is still going up slowly. I can add balance and get the ph up a few points but then a few hours later it’s back down. I have a 55 gallon tank with 4 seahorses as my main livestock. A pistol shrimp and peppermint shrimp, starfish (who keeps twisting himself up when the ph drops) some mushrooms, a Kenya tree, emerald crab, feather duster (with no crown now) like 17 hermits, 3 astrea snails, 1 olive snail, 4 margarita snails. Turn over rate is 500gph with a protein skimmer. (Skimmer has been off for bacteria boost) calcium is good, phosphates are good, ammonia and nitrates and nitrite are all high due to regaining cycle. Have done water changes to no avail. I really need to figure out why the ph won’t raise and stay. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’m really worried I’m gonna loose my guys. I’m this close to taking to my lfs to quarantine while I get my tank figured out

 

[GillMeister]

How are you measuring pH?

 

[SPR1968]

Although on the lower side your fine at 7.8, mine goes down there all the time, and unless you know what your doing you can cause all sorts of unwanted issues trying to increase it.

If it’s not causing a problem I would leave it alone.

You will also have a test kit margin of error so it could be higher (or of course lower but probably unlikely)

 

[Mr. Bends]

Hi, I’ve been having some difficulty with my mixed reef tank. My ph has been continually dropping no matter what I do. We had to do a mad boost of bacteria because the cycle had dropped due to adding a large group of clean up crew. But I can’t get the ph to raise and stay raised. It keeps hovering around 7.8. I’ve been using aquavitro balance to try to raise the ph without raising kh but the kh is still going up slowly. I can add balance and get the ph up a few points but then a few hours later it’s back down. I have a 55 gallon tank with 4 seahorses as my main livestock. A pistol shrimp and peppermint shrimp, starfish (who keeps twisting himself up when the ph drops) some mushrooms, a Kenya tree, emerald crab, feather duster (with no crown now) like 17 hermits, 3 astrea snails, 1 olive snail, 4 margarita snails. Turn over rate is 500gph with a protein skimmer. (Skimmer has been off for bacteria boost) calcium is good, phosphates are good, ammonia and nitrates and nitrite are all high due to regaining cycle. Have done water changes to no avail. I really need to figure out why the ph won’t raise and stay. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’m really worried I’m gonna loose my guys. I’m this close to taking to my lfs to quarantine while I get my tank figured out

its Most likely a Carbon Dioxide issue, from your own breathing. The carbon dioxide combines with hydrogen in water to form carbonic acid, lowering the pH. Looks like you’re up north, where it’s cold and you may not have a lot of ventilation to the outside. Our exhalations raise the CO2 in a closed airspace. Can you run the air intake for your skimmer to outside your house. If not, try adding a CO2 scrubber to your skimmer intake.

 

[Mical]

+1 what Mr Bends states. If OP is from Minnesota (as I am) yes it's winter and yes CO2 is an issue in the winter. Try running an outside air line to your skimmer or for a test, crack a nearby window open for a couple of hours - you should see an immediate increase in Ph.

 

[MinNateSota]

I’m using api high range ph test.
Thank you guys for the quick response. I’ll try opening the window right next to the tank and see how that goes

 

[Brian_68]

I’m using api high range ph test.
Thank you guys for the quick response. I’ll try opening the window right next to the tank and see how that goes

I have to keep a window cracked 24/7 to keep my CO2 to reasonable levels and I monitor continuously. One day and it is back up again otherwise.

 

[MinNateSota]

I have the window open (cold as hell in here now) and I have an air stone in the window to pull more fresh air. So far no change at all

 

[MinNateSota]

Well the air pump is in the window, the stone is in the tank lol

 

[Brian_68]

I have the window open (cold as hell in here now) and I have an air stone in the window to pull more fresh air. So far no change at all

For me it takes a few hours to see a change.

 

[lapin]

ammonia and nitrates and nitrite are all high due to regaining cycle

This can also be why your livestock is stressed.

 

[MinNateSota]

I opened the window and ran a line to skimmer and put pump in window around 11:40. So far zero change in ph

 

[MinNateSota]

I’m getting super frustrated. I don’t want to go buy a co2 scrubber just to have the issue continue

 

[DaddyFish]

If you have a dosing pump available that's the best way to add a pH supplement. Smaller, incremental doses on the hour rather than a single 24-hour dose works much better at managing pH. But no matter what you use to boost the pH, it will also raise alkalinity/dKh, some more than others.

 

[paulgriffin971]

I was just asking about PH and ALK supplements in another forum thread last week.

Here's some reading and options that Randy pointed me to in that thread. Scroll down to the charts so you can see how CO2, aeration, and ALK affect PH.

https://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/#a

 

[MinNateSota]

I was just asking about PH and ALK supplements in another forum thread last week.

Here's some reading and options that Randy pointed me to in that thread. Scroll down to the charts so you can see how CO2, aeration, and ALK affect PH.

https://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/#a

I’ll check it out. I’m building a scrubber real quick to see how that helps

 

[mehaffydr]

I would first buy a different test kit and see if you get the same result as others have said 7.8 is not extreme and its not time to panic.

 

[PokeFish]

7.8 is fine but try macroalgae to increase ph

 

[PokeFish]

Macroalgae is also good for your seahorse tank in many other ways

 

[mdb_talon]

Aquavitro balance is always going to be a short lived "solution" as i understand it and probably a waste of money.

7.8 is not "ideal" but it is not going to hurt your fish and while it may impact growth it certainly is not going to kill your coral either.

Indoor co2 can be an issue as other have said but it would have to be dangerously high to humans to depress the ph enough to impact your fish.

If your aeration is good and your kh is adequate(and dont have something like a calcium reactor poorly tuned) then i would not at all be panicking about PH. Longer term i would look at a refugium it can do wonders. While it does release some co2 when lights are off it is more than made up for with the co2 it utilizes when lights on. Getting a ph probe(in my opinion the only good way to measure ph) would also be a good idea.