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themcfreak

themcfreak

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Hey all. To start, want to say I know that chasing pH isn't necessary if my numbers are good. However, I am just curious. If I am pulling air from outside to my skimmer, should pH be 8.3 or higher without other factors? Currently, I bring in air from the outdoors to the skimmer through a scrubber, and dose soda ash. Yet my pH is normally 7.9 to 8.2 (night to day). I have a fuge running at night, and between everything, just seems weird that my pH is so 'low' and I have such low numbers at night. Again, I know it is in range, but 8.3 is what I really want it to be at most times.
 
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The biggest factor is the amount of ambient CO2 adjacent to your tank. If it is very high, this is likely your issue. Dr. Farley says to test this, just remove some tank water and aerate outside. If the sample ph increases, this is part of the problem. The smaller the space you live in, usually the bigger the impact. Pets can also add to the CO2 level.

Some other smaller factors could be alkalinity, bio load, and bacteria levels.
 
themcfreak said:
Hey all. To start, want to say I know that chasing pH isn't necessary if my numbers are good. However, I am just curious. If I am pulling air from outside to my skimmer, should pH be 8.3 or higher without other factors? Currently, I bring in air from the outdoors to the skimmer through a scrubber, and dose soda ash. Yet my pH is normally 7.9 to 8.2 (night to day). I have a fuge running at night, and between everything, just seems weird that my pH is so 'low' and I have such low numbers at night. Again, I know it is in range, but 8.3 is what I really want it to be at most times.
Click to expand...
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Carbon dosing adds bacteria that produce co2, lowering ph.
How's your bioload?
Does the fuge grow macro? If not, its not consuming co2 to raise ph.
Finally, if the tank is in a room with people, they are lowering the ph via co2.
My tank is in the movie room, I can tell when there's a movie being watched by the ph in the tank.
 
AS
These are all valid points. I have 7 fish, many inverts and corals of various types. 100 gallons between sump and display. I do know that internal CO2 levels of the home are very elevated, but shouldn't the amount of bubbles in the skimmer far outcompete surface agitation and how much CO2 is absorbed that way? So is drawing air from outside to the skimmer not the same as aerating it outside? However I will say I had my windows open for 24 hours yesterday. It did raise by about 0.1 pH, so a little bit. Not a drastic amount by having outside air inside.
 
Pistondog said:
I have an air quality meter that measures co2.
If the windows are open, with people, 500 to 600 ppm
With ac on, windows closed, over 2000 ppm.
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This makes sense to me for sure. CO2 is definitely elevated indoors. But I still don't understand how drawing air from outside into the skimmer isn't offsetting this. (and going through a CO2 scrubber on top of that, pulling outdoor air through a scrubber into the skimmer).
 
themcfreak said:
These are all valid points. I have 7 fish, many inverts and corals of various types. 100 gallons between sump and display. I do know that internal CO2 levels of the home are very elevated, but shouldn't the amount of bubbles in the skimmer far outcompete surface agitation and how much CO2 is absorbed that way? So is drawing air from outside to the skimmer not the same as aerating it outside? However I will say I had my windows open for 24 hours yesterday. It did raise by about 0.1 pH, so a little bit. Not a drastic amount by having outside air inside.
Click to expand...
The skimmer and surface agitation both contribute.
If you get one of these, you'll also soon be budgeting an erv, for your comfort.
 
I'd be curious what percentage of all CO2 in the tank comes from which source. Wonder if there are studies on that.
 
themcfreak said:
Hey all. To start, want to say I know that chasing pH isn't necessary if my numbers are good. However, I am just curious. If I am pulling air from outside to my skimmer, should pH be 8.3 or higher without other factors? Currently, I bring in air from the outdoors to the skimmer through a scrubber, and dose soda ash. Yet my pH is normally 7.9 to 8.2 (night to day). I have a fuge running at night, and between everything, just seems weird that my pH is so 'low' and I have such low numbers at night. Again, I know it is in range, but 8.3 is what I really want it to be at most times.
Click to expand...
Wow, you just described exactly what I am seeing in my tank. (Watching this thread closely : )

Thank you for asking this question
 
WWC
Top Shelf Aquatics
Pistondog said:
To lower co2 in a room, it takes less than an hour if you open a window.
Click to expand...
yes it will lower it in a room but removing it from water takes considerably longer even with good surface agitation. My tank dropped to 7.58 last night. I put a fan over the tank drawing fresh air in through a window less than 2 feet from my tank. I also have my skimmer drawing fresh outside air. It took all day for my tank to reach 8.0 From 7.58. I am running a 90 gallon with 2 xf30 at 100% very close to the surface and 1 MP40 @40%.
 
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