Raising ph
- Thread starter Mmsetta
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Mike J.
2500 Club Member
beaslbob
2500 Club Member
Adding macro or other algae and keeping it growing and expanding.
pH will rise as co2 is consumed by the plant life. So the tank becomes a new consumer of co2 and producer of oxygen each 24 hour period.
I also highly recommend you measure pH just before light out. That should be high.
Then measure the pH just before lights to see if it is low. If so measure kH and dose baking soda until kH is 8degrees or higher. I think you will find the nightly pH drop will be lessoned with the higher KH.
my .02
Finnaddict
Active Member
Your PH has a lot to do with the alkalinity of your system. Check your Alk. If it is low then there is a reason your PH might be low. If you add anything to raise PH your Alk will raise too so you need to test and see where your at. Only address and or change one thing at a time so you can narrow down your problem. Post all your perameters so we can have a better idea of how your system is functioning.
UK_Pete
Active Member
As long as your alk is about right, as Randy said to me, 'your pH is directly set by your CO2 levels'. So if your alk is right and your pH is too low that means your CO2 is too high (for the pH you want). If your pH is like below 7.9 or so you have quite a bit of CO2 in the tank. I had a pH of 7.9ish, which I raised to about 8.3 to 8.4 even sometimes by cranking my skimmer air to max (and raise the cup so it didnt skim too wet) and I ran a pipe from the skimmer intake to the outdoors so outside air was going into the skimmer. If you have a tank that consumes a lot of food, it wont be as effective. But still probably effective to some degree. You can test by leaving the windows open for a few hours (wide open). If your pH goes up enough you have your answer.
The reason is that CO2 builds up in some houses, my reason is I have my tank room full of kids and mums for much of the day, and we keep the windows tight shut during winter. So CO2 from people builds up, in my case probably to about 1000 to 1300 ppm. Outside air is about 400 ppm.
Do not add buffer unless your alk is wrong. Buffer adjusts alk, CO2 adjusts pH.
The reason is that CO2 builds up in some houses, my reason is I have my tank room full of kids and mums for much of the day, and we keep the windows tight shut during winter. So CO2 from people builds up, in my case probably to about 1000 to 1300 ppm. Outside air is about 400 ppm.
Do not add buffer unless your alk is wrong. Buffer adjusts alk, CO2 adjusts pH.
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Mmsetta
Active Member
So, I am battling Dino that is why I want to raise my ph. I've read everything on Dino so don't want to open up that topic here. But I am attempting to raise ph to around 8.4 to try to get rid of Dino. I am currently at about 7.9 in the am and 8 pm in evening.
Mmsetta
Active Member
Been using b-ionic at 7.5 ml (both parts). For a week. No change in ph. I am thinking Might up the Amount or use baking soda. Not sure how to use the baking soda though. Also thinking kalkwasser in my top off water, but I only top off like every other day, very minimum amount too.
UK_Pete
Active Member
Well you certainly need to test alk. It does affect pH but not in a way thats useful to boost pH. Its just that with low alk your pH will be less stable and it will be slightly less, but the effect of the low alk would be worse than the effect of the low pH as it dosent make that much change to pH.
BTW I had dinos and thats one reason I originally raised my pH although I'm not sure if it did much. I think that when my nutrients got back in the right range (not too high, not too low) the dino went away, but its hard to be sure. Just an impression. I read recently that some algae can live on very low phosphates (they use substitutes for lipid production iirc) but didnt work out if dinos are one of them, but since your nitrate is quite high and your phosphate low, I would aim to balance that out.
As I say though, if you do a search you will see Randy always strongly says do not use buffer (alk) to raise pH. And do not use buffer without testing alk. If your alk gets too high it can create other problems, mostly if you have corals though (not sure if you do).
BTW I had dinos and thats one reason I originally raised my pH although I'm not sure if it did much. I think that when my nutrients got back in the right range (not too high, not too low) the dino went away, but its hard to be sure. Just an impression. I read recently that some algae can live on very low phosphates (they use substitutes for lipid production iirc) but didnt work out if dinos are one of them, but since your nitrate is quite high and your phosphate low, I would aim to balance that out.
As I say though, if you do a search you will see Randy always strongly says do not use buffer (alk) to raise pH. And do not use buffer without testing alk. If your alk gets too high it can create other problems, mostly if you have corals though (not sure if you do).
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beaslbob
2500 Club Member
alk is increased with baking soda. Lookup and check out dr holmes-farley'z diy two part
UK_Pete
Active Member
Remember raising alk will only slightly raise pH unless you raise alk to levels incompatible with corals. If you have no corals I guess it might be OK but not sure. But if you have corals and you raise your alk too far outside of the recommended zone I think it will harm the corals. I run mine at 7 dkh now, with no dino. My pH is 8.3 to 8.4.
As I say, the only real way to raise pH is to reduce the CO2 in your tank, either using algae as someone posted earlier (which will consume the co2), limewater (continually, you have to keep this going forever, not possible unless you have enough corals to use the alk up), or by removing CO2 with gas exchange. Simple as it sounds running your skimmer airline outside works for many people (worked great for me). If thats not possible you can make a CO2 scrubber. But with or without an alk kit, if you have corals (sps at least) you cant let your alk get high enough to significantly raise pH by adding buffer.
BTW if its difficult to change your pH, you might want to try adding a little phosphate for a few days, see if that changes anything. Although its hard to say for sure, my impression is that adding nutes (nitrate and phosphate) to my tank which had zero N and P was what got rid of the dinos, although as I say I dont really know for sure at all. I did several things, I added GAC, did the outside skimmer air thing I mentioned, and added nutes. And the dinos went away and have not come back. It was really quick too.
As I say, the only real way to raise pH is to reduce the CO2 in your tank, either using algae as someone posted earlier (which will consume the co2), limewater (continually, you have to keep this going forever, not possible unless you have enough corals to use the alk up), or by removing CO2 with gas exchange. Simple as it sounds running your skimmer airline outside works for many people (worked great for me). If thats not possible you can make a CO2 scrubber. But with or without an alk kit, if you have corals (sps at least) you cant let your alk get high enough to significantly raise pH by adding buffer.
BTW if its difficult to change your pH, you might want to try adding a little phosphate for a few days, see if that changes anything. Although its hard to say for sure, my impression is that adding nutes (nitrate and phosphate) to my tank which had zero N and P was what got rid of the dinos, although as I say I dont really know for sure at all. I did several things, I added GAC, did the outside skimmer air thing I mentioned, and added nutes. And the dinos went away and have not come back. It was really quick too.
