Sudden drop in PH

[jramy123]

Hi Guys
I was doing a random water test today cause was thinking this weekend of adding a zoa or 2 to my watebox 20. Well I did my test for ph nitrite and trate. trite is fine, trate is around 10ppm but what scared me is after 2 months(start of cycle till today) of great 8.3-8.4 ph it is showing 7.4. I havent changed anything besides adding first fishies since last weeks perfect readings. I have filter floss, carbon and chemipure elite in my filter chamber 1, chaeto marine pure block and live rock chunks in my chamber 2. Any ideas? Should I test everything else too? I keep feeding to a minimum, i only place 3-5 tiny pellets(clowns are really young and small still) and if i notice them not eating them all i stop. Also the cleaner shrimp picks up what little hits the sandbed.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I expect it is test error. That pH (7.4) is lower than reefers experience in normal situations.

 

[jramy123]

well i took out chaeto and rinsed in sw as well as the other media. Dont ask me how but i missed the filter sock ring that came with it....it was at the bottom of filter chamber still with plastic on it. Got that out and kicked myself

 

[Reef.]

well i took out chaeto and rinsed in sw as well as the other media. Dont ask me how but i missed the filter sock ring that came with it....it was at the bottom of filter chamber still with plastic on it. Got that out and kicked myself

is that related to the ph drop?

 

[jramy123]

is that related to the ph drop?

no clue lol but doubt it was a good thing to have a plastic bag rotting in back of tank. I did calm down and retest after cleaning test tubes.It has to sit for 5 min but instead of turning yellow orange (7.4) it went right to dark purple so Randy was right i think, bad test. I believe my nephew helped last time i tested, im thinking maybe he didnt rinse tubes cause of the pretty "fishies." Maybe i mixed testing reagents or there was residual on the tubes, but sorry for panic lol

 

[Reef.]

no clue lol but doubt it was a good thing to have a plastic bag rotting in back of tank. I did calm down and retest after cleaning test tubes.It has to sit for 5 min but instead of turning yellow orange (7.4) it went right to dark purple so Randy was right i think, bad test. I believe my nephew helped last time i tested, im thinking maybe he didnt rinse tubes cause of the pretty "fishies." Maybe i mixed testing reagents or there was residual on the tubes, but sorry for panic lol

yeah I’ve done that before, not rinsing the vials out properly, I normally notice before I do the test tho, I always rinse before testing as well.