doodledreads
Well-Known Member
I know we are not supposed to chase pH but my readings were consistently low (7.4 at night to 8.1 during the day). We are 2 people, 2 large dogs, 2 chonky cats living in smallish house, so I imagine there is a lot of CO2 causing the low pH. After reading some articles here and other sites, I implemented following three changes that brought up my pH. I wanted to post it so it could help someone else having low pH issues.
1. Running reverse light periods for my ATS/Refuge and display - this is pretty basic and well known and had very small impact on overall pH, it did reduce the range of pH variation from day to night.
2. Running an airline hose from outside to skimmer air intake - this had a very high impact for bringing up my pH. I would think opening a window or having a good ventilation near the tank would have similar results but I think running a skimmer with oxygen rich air is more efficient. Anyway, the highs went from 8.11 to 8.3-8.4 range. Still, I noticed it was falling down to 7.8-7.9 during early in the mornings, around 4:00 AM-7:00 AM.
3. Changed my Alk dosing to dose during 3:00 AM-8:00 AM - this seem to keep the pH from falling below 8 during this time.
The other thing I considered, but decided against, was installing a CO2 reactor. Given my space is a premium and need to constantly change the media, it did not seem like a good solution.
Here's the latest readings from my Apex -
I made the Alk dosing change on Friday and you can notice the change right away. We were all home this weekend and pH still stayed above 8.07 which is a first. I will update the chart next week and compare the results.
1. Running reverse light periods for my ATS/Refuge and display - this is pretty basic and well known and had very small impact on overall pH, it did reduce the range of pH variation from day to night.
2. Running an airline hose from outside to skimmer air intake - this had a very high impact for bringing up my pH. I would think opening a window or having a good ventilation near the tank would have similar results but I think running a skimmer with oxygen rich air is more efficient. Anyway, the highs went from 8.11 to 8.3-8.4 range. Still, I noticed it was falling down to 7.8-7.9 during early in the mornings, around 4:00 AM-7:00 AM.
3. Changed my Alk dosing to dose during 3:00 AM-8:00 AM - this seem to keep the pH from falling below 8 during this time.
The other thing I considered, but decided against, was installing a CO2 reactor. Given my space is a premium and need to constantly change the media, it did not seem like a good solution.
Here's the latest readings from my Apex -
I made the Alk dosing change on Friday and you can notice the change right away. We were all home this weekend and pH still stayed above 8.07 which is a first. I will update the chart next week and compare the results.
