Tried all I can to fix pH

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I am guessing that as a tank matures the buffering system that keep the tank at normal sea water levels slowly develops? .

Alkalinity is a good measure of the buffering of seawater.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Also I've noticed having the glass top on the tank will reduce gas off and lower Ph. I have to leave the glass doors on top open so more water is exposed to the air. If I close it up, with just the little gap in the back, the Ph plummets.

I swear I never had algae or Ph issues until I started using an RODI. Sounds crazy, I know. But I think the RODI lowered the Ph of my tap and now it's a constant issue. When the screen door next to the tank is open I get 8.1. When everything is shut I get 7.8 in the day and 7.7 at night.

I used to use crushed coral in my substrate back in the day. Think I'm going to mix some in so I don't have to worry about it anymore. Works much better than aragonite.

0 ppm TDS Ro/Di does not impact the pH of aquarium appreciably. It is not ever the "cause" of low pH, but if you switched from high pH tap water, that lack of the high pH additives in the tap water might contribute.

 

[Forsaken77]

0 ppm TDS Ro/Di does not impact the pH of aquarium appreciably. It is not ever the "cause" of low pH, but if you switched from high pH tap water, that lack of the high pH additives in the tap water might contribute.

That was a different tank 20 years ago that I used tap water and never had Ph issues in a basement. Now, using RODI with the tank next to a screen doir I always have Ph swings, probably because of the air conditioning.

I was meaning oxygen exchange with having a glass cover on. It doesn't let as much CO2 out as if there was no lid. More CO2, lower Ph, right?

 

[Scott.h]

I've done so much tinkering on this subject. Such a huge part depends on the house and its inhabitants. It gets to the point there is no way around certain things.

2 photos- In the first pic you'll see a flat line where my family left for vacation. 1500 sq ft, newer build. The very instance 4 people left the house was instantly noticed on the chart. This was preceded with 5 minutes of ALL of the windows in the house being open. On July 18th they were gone prior, and returned. Noticeable difference also, and worsened every day until they left again 4 days later.

The second pic you'll notice 3 days ago is when they arrived back on the chart. Also note, this particular tank and sump are located in the basement. I'm in Michigan, so its not always convenient to have windows open, however, with no one ever being in the basement, I've done experiments closing off the basement from the upsairs, including vents and the basement door. Then opening one to all of the basement windows. (despite the a/c running) The last pic will show 3 days ago the ph started to decrease again the moment when people were in the house again, DESPITE one window closest to my tank open all 24 hours. I'll also add that the day they arrived back I added a duel air pump to the last baffle of the sump that turns on from 11:00 PM to 11:00 AM to try to see if I can stabilize this further. Note, there is nothing wrong with my levels, I've just spent quite a bit of time swapping skimmers, adjusting the dosing times of alk during the lowest 4 hours of the day, etc to see what I could do. My skimmer is plumbed outside with a 1" line, and moves slightly over 700 lph on 100 gal total water volume.

In my experience one skimmer will not out compete the house air on 125 gallons of water, despite outside skimmer air or co2 media. A lower rated skimmer showed no loss in performance either.

The other thing I'd question is why are you dosing so much vinegar despite having undetectable nutrients? As I feel this may play a part.. Randy?

 

[Bonfish]

I had purchased glass covers for my 120g. I wanted to try and eliminate humidity and salt creep from getting into my lights. It has really worked well. Unfortunately it leaves little room for gas exchange and I decided to try a 1/4 inch mesh. I will let you know if anything improves. Additionally I am increasing the amount of macro algae and will be starting the triton method with in the next month or so.

 

[Scott.h]

I had purchased glass covers for my 120g. I wanted to try and eliminate humidity and salt creep from getting into my lights. It has really worked well. Unfortunately it leaves little room for gas exchange and I decided to try a 1/4 inch mesh. I will let you know if anything improves. Additionally I am increasing the amount of macro algae and will be starting the triton method with in the next month or so.

I have tried this as well. Having my tank and fuge covered with glass, with the original intention of lowering evaporation. Surprisingly I found in the winter with the house sealed, my ph actually started to lower immediately because it let the tank absorb the sourrounding air more efficiently, lowering ph. When I put the glass back on after a few days, the ph went back up to normal.