Turned my skimmer off and pH is rising?

[foshizzle]

Since dosing fluconazole I have had my skimmer unplugged for 4 days. My minimum pH now remains at 8+ through the night versus dipping to 7.85 or so every night with the skimmer running. Ive always thought of skimmers as necessary oxygenators and boosters for pH?

For months I've been chasing higher pH by opening my windows at night just to combat this nightly pH drop. Is it possible my dog and I are putting out that much CO2 in a 1200sq ft house so my skimmer is adding CO2 rather than removing CO2?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Since dosing fluconazole I have had my skimmer unplugged for 4 days. My minimum pH now remains at 8+ through the night versus dipping to 7.85 or so every night with the skimmer running. Ive always thought of skimmers as necessary oxygenators and boosters for pH?

For months I've been chasing higher pH by opening my windows at night just to combat this nightly pH drop. Is it possible my dog and I are putting out that much CO2 in a 1200sq ft house so my skimmer is adding CO2 rather than removing CO2?

Absolutely. That is fairly common in a newer home especially.

More aeration can raise or lower pH, depending on the details of the circumstances, and may have different effects at different times of the day.

 

[Jose Mayo]

Fluconazole attacks the Golgi aparatus of algae and probably causes disturbances in its respiratory chain, which may prevent them from releasing too much CO2 at night, but it is important to keep it connected (without the foam collector) to oxygenate the aquarium, not to reduce or increase CO2.

Bes regards