Airation W/Airstone

[MartinE]

Have expeienced a low PH and Alk reading when other params test ok. Airation W/Airstone increases PH and Alk=Need more surface agitation?
I'm not new to the hobby but seems as though a Holmes-Farley article said something about raising C02 with air?

 

[Sea Turtle]

maube you could just point your power heads towards the surface to increase your agitation / air exchange more. Mine really moves pretty well at the surface almost like it boiling.

As far as changing ph and alk with o2, can't help you there. Sorry.

 

[Anonymous]

Do you have a protein skimmer?

I cannot imagine that an airstone could do much better, plus you are going to give yourself some saltcreep issues.

 

[MartinE]

The tank is a 15gal nano running about 5 years now, at first I had a skimmer running but the last 2 years its been skimmerless. I think I just dont have enough fresh air circulating, and not enough water surface break. Gonna try adding a powerhead to just break water suface and when it gets warmer outside ill open the window near it. I did not have trouble with it until my apartment windows were resealed and caulked.

 

[fcmatt]

well a problem could be simply that you have an enclosed hood. i imagine
the air gets rather stale after a while. an airstone sounds like a great idea
to me.

as for the windows and etc.. being recaulked.. most homes through normal
use get quite a bit of air movement in my opinion. there are always
exceptions though and some rooms may not get as much fresh air as
others.

 

[Sea Turtle]

yup, powerhead pointed towards the surface should take care of that one.

 

[Anonymous]

yup, powerhead pointed towards the surface should take care of that one.

+1

 

[kgross]

I am very confused on this. You say your pH and ALK is low and when you add aireation your pH and ALK both rise? The ALK should not change with aireation. If you alk is low you need to add buffer before doing anything else.

If your alk is good and your pH is low, you need to reduce the amount of Co2 (if you want to do anything, but if your pH is 7.8 or above, I would not do antying).

Kim

 

[MartinE]

There really was not anything seriously wrong with the tank, my alk always is in the 2-3 range and the ph is 7.7-8.3 depending on the time of day. I was just trying to get the ph up from the low 7's at nite, experamenting so to speak.