Help getting my ph right

[flanders]

Ph Pain

My ph has been stuck at 7.8 since at least as long as I bought my first testing kit

I have been attempting to buffer the ph up proper lvls using Kent super buffer-kh to no avail (in fact I think this actually brought my ph down a bit more)

I tried this on my QT tank which is filled with water from my main tank and it worked like a charm bang perfect ph

But something in my main tank is dragging my ph the wrong way

I did an alkalinity / kh test and found the lvls were a bit high

Kh 12.5
Alk 5.25 meq/l

Any ideas what could be doing this..

Iu have even switched from coral to sand substrate to no avail..

Ideas on how I should try to proceed?

thanks

 

[Anonymous]

How old is the tank and what test kit are you using?

How do the animals in the tank look? If they look fine, then your pH is prolly fine. It is easy to get caught up in the numbers game of this hobby, but it is rarely necessary!

 

[flanders]

the tank is about 3 months or so and the kit is a chemicle kid made by Liquid Master, part of a nitrite, nitrate, ammonia ph pack

the fish look allright .... but 7.8 seems a bit low considering i was able to raise the ph in my 12g qt tank with no issues

as i have the next 30 days while i wait out an ick outbreak with a hypsosalinity treatment i want to spend the time trying to make sure their are not hidden water quality issus

cheers

 

[Jolieve]

Not related to your ph issues, but this could have an impact.

The prism listed in your signature is not big enough for a 72 gallon tank, nowhere near big enough. I'd look into a remora pro if I were you, not just the standard remora skimmer, but the remora pro. The pro is designed to handle the ickiness that larger systems put out, and is still a hang-on.

After I put a bigger skimmer on my system, I found that my ph in the tank rose and stabilized. I hope this helps!

J.

 

[flanders]

yea .. my next purchase will be a sump with a non suck skimmer.. im terribly unhappy with the prism..

it is a matter of getting the cash together in a paycheck or 2 ...

it would please me to no end if this had a posative effect on my ph..

 

[Anonymous]

If your calcium is low then what you've been doing is forcing Calcium carbonate to precipitate by raising ALK past the saturation point. This will cause PH to drop.

First thing you should do in my opinion is a series of moderate water changes to get your ALK back to normal.

Then stop trying to change your PH.

PH is a symptom, not a disease. A low PH just means excess CO2 in the water.

Your tank is young, it could just be a build up of detritus somewhere or a snail died. A common problem is inadequate water flow. Low water flow interferes with gas exchange and CO2 can accumulate in the water. Be sure there is especially good flow across the surface of the tank and that your skimmer is working properly.

Another possibility is a high level of CO2 in the room air. If you take a cup of water outside and stir it for a bit and the PH climbs then that's it.

Do you have a glass lid on the tank?

 

[flanders]

i have a glass canopy on the tank and it would be hard to get rid of this as its primary purpose is cat defense

if you could sanity check my steps to track this down

test calcium lvls and ajust if needed
stop wiht the kh buffering
add the panned 2nd powerhead this weekend to increase overall flow (need to do this anyway)
add sump and a better skimmer (need to do this anyway)

as i have another tank 7 feet away that dosent have this issue i can assume the co2 issue is in the tank not my apr..

you've given me alot to work with .. thanks

 

[Anonymous]

If your calcium has been precipitating then your magnesium is probably low also.

In my opinion water changes will bring levels back to an appropriate level safely and cheaply.

"kh buffering" should only be added when ALK is low. It does have an effect on PH but I suggest you not use it as a tool to change PH.

Since you other tank is fine, I agree that indoor air pollution is not the problem.

Can you replace the glass with eggcrate to keep the cat out? It is more reef friendly, allowing more gas exchange and more light through to the water.

 

[flanders]

i have been doing a great deal of water changes..

at least 20% a week and the problem has been ongoing

i will be testing the calcium tomorrow and mag once i gran a mag test kit

eggcrate might work but if airation is important i can figure something out.. perhaps using a perferated tube for the return from my sump when i put it in

 

[jer77]

Limewater is helpful in raising pH and raising Ca levels. Also airating new water prevents oxygen depleted water that mixes to a low pH.
I have read this for help:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/june2002/chem.htm

 

[jer77]

by the way, 12.5 dKH is more like 4.4 meq/L. Your ca should be around 450 too, if using the 5.25 meq/L then ca should be around.

 

[Anonymous]

A low PH just means excess CO2 in the water.

I think this was overlooked. Simple test.
Take a small container of tank water and add airstone, let run a few hours or over night. If pH goes up, you got a CO2 build-up. Pumping air into the tank will solve that problem.

 

[polcat]

Limewater is helpful in raising pH and raising Ca levels. Also airating new water prevents oxygen depleted water that mixes to a low pH.
I have read this for help:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/june2002/chem.htm

Limewater will help raise PH but it will not raise calcium or alk much. It's more of a balanced additive to keep things stable once the proper parameters are in place. I agree that water changes should bring some balance back to the system. Your alk of 4.4 meq/l is fine, if calcium tests out around 450 then you could start dripping kalkwasser to bring the ph up.

 

[flanders]

thanks much all

a mix of pumping air into water and adding calcuim got my ph right up where it belongs


thanks again

 

[Mike Dekkers]

Hello Flanders
I had the same problem when I first set my tank up the test kit that I was using was a wide range PH test kit, this constantly gave me a reading of 7.8, being a noob I was concerned about this and asked everyone how to adjust my PH. I got responses much like I see here, most said don't try to adjust with chemicals! well everything in my tank just looked too good for there to be a problem so I went and bought a narrow range PH test kit and guess what, my PH was really reading 8.2.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a funny story about Ph, well not funny to me

When I first started the lfs I went to said to use a product called PH 8.2 in all my water I use for my tank, I did and my Ph was always 8.2

After about a year of using this stuff, and I went through a lot of it, I ran out and didn't use it with my waterchanges.

a year later and my ph is still 8.2

hmmmm, I want all that money back, that stuff was expensive for me, I could of bought some better lights sooner....