Low pH ?

[powderhound]

I just hooked up my reefkeeper ph probe and calibrated it. Only to find out my ph is really low. Ph is at 7.8 during day and 7.6 at night. Add Kali it goes to 8.0 and falls right back. Cal is 450 alk is 7-8. What should I do?

 

[skinz78]

I would raise the Alk up to 9 to 10 and see what that does for you.

 

[Bugg_zy]

I had the same issue, brought my alk up a few points now it stays between 7.9-8 . GL!

 

[reefhead]

right when i would slowly get mine up to 8.3 it would do the same thing and drop down super fast. i eventually added more than normal dose of kali and it seems to help. i dont know how stable it is tho everything seems to do fine tho

 

[dougers31]

Could be a result of low oxygen levels in your house which tend to happen in winter.

 

[Michael7979]

Could be a result of low oxygen levels in your house which tend to happen in winter.

This is an option. If you can open a window for awhile and then test it to see if low oxygen levels are the cause.

But if you add chemicals to raise it make sure you raise it slowly as a big jump can cause more problems.

 

[dougers31]

One trick that works for some is to run an airline tube from outside(short distance if possible) to your skimmer in tank.

 

[powderhound]

I have tried opening the windows and airing out the house. Doesn't seem to help much. I tried extra kalk but if drops back down again. I will try to slowly raise alk to 9

 

[gweston]

A few things:

-Increase O2 (you should be ok if you are running a skimmer), consider supplying air from outside to the skimmer.
-Get these parameters in check: Magnesium ~1350, calcium ~450, Alk 9-10dkh.
-Set up a refugium on a reverse day/night lighting cycle. This helps stabilize PH somewhat (reduces swings).

My tank was around 8.0-8.2 PH, even with all my parameters in check. While this is a pretty good PH to maintain, I wanted to keep it a bit higher as certain algae supposedly have a harder time taking root. My aim was 8.3-8.4. I solved this problem by using Kalkwasser for my evaporate water top-off. I mix it just a 'little' bit thin than at saturation. If my parameters are in check, I top-off with RODI water rather than the Kalkwasser. When the PH begins to nudge down slightly, I drip Kalk again. Its a bit of a balance.

Here is my mix: 1.25 gallons of water - to - 2 teaspoons of Kalk, 20ml of white vinegar.
I put the Kalk powder into my container, add the white vinegar and swish it around to let it dissolve. I then add the RODI water.

2 teaspoons of Kalk will saturate 1 gallon of RODI water. Adding vinegar allows one to saturate a bit more Kalk, if you wish. Think somewhat heaping teaspoons. I thin it down to 1.25 gallons of water however. It seems to work better for my system. It maintains my desired PH and lessens the need to use plain RODI. I suspect you need to adjust based on how fast your corals burn through Calcium/Alk.

Dosing 2-Part Calcium/Alkalinity is also an option to bring your levels up. I did this before. I found however that dosing in this manner would more easily shoot Calcium and Alk levels up higher than I'd like (11+ DKH). Since using Kalkwasser, the tank seems to maintain 10Dkh more easily. For me at least. Try various options and find what works best for you!

 

[beaslbob]

Before you get carried away, low pH is always caused by carbon dioxide being high.

What I did and recommend is adding macro algaes (in a refugium) to the tank becomes a net consumer of co2 and producer of oxygen each 24 hour period.

IMHO everything else is trumped by that action.


my .02

 

[wvreef]

raise you alk. but do it slowly not alot at one time, some fish and corals are sensitive to big jumps in the reef inviroment so go slow... that should bring your ph up to where you want it to be at