PH 8.57 and doesnt want to come down

[Jonreefer]

So my tank is only a little over a month old.
For a while it was struggling to even get to 8ph most of the time it was between 7.8-7.9. I decided to add a small skimmer to add aeration to get the PH up.
Well its been slowly going up to 8.2 for the past week or so which was fine.
So I tested my alk today and it was 7.3 so i bumped it up to 8 with BRS alk and i know that jumps the PH some but normally its short lived. It has been climbing all day since to 8.57.
I recalibrated my Hydros PH probe twice to make sure everything was good thinking maybe it drifted but nope seems correct.
Not sure why it keeps climbing. Is it possble cause its entering the ugly stage and my rocks are starting to get the green tint of film algae growing on them. I never usually have a controller at this point so I have never monitored my PH in previous tanks before the ugly stage.
I checked it with a cheap PH pen I have as well and that usually reads a little low and it was 8.41
Making up some water to do a water change to see if it will drop it some

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I expect the measurement is in error rather than a real value.

Water changes aren't a way to deal with pH issues unless alk is excessively high.

I'd recalibrate the pH meter as a first action.

You can also try this aeration test. Aeration alone will bring down pH 8.57 unless the alk is over 15 dKH.

pH and the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION

by Randy Holmes-Farley For many aquarists, pH is not something that they have much experience with aside from their aquarium. For many, pH is almost a black box measurement: something to be considered, but whose physical meaning makes little sense to them. This article will Read more here...

www.reefedition.com

The Aeration Test

Some of the possible causes of low pH listed above require an effort to diagnose. Problems 3 and 4 are quite common, and here is a way to distinguish them. Remove a cup of tank water and measure its pH. Then aerate it for an hour with an airstone using outside air. Its pH should rise if it is unusually low for the measured alkalinity (Figure 2). Then repeat the same experiment on a new cup of water using inside air. If its pH also rises, then the aquarium’s pH will rise simply with more aeration because it is only the aquarium that contains excess carbon dioxide. If the pH does not rise in the cup (or rises very little) when aerating with indoor air, then that air likely contains excess CO2, and more aeration with that same air will not solve the low pH problem (although aeration with fresher air should). Be careful implementing this test if the outside aeration test results in a large temperature change (more than 5°C or 10°F), because such changes alone impact pH measurements.

 

[gbroadbridge]

So my tank is only a little over a month old.
For a while it was struggling to even get to 8ph most of the time it was between 7.8-7.9. I decided to add a small skimmer to add aeration to get the PH up.
Well its been slowly going up to 8.2 for the past week or so which was fine.
So I tested my alk today and it was 7.3 so i bumped it up to 8 with BRS alk and i know that jumps the PH some but normally its short lived. It has been climbing all day since to 8.57.
I recalibrated my Hydros PH probe twice to make sure everything was good thinking maybe it drifted but nope seems correct.
Not sure why it keeps climbing. Is it possble cause its entering the ugly stage and my rocks are starting to get the green tint of film algae growing on them. I never usually have a controller at this point so I have never monitored my PH in previous tanks before the ugly stage.
I checked it with a cheap PH pen I have as well and that usually reads a little low and it was 8.41
Making up some water to do a water change to see if it will drop it some

Sounds like measurement error.

That pH is really not possible at the stated level of Alkalinity.

Are you using fresh calibration buffers for calibration.
You should be using ph7 and ph10 buffers for a two point calibration.

 

[Jonreefer]

i did re calibrate my probe this evening twice to make sure it was accurate. it was reading correctly in my 4,7,10 solution within .01 of a point so I assume the vale its giving in tank was accurate

cant really do a good outside air test as its 28degrees out. so water would get cold real fast

unless my PH probe is just bad. its only a month old

 

[Jonreefer]

I just did a full calibration again with 4,7,10
all were reading within .01 of each solution and still at 8.54 reading in tank.
Maybe the probe is bad?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I just did a full calibration again with 4,7,10
all were reading within .01 of each solution and still at 8.54 reading in tank.
Maybe the probe is bad?

Try the aeration test inside. The pH should drop substantially. If it does, the tank needs more aeration. If it does not, the pH or alk measurement is in error.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, pH 8.54 by itself is fine, but without dosing high pH alk additives, it indicates poor aeration.

 

[Jonreefer]

hmm i have 2 AI nero 3, sicce 1.0 return and a skimmer running an airstone and alot of surface agitation.
I will try a inside aeration test

 

[Jonreefer]

it was coming down using the airstone in the cup.
I have a screen top on the tank and alot of surface agitation and a wood airstone in the AIO chamber in the skimmer. There should be good aeration.
Hopefully it comes down overnight
its at 8.53 now

 

[Jonreefer]

i guess i wont worry about it. its down to 8.48 and slowly dropping

 

[Jonreefer]

so its back down to 8.14 this morning
Not sure why it went so whacky yesterday

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Could be test error, or something else, but it’s not worth worrying about.

 

[Jonreefer]

So it seems everyday its still climbing.
It will start out in the morning at 8 and will get up to 8.5ish by evening.
My alk has been steady at 8.3 per salifert test and i have not dosed anything to the tank. Just regular fish feeding. Nothing is using the alk as I only have 3 tiny frags.
I got a Salifert test kit today to double check and it was between the 8.3 and 8.6 and my probe was reading 8.4
At this point I am going to chalk it up to the uglay stage with the algae, and bacterial blooms and the fast rate of algae and diatoms growing. All this high PH started when I noticed the ugly stage starting

 

[Cthulukelele]

A lot of the tank uglies actually prefer a lower pH to thrive.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Mire aeration will reduce that pH swing.

 

[Jonreefer]

I don’t know how I could add more. I have 2 nero3, sicce 1.0 return. Wood stone skimmer and a lot of surface agitation. All in a 20g cube
Nothing seems to be stressed at all in the tank

 

[gbroadbridge]

So it seems everyday its still climbing.
It will start out in the morning at 8 and will get up to 8.5ish by evening.
My alk has been steady at 8.3 per salifert test and i have not dosed anything to the tank. Just regular fish feeding. Nothing is using the alk as I only have 3 tiny frags.
I got a Salifert test kit today to double check and it was between the 8.3 and 8.6 and my probe was reading 8.4
At this point I am going to chalk it up to the uglay stage with the algae, and bacterial blooms and the fast rate of algae and diatoms growing. All this high PH started when I noticed the ugly stage starting

Uglies are pretty normal and not really associated with pH

A month old tank is very young, and the uglies will resolve in 3-6 months as the tank becomes more mature.
For the time being you just need to get in there with a toothbrush and keep scrubbing it away

I really would not worry about pH if everything else is happy.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don’t know how I could add more. I have 2 nero3, sicce 1.0 return. Wood stone skimmer and a lot of surface agitation. All in a 20g cube
Nothing seems to be stressed at all in the tank

That suggests it is measurement error, but regardless, the values you are posting are fine and I would not worry about it unless you seen to be getting excessive abiotic precipitation of calcium carbonate.