So I brought an apex back online on my nano. Calibrated probes pH and temp. Tank pH 7.67 verified with hanna. Slowly raised yesterday to 8. This morning back at 7.6. doors open on house been open since 7 pm. What is best way to raise pH via dosing. Is there anything that won't drastically affect alk.
Ph issues
- Thread starter Cpc83
- Start date
Most readings below 7.8 are an error if you have normal normal in home CO2, Alk, and good aeration.
Our hobby-grade probes are at best +/- 0.1 and often closer to +/- 0.2.
Our hobby-grade probes are at best +/- 0.1 and often closer to +/- 0.2.
Try this test.. If aeration with outside air does not raise it a lot, it is test error:
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.
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...
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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.
This is anecdotal but my ph was chronically at 7.6 and even when I left my doors and windows open ot wouldn't make a difference. hooked my skimmer up to an icecap co2 scrubber and its been a steady 8 ever sincd
More than likely a combo of aeration and higher indoor CO2.
I pretty sure it is CO2 related as today I only have one person home and pH has slowly risen all day. Now comes to the remedy. The tank is a nano so adding scrubber to skimmer which probably doesn't draw enough air already seems pointless. So I'm hunting an air pump that has an inlet and outlet and wanting to attach scrubber to it and pump air into rear section of tank. I know back in the day these were out there to be found but not finding much of anything today. Anyone know of a good air pump with an inlet and outlet?
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