Low PH- 7.6

[ajm83]

1 hour ago, pal said:

 

Slightly confused why you linked the video. I know what scrubbers and opening a window does.

 

Your post I initially replied to says "A skimmer will help with gas exchange especially if you can run the airline to fresh air or through a co2 scrubber". Implying it will still help somewhat without those things.  This is what I am doubting. 

[pal]

29 minutes ago, ajm83 said:

Implying it will still help somewhat without those things.  This is what I am doubting

You should open a window and get some fresh air. 

[MuffinMonster]

2 hours ago, Weikel said:

I would verify with a test kit...

Along with the PH/Calcium/Mag test kit I ordered (salifert brand), I also did order a 2nd PH tester, (I currently use the Apex Neptune Probe). So we will see what the 2nd tester compares to with the apex ph probe is reading. All the stuff will be in tomorrow and I will update you guys when I get home and test it:)

 

2 hours ago, pal said:

Someone else logical also recommended opening a window. 

 As far as the Triton method goes it is not really suited for an all in one tank, needs a large refugium etc.

When I get home today I am going to leave my bedroom window open for a couple hours to see if it changes the PH at all. I had a couple friends I reef with at work tell me to try the window thing until I get test kits in tomorrow- so I will try that this evening.

As far as the triton method thing, I was planning on doing the triton "other methods" bottles- my refuge in the tank will be using both the 1st main overflow chambers which I do believe are alittle over 1 gallon a piece. it should come to be about 10% total system volume would be a refuge- but I'm planning on doing the "other methods" one because I wont have the whole 20% refuge they recommend and will still be expecting to change my water once every month or two when I get readable (1-2ppm) nitrates, depending on how well my refuge's and skimmer can keep the nitrates down, well see how often I have to change.

[tonydahomie]

Why don’t you just get a HOB refugium instead of giving away your back chambers. 

[MuffinMonster]

11 minutes ago, tonydahomie said:

Why don’t you just get a HOB refugium instead of giving away your back chambers. 

I don't want the look of a HOB skimmer or refuge, also no need really, there is nothing else I would use the first chambers for anyway. Main overflow intake chambers are fuges, both secondary chambers are housed full of marine pure balls along with a heater in one, and two bags of GFO and carbon in the other. The return pump chamber is housing two sicce micraplus 158gph pumps, soon to be aquamaxx ws-1 skimmer (in the next couple weeks), my ATO sensors, and my probes for my apex controller. Don't really need anything else back there

[MuffinMonster]

Sorry guys, alk/cal/mag kit ended up not making it in today, amazon delivery said it would be here by 8pm and they dropped the ball. Hopefully itll be in tomorrow, ill update you guys on my dKH when i know.

[MuffinMonster]

On 11/27/2017 at 12:12 AM, blasterman said:

Very low Alk along with a high CO2 levels tested at night could produce a 7.6 pH level...

Alright guys results are in, Took measurements just now-

 

dKH- 7.1 (with hanna checker) 7.0 (with salifert)

Cal- 460

Mag- 1300 

 

pH is right now sitting at 7.68 according to Apex controller. Tried opening a window for a couple hours, didnt do much of anything. Im not sure what my dKH should be exactly? i thought spec is somewhere around 8-8.5dKH? is 7.1 too low? How do i raise it? i change 20% water already once a week.

[WV Reefer]

2 minutes ago, Dakoda said:

Alright guys results are in, Took measurements just now-

 

dKH- 7.1 (with hanna checker) 7.0 (with salifert)

Cal- 460

Mag- 1300 

 

pH is right now sitting at 7.68 according to Apex controller. Tried opening a window for a couple hours, didnt do much of anything. Im not sure what my dKH should be exactly? i thought spec is somewhere around 8-8.5dKH? is 7.1 too low? How do i raise it? i change 20% water already once a week.

You are going to worry yourself sick.......... forget about the Ph. 

 

Your tank is fine. Quit chasing numbers.  Your weekly water changes will give you everything you need. Relax and enjoy your reef.   

[MuffinMonster]

6 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

You are going to worry yourself sick.......... forget about the Ph. 

 

Your tank is fine. Quit chasing numbers.  Your weekly water changes will give you everything you need. Relax and enjoy your reef.   

I'm really not too worried about the pH, if that is where it truely wants to sit at (7.6) then so be it. But if its low due to my dKH being off, then i need to fix my dKH. More power to the pH though if it raises after getting my dKH into spec. I'm just curious now as to if my dKH is too low or not. Like i said, im still a newbie and still learning. This is my first time measuring ALK in my tank. And im adding a couple SPS corals this weekend and i know they are picky with cal/alk levels so i would like to make sure they are right to benefit the growth and wellness of the SPS as best as i can:)

[pal]

I think you said you are using reef crystals which has a high alk so a water change should raise it.Test after your water change and then again before your next one ,and you will know how much alk and cal your tank is using 

[Lula_Mae]

On 11/26/2017 at 1:57 PM, AshCom said:

You're adding corals before knowing your base parameters or if you're truly cycled? Oh boy......  For future reference, get a good test kit before you do anything.  It'll save you time and money, not to mention your hair when you're pulling it out with all the issues. It's like driving a car without a dashboard! Yeah you poured in some gas into the tank but you have no idea whats going on other than you're moving!

 

All of us have a Reef Crystals story. Some swear by it, others curse it. In my opinion, which should be taken with a grain of salt, pun intended, Reef Crystals are the big box stores salt, made in huge orders and not always checked by QA. I've never had stable parameters with RC or any Instant Ocean product and quickly switched to Fritz RPM Reef Pro and haven't changed since. All of us really do our own thing when it comes to salt and no matter what anyone tells you, there is not a best salt. Salinity at 1.025 is a good clue that your salt is properly mixed but it's never advised to introduce fresh mixed saltwater. Most manufacturers state that the fresh mixed water should sit with a wave maker and heater for 12 hours to properly mix and adjust temp, unless its an absolute emergency. Your fish will probably survive just pouring it in, but corals are not a guarantee.

 

I'd stop everything until you've tested everything....... Twice.

I regularly mix my salt and use it for water changes an hour or two later.  I know this can't be done with all salts, but nothing I have has minded this.

 

On 11/26/2017 at 3:26 PM, AshCom said:

Nitrates and phosphates are related, so if one changes the other will, too. Most dont test for ammonia after the initial cycle because it's no use unless you dump the whole container of fish food in!  Ammonia is the product of insignificant aerobic bacteria population/plants to process your normal bioload. It's more or less rotting food/waste. Nitrates are processed by anaerobic bacteria to nitrogen gas, but can't do it by itself, thus why we do WCs (I've made posts in depth on how this process works). You're more or less "testing" something twice so that's not testing in my book.

 

Sorry if that sounds sharp but it seems like the past few months you've settled for a "good enough", but that was far from the truth. The lack of a skimmer, small biweekly WC (10% weekly is ok, 10% biweekly is practically what evaporates), and playing the dangerous "assumption" game is a red flag. A 7 pH and unknown dKH since the beginning isn't awful but I highly suggest investing in something like a Red Sea Marine Test Kit for about $50. It includes about 60 days of pH, dKH, Nitrate, Nitrite, and Ammonia tests. All should be tested weekly at the minimum. I also suggest get a skimmer ASAP and remember that it'll take 2-5 weeks to break in. I suggest a Reef Octopus 100-HOB or an Aquamaxx 1.5 HOB. Both sit at about $150-$200 but a skimmer, to be honest, should of been installed during the initial cycle. A skimmer and test kits are two of the number one things to get a hold of when you start this hobby, not 3 months in.

 

I suggest getting something like Microbacter7 by brightwell aquatics and dosing daily to increase your bacteria population, regardless of what parameters are zero.

Skimmers are not necessary.  They can be helpful especially with heavy bioload, but they absolutely are not required for a successful reef.  Many of the tanks on Nano-Reef run with no skimmer, no testing, and small weekly water changes.  Guess we're doing it wrong.

 

Also, until I started cycling my new tank with dry rock and ammonia, I had not used a test kit in 8+ years.  YMMV lol.

 

On 11/29/2017 at 10:24 PM, pal said:

I think you said you are using reef crystals which has a high alk so a water change should raise it.Test after your water change and then again before your next one ,and you will know how much alk and cal your tank is using 

Most recommendations I've seen say to test before the water change, test the new change water, and test the tank daily for a week till the next water change to track how much daily consumption there is.

 

OP, @WV Reefer has it right.  Don't chase the numbers, and do a lot of research before doing things to try to adjust your parameters because you can easily cause yourself a lot of problems. to Nano-Reef!

[pal]

9 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

and test the tank daily for a week till the next water change to track how much daily consumption there is.

Sure you can test daily if you want, but if not dosing anything daily, testing at the beginning of the week and end of the week should work. dividing drop in alk by days between tests should give you daily consumption, which is not needed unless making daily adjustments. 

[Lula_Mae]

On 12/3/2017 at 12:29 PM, pal said:

Sure you can test daily if you want, but if not dosing anything daily, testing at the beginning of the week and end of the week should work. dividing drop in alk by days between tests should give you daily consumption, which is not needed unless making daily adjustments. 

I'm not disagreeing, just saying that's what I've seen recommended.

[MuffinMonster]

Its been 7 days since my last water change- measured 7.7 dKH last saturday- about to do a water change here in a bit and measured dKH and found it to be 6.4dKH. So my tank is eating 1.3dkH a week as it sits right now. Can i buffer this using baking soda? pH has been raised since adding a skimmer- sits around 7.9 - 8pH now. Still not very worried about my pH. More worried about how i can maintain my Alk for now, i dont want to start dosing two part yet.

[AshCom]

2 minutes ago, Dakoda said:

about to do a water change here in a bit and measured dKH and found it to be 6.4dKH.

Are you testing your WC water?

[MuffinMonster]

4 minutes ago, AshCom said:

Are you testing your WC water?

Yes, WC water is at 10.5dKH, i know i could do more water changes per week- but since all my other levels are fine i would rather not do the water changes and just buffer ALK, not sure if the baking soda method is the best way to go? 

[MuffinMonster]

Low pH issue has officially been solved, upon keeping my dKH consistent for a few weeks (by use of kalk in my ATO) it did raise my pH to about 7.9-8.0, Also upon further investigation, I do have relatively high co2 levels in my house so I went with Pal's advise and looked into co2 scrubbing air for my skimmer since I cant run a fresh air line outside, its too far and would be ineffective. Since installing the co2 scrubber I can happily say my pH sits at about 8.36 during the day and 8.20 at night. Thank you all for the advise- and if anyone is having low pH issues and they feel like fixing it, I would highly recommend looking into co2 scrubbing the air going to your skimmer, as its very cheap (especially if you just have a spare reactor sitting around) and probably the most effective way for keeping pH stable.

[OPtasia]

Opening a window is cheap. As are house plants.

[MuffinMonster]

33 minutes ago, OPtasia said:

Opening a window is cheap. As are house plants.

Well, when you live somewhere where its currently 2 degrees with a wind chill of -7 degrees, opening a window is non optional

Also, I tried the open window thing, didn't seem to do almost anything for me and I didn't see any results in a pH change of leaving a window open for 3+ hours. Plus that is only a temporary band-aid solution. you cant consistently leave a window open year round. If I can have the consistency of 8.2x at night and 8.3x during the day ill gladly pay the couple dollars a week it cost me in media to run a co2 scrubber! Running the line to fresh air would obviously be the best way possible. But for those who are unable to draw fresh air into a skimmer, the scrubber is definitely the best way to go imo.

[OPtasia]

2 minutes ago, Dakoda said:

Well, when you live somewhere where its currently 2 degrees with a wind chill of -7 degrees, opening a window is non optional

Also, I tried the open window thing, didn't seem to do almost anything for me and I didn't see any results in a pH change of leaving a window open for 3+ hours. Plus that is only a temporary band-aid solution. you cant consistently leave a window open year round. If I can have the consistency of 8.2x at night and 8.3x during the day ill gladly pay the couple dollars a week it cost me in media to run a co2 scrubber! Running the line to fresh air would obviously be the best way possible. But for those who are unable to draw fresh air into a skimmer, the scrubber is definitely the best way to go imo.

It's cool man. I was just channeling my inner pre-coffee smart ass.

 

We live in FL and people here are freaking out about 50f. degree weather right now. My oldest and her Grandmother just jetted up to visit with family in Buffalo, NY yesterday. She woke up in FL complaining about the cold and I got a text from her last night that it was 2 degrees in Clarence, NY when they landed. It's probably -10 there now. With 34" of snow in Erie, PA (four hours drive from her) yesterday, i'm sure she's thinking about being a stow away on the next flight back down to FL.

[rO.oster]

where did you buy the c02 scrubbing material?

[MuffinMonster]

On 1/25/2018 at 10:07 PM, rO.oster said:

where did you buy the c02 scrubbing material?

BRS co2 absorbent. I heard you can get it cheaper from places if you buy in a 5gal bucket bulk. But I went with brs to start to test it out.