low ph due to excess co2?

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wingman6

Member
i havs been having some issues with pH and find my values to be on the lower end of the range at about 7.8 or 7.9 i tried using the kent buffer but before the ph was ok the alkalinity was high. i was reading excess co2 can lead to lower ph.

i was wondering if drawing air from inside the hood could affect this pc fans are on so i was doubting it bany other suggestions.
 
steved13

steved13

Well-Known Member
PREMIUM
7.8 is not really anything to worry about but CO2 will defintiely lower pH. If you can ventilate the room, the tank is in, it will probably make a difference.
 
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Sy101

Member
Hi, I found testing ph with red sea test kit always gave a reading of 8.4 but when I switched to using a probe my ph ranged from 7.6 night time and 7.8 day light.
After reading up I ph I thought the easiest thing to try was running rsm hood vent fans 24/7 which has brought my ph up to a constant 8.2
Easy fix only problem is I now have to top up every couple of days
 
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wingman6

Member
Thanks for all the replies. I have been monitoring using a reefkeeper v2 pH probe and have been at about 8.0 when the lights shut off and dropping to about 7.9 during the night. I have been running the fans to prevent the chiller from having to come on.

I will note the tank is in a smaller room and given the house is newer, everything is pretty well sealed. I'm guessing this is likely the issue as water changes and adding some buffer dont seem to help. Given everything is doing well, likely just live with it as is.
 
artpics

artpics

Member
Ph will drop as soon as the lights go out here is my apex graph.

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wingman6

Member
So interesting confirmation the other day...

pH has been jumping between 7.9 at night before lights on and 8.0 after lights on. I've just been letting it stay at this level and not really worrying about it as everything in the tank seems happy.

The other night two friends crashed a my place in the tank room with the door closed at about 2 am, about 1 hr after the light when off. On my reefkeeper, you could see the pH drop a bit after lights out and then plummet over the course of the night to around 7.65 or so through the course of the night.

I woke up in the morning thinking man my pH meter is off or something else happened, recal'd the meter (which i might added changed the reading by about 0.1 or so) and couldn't figure it out. pH came back up a bit and is now sitting between 7.7 and 7.8. pretty sure the excess CO2 from 2 people caused this.

Anyone think i should try to bring up the pH a bit or just see how it goes?
 
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