Please help!

munki

munki

Member
my ph is at 7.8. its 7 at night the pet stores are closed and even if they werent closed i still wouldnt know what to do. at my old house it was always at 8.4. the other day it was really low and since i need to raise my alk anyway i added some b ionic alk supplement and it raised it to about 8.2. but that was only a couple of days ago and its dropped a lot. please help if you can..

-thank you
 
sasquatch

sasquatch

Brunt of all Jokes~
PREMIUM
oxygenation, gas exchange, detritus leading causes of low ph, get a fan blowing on top of the tank and crack a window open.
 
goldenmean

goldenmean

Well-Known Member
Did you change salt mixes with your move?
Do you have the 2 part B-Ionic. I would use both the Alk and Calcium to raise PH.
Do you have new saltwater made up? What is its PH?

This my be the cause of the loss of your clown fish that you were asing about in your other thread this eve
 
munki

munki

Member
goldenmean said:
Did you change salt mixes with your move?
Do you have the 2 part B-Ionic. I would use both the Alk and Calcium to raise PH.
Do you have new saltwater made up? What is its PH?

This my be the cause of the loss of your clown fish that you were asing about in your other thread this eve
Click to expand...

about to do a 10 gallon water change (read it online) i will let you know what my new water in the bucket ph is. didnt change salt use 2 parts in b ionic. ill go and check now
 
Dentoid

Dentoid

Smile Maker
PREMIUM
pH 7.8 in and of itself is not bad, it's the fluctuation that is going to cause the problems. Constantly trying to adjust your pH is more harmful than letting it stabilize at a specific value.
 
Lakmo99

Lakmo99

Member
Not a big deal Munki. You could also try dripping Kalkwasser to get your calcium and PH up in the future if need be. No reason to panic in my book...
 
goldenmean

goldenmean

Well-Known Member
Scott is right. It is the fluctuation in PH that is a problem.
Go ahead and do your WC.

When are you testing your tanks PH?
PH can be a couple points higher after the lights have been on for a few hours and it can be lower after lights have been out all night.

When I use the B-Ionic 2 part I always dosed in the morning (my lights do not come on until 1pm)
 
munki

munki

Member
really? i just did a ten gallon water change and added 12 oz of calcium supplement to get my calcium up to 450 and my ph is still 7.8!

if its not a big deal then why did goldenmean say This my be the cause of the loss of your clown fish that you were asking about in your other thread this eve...

__________________
 
Lakmo99

Lakmo99

Member
Look, everyone's tank is different. My tank has been to hell and back and I haven't lost anything because of it. Last summer, my tank got up to 90 degrees once because I left a window open. A couple weeks ago, my top-off system failed and put 3 gallons of RO water mixed with kalkwasser into my tank and sent my PH up to 9.2. No adverse effects on my fish or corals.

Some people worry a little too much about their tank in my opinion. Not once have I seen someone lose a fish because of a PH that was a little too low. But like I said before, everyone's tank responds differently to things. Some people may have fish/corals die if their tank gets up to 85 degrees. I just dont think that a low PH is that big of a deal.
 
sasquatch

sasquatch

Brunt of all Jokes~
PREMIUM
here is a quote, that was quoted by Cheeks on low ph.

The first step in solving a low pH problem is to determine why it exists in the first place. Some possibilities include:

A calcium carbonate/carbon dioxide reactor (CaCO3/CO2 reactor) is in use on the aquarium.

The aquarium has low alkalinity.

The aquarium has more CO2 in it than the surrounding air due to inadequate aeration. Don't be fooled into thinking that an aquarium must have adequate aeration because its water is very turbulent. Equilibrating carbon dioxide is MUCH harder than simply providing adequate oxygen. There would be NO change in the pH between day and night if equilibration of carbon dioxide were perfect. Since most aquaria have lower pH during the night, they also are demonstrating less than complete aeration.

The aquarium has excess CO2 in it because the air in the home that it is being equilibrated with contains excess CO2.
 
Lakmo99

Lakmo99

Member
mps9506 said:
Calcium won't change your pH.
I would suggest reading this article so you have some insight as to how to better control you pH and what it will affect:
Chemistry and the Aquarium
Click to expand...

Sorry, what I meant to say was by adding kalk, your PH is going to go up and so will your calcium. I wasn't trying to imply that they directly effected each other. Sorry if I mislead anyone.
 
mps9506

mps9506

Well-Known Member
Lakmo99 said:
Sorry, what I meant to say was by adding kalk, your PH is going to go up and so will your calcium. I wasn't trying to imply that they directly effected each other. Sorry if I mislead anyone.
Click to expand...

Kalk is an excellent tool to raise and stabilize pH, and stabilize Ca. and alk. You do not want to use it to raise Ca. though. :)

Out of curiosity munki, are you running a protein skimmer and what kind of circulation do you have.
 
bluespotjawfish

bluespotjawfish

Well-Known Member
Let's get back to basics...

What is your alk level?
What is your mag level?

Alk will directly affect your pH level.
Most salts are LOW in mag. LOW mag makes it difficult to stabilize the correct alk to calcium ratios.

The first thing I would do is make sure your mag level is correct.
This will allow you to adjust the alk (and stabilize it) as needed.
If you don't have much circulation in the tank you should increase it (surface aeration in particular).

Do read the article (print hard copy, mark it up) that mps provided.

There are many more articles that are also valuable. This one specifically addresses low pH causes and cures...(print hard copy, mark it up):

Low pH: Causes and Cures by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Hope this information is helpful! Low pH is a beast!
 
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