Chronic Low PH due to Gas Heat

[Lazylivin]

Hope someone with some advanced knowledge of the affects on PH in the aquarium and GAS Heat can help me with this one.

All Winter I have had chronically low PH. I have noticed that the colder it is outside the more my gas heater runs the lower my PH is. We have had a few warmer days were my PH has returned to normal range.

I currently doing the following things to keep PH as high as possible:
-Have a air pump outside running tubing to an air stone is sump to help oxgenate the water.
- Using KALK
- Have basement window cracked where my heater is
- Running ALK at 10dkh
- Running reverse light cycles between two tanks and sump "all connected" so there is always a light on.

Each has helped but still not where it should be - PH is running from 7.65 - 7.95

I have a RK2 with pinpoint probe calibrated with 7 and 10 calibration fluid and a Milwaukee handheld PH meter. Also purchased a Salifert PH test kit. So I am pretty confident that the PH stated above is correct.

Total water volume between two tanks and sump is about 90 gallons. I do a 15 gallon water change every other week.
I also dose two part about 75ML of Ca and Alk each day in addition to the KALK. Mag gets about 100ml per day. Using BRS products.

Parameters are:
Ca 400-425
Mag 1250-1350
Nutrients and Nitrate not detectable

My tanks is all SPS and a couple of small fish. I feed very little. Once a day and sometimes skip a day.

Also want to add that the SPS are growing fine but colors are not as good as they could be. Maybe due to low PH.

Lighting is:
2x250w MH 20k on the 55g tank.
1x96w 10k power compact on sump
1x400w 14k on 33 gallon grow out tank

Any input would be appreciated.

[bertoni]

If you're using kalk for all the calcium and alkalinity supplementation, then there's not much to do on that front. Another option would be to consider having a lighted refugium with a lot of macroalgae growth. That can help. Fresher air is hard to arrange, but would help, too. Running an airline into the skimmer might be more effective than just the airstone, if more air could be pumped, but many people have low pH even with such a setup.

[Lazylivin]

Thanks for the response. Unfortunatley the skimmer I have "Aqua C Remora" does have an air inlet. I may replace it with something that does soon. Need the funds ;)

[kgross]

Put a larger airpump outside and a larger airstone in the tank.

Also you need to check and make sure you furnace is drafting correctly and has a fresh air intake. Not only could it be putting extra CO2 in to the house, but it could be putting some CO in the air as well.

Kim

[Origami2547]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14476878#post14476878 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kgross

Also you need to check and make sure you furnace is drafting correctly and has a fresh air intake. Not only could it be putting extra CO2 in to the house, but it could be putting some CO in the air as well.

Kim

Good point, Kim. If the furnace is not drafting correctly or if you have a heat exchanger problem, you may have a CO problem as well which could be a bad thing. You may want to run by the hardware store and pick up a CO monitor for safety's sake.

My fish room shares space with my gas furnace and my pH runs consistently around 8.3 with a typical 0.05 diurnal swing. I have about 300 gallons in system and run a calcium reactor, but also have a kalk stirrer running and fresh air being pulled into my skimmer to balance things out. I also run my fuge and frag tank in a reverse light cycle from the 180 gallon display (which not only stabilizes my pH but also temperature).