Low pH

[kingfish83]

I have always had low ph all the time in my old 46g and now i upgraded to a 125g same problem.. Its stays about 7.9. I test it sametime of day. I have the basic setup. I have 120lbs of LR and 140 lbs of reefsand. I run a 30g sump/fug with a skimmer and a ATO. In the fug i use cheto. I do put kalk in the topoff been. Is there a way to get my pH up?

[oscar.millan]

First thing I would do is check your Ph with another test kit or Ph probe. I find this to be the most important piece of the puzzle and often overlooked. If you can confirm the result again there are a number of things you can do to bring your Ph up.

Randy has a bunch of articles on this and goes into deep detail.

To raise Ph you mus determine why you have a low Ph.

If it's a CO2 issue, aerating the water to remove excess CO2 will raise the Ph.

Also, try adjusting the amount of kalk and the saturation of the kalk in order to bring it up. I found that potent, freshly mixed Kalk (Ph 12) did a very good job of keeping my Ph up.

Just a few suggestions to get your started, I would recommend reading Randy's articles.

[kingfish83]

in my old tank at my old place i ran a line from outside to the skimmer. It did nothing for the pH. I mean half a gallon of top w/ kalk does nothing so far. Where do i find Randy's articles on pH?

[oscar.millan]

That's okay, we've at least determined that it's not a CO2 issue from what you're saying. I would make sure that you are adding fully saturated kalk. Also, you are limited by the amount of evaporation, but adding more than half a gallon would be better.

Here is the link to Randy's article:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.php

I googled it for you.

[pdfb55]

are you running a Ca reactor?

[kingfish83]

Nope

[rs1831]

Are you dosing anything for alk?

[jimsplace]

7.9 is not bad. If you keep chasing the numbers your asking for trouble. Stay with fresh outside air and kalk (2 tsp/gallon), if that doesn't work I'd be suprised. My tank ran for years at 7.8-7.9 and probably lower at night before I started kalk.