Maintaining pH

[[17]shawn[17]]

For the past week my aquarium has been going through some really weird pH swings i was wondering if someone can help me trouble shoot
My alk is 10.5 with my tetra test and 11.2 with my salifert. In the mornings my ph is 7.6 and gets to a maximum 0f 8.0 during the day. I have a kalk reactor in line with my ATO i have tried products by seachem to raise my pH it but the next day its back down, any suggestions?

[kcochran0010]

Keeping up on water changes and having good water flow and good "Gas exchange" should maintain good ph. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just here trying to learn and this is what I got from reading stuff but not sure if its 100% correct!

[RVANANO]

Do you have a light on your sump? If you don't, having one on your sump that cuts on when your display lights cut off will help stabilize it.

Mine fluctuates from 7.85-8.03 from night to day even with a light on the sump/fuge. I think that is pretty normal but others may chime in to confirm.

[phuzzykins]

How are you measuring pH? If you're using a probe, when was the last time you calibrated it, and how was it calibrated?

At 10.5 dKH it's pretty hard to get to a pH of 7.6, even with elevated co2, and especially difficult if you have a kalk reactor. Since you've gotten confirmation of your alk, I'd check to make sure that your pH readings are accurate.

[[17]shawn[17]]

Keeping up on water changes and having good water flow and good "Gas exchange" should maintain good ph. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just here trying to learn and this is what I got from reading stuff but not sure if its 100% correct!
I do weekly water changes of 10% my flow is very strong

Do you have a light on your sump? If you don't, having one on your sump that cuts on when your display lights cut off will help stabilize it.
Mine fluctuates from 7.85-8.03 from night to day even with a light on the sump/fuge. I think that is pretty normal but others may chime in to confirm.
In my sump/frag section i have a LED fixture that comes on as soon as my MH turns off

How are you measuring pH? If you're using a probe, when was the last time you calibrated it, and how was it calibrated?

At 10.5 dKH it's pretty hard to get to a pH of 7.6, even with elevated co2, and especially difficult if you have a kalk reactor. Since you've gotten confirmation of your alk, I'd check to make sure that your pH readings are accurate.
I am using a probe to measure my pH ,i bought it 2 weeks ago. i had the same thinking process as you so i calibrated today and it was spot on. Im going to try with a test kit tonight though

[phuzzykins]

Do you have an air pump and air stone? If you do, take a cup of your tank water and aerate it heavily for an hour, then check the pH. If the pH has been raised significantly, then you need to get better gas exchange in your tank.

If it's still low, take it outside, aerate it again, and measure the pH. If the pH has been raised significantly, then you need to get more fresh air into your house. If it's still low, then either your alk or pH readings are incorrect.

[phuzzykins]

Oh, and of course, measure the pH in a cup of your tank water to rule out electrical interference messing with the pH meter while it's in the tank.

[[17]shawn[17]]

Do you have an air pump and air stone? If you do, take a cup of your tank water and aerate it heavily for an hour, then check the pH. If the pH has been raised significantly, then you need to get better gas exchange in your tank.

If it's still low, take it outside, aerate it again, and measure the pH. If the pH has been raised significantly, then you need to get more fresh air into your house. If it's still low, then either your alk or pH readings are incorrect.

okay so i followed your directions but i did it for a half hour inside and a half hour by a open window, the ph stayed 7.7 the whole time
i triple checked my alk with my 2 testkits and i averaged 10.2
i double checked my calibration and it was spot on
i also tested with my pH testkit the colour was suposed to be light blue for 7.5 but mine was greenish blue and far off from the beep blue 8.0, tomorrow i will be buying a new pH kit and Alk kit maybe, im going to bring my meter in to the lfs to see if i can test their water to compair
this is really stressing me out because i can not logicly figure this out the only thing i can think of, is when i topped off the kalk reactor some supersaturated kalk (really white water) got in to the tank but that would just raise my pH and alk

[phuzzykins]

Those results aren't adding up... one of them is wrong. :)

If you haven't already done so, here's a good article to read: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.php

[[17]shawn[17]]

thanks i have had a look at that article this morning
i have to agree with you something is very wrong here,on a good note 2 hours after a 10% water change at 12pm i hit 7.9 that is pretty good considering its the middle of my night cycle
anyways one more thing im going to check tomorrow is the voltage going in to my meter there is quite a bit of corrosion/ oxidation on the outside of the conector thingy <- (quite scidntific wording)

im going to try another waterchange tomorrow and see where that gets me, then im going to check the voltage, then im going to take the meter to the LFS then im going to buy new testkits (online) it will take a couple days for me to get them but i am on a mission to figure this out

im a second year environmental technology student currently on a co-op term so as of september im not in classes, so if i cant figure this out at home im going to fire off some e-mails to my profs and see if i can get some lab time to play around with some water samples and see if i can test using REAL lab equipment

[[17]shawn[17]]

well i did everything i said i would do today and it turns out my pH really was that low so i just gaveup

i switched out my old sump for a new sump and hooked up my new skimmer and what do i see when i plug in my meter 8.1 :) yay! and tonight at 12:01 im at 7.9 so i think somehow my problem is fixed

[sirreal63]

I stopped chasing PH numbers many years ago, it can make you batty. The PH swings have never seemed to effect any livestock, other than me.

[[17]shawn[17]]

I stopped chasing PH numbers many years ago, it can make you batty. The PH swings have never seemed to effect any livestock, other than me.

i agree sometimes its better to just not know, i havent checked my amonia nitrate nitrite since april i know they should be 0 so unless my livestock/coral are looking stressed or something isnt right i dont bother, but recently i have been trying to stay on top of my Mg Alk and Ca and pH to help coral growth

[sirreal63]

PH by itself won't help coral growth and adding buffers can actually make things worse. Keep the alk, calcium and mag in check and the rest of the chemistry will take care of itself. Don't try to alter the PH chemically with buffers, gas exchange and the kalk are good enough, and once you stop worrying about the PH, you will feel better. None of your livestock is worried about the PH.

[allsps40]

Ph swings from night to day is normal. If your alk and ca is good but ph is always low you have an improper carbonate/bicarbonate ratio. This is not unusual in reef aquariums, come from a build up of organic acids from wastes. I had this same problem a while back. I use Aquaviro Balance to raise ph when this happens. It raises ph without changing alk or ca. I use Kent 2 part for daily alk and ca dosing, swithing to Bionic or BRS 2 parts soon.

[[17]shawn[17]]

okay so i got my new alk test kit to replace my (2) that were about two years old and well...i found my problem haha

my alk is really high like above 16 sooo i think i have a Ca+ issue that means i get to buy a calcium test kit too now yay! anyone agree that it may be my Ca and the reason im seeing low pH is because of slowed metabloic processes?