ph question

Rambler67

Non-member
So my ph has been low dropping to 7.8 at night and maxing out around 7.9 during the day. Assumed it was just a lack of oxygen i tried opening the windows witch it helped jumped up to 8.2 during the day with the widows open. I ran a line outside for the skimmer. Witch its running 8 at night and 8.1 during the day. Would like it a touch higher and other suggestions to help get it up.
 
At 9.1
 

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I think your pH is in a fine range now (I actually haven't checked mine in years). Just to be clear, the reason you were able to raise the pH with fresh air was not due to oxygen levels in the tank, but rather the build up of carbon dioxide in the air around the tank or sump.
 
I think your pH is in a fine range now (I actually haven't checked mine in years). Just to be clear, the reason you were able to raise the pH with fresh air was not due to oxygen levels in the tank, but rather the build up of carbon dioxide in the air around the tank or sump.


Thats what I figured just wondering if there was any other tricks with out flat out opening windows in the house. We have been on vacation since Sat and with no one home since then it has climbed up to close to 8.3 during the day.
 
Thats what I figured just wondering if there was any other tricks with out flat out opening windows in the house. We have been on vacation since Sat and with no one home since then it has climbed up to close to 8.3 during the day.
Already mentioned:
Run an outside air line to skimmer.
Open a window at night.

Other options:
Run a refugium on reverse schedule.
Dose Kalkwasser at night to increase Alk and pH.
Add a co2 scrubber.
Change out your skimmer for one that has a higher airflow rate.
Install a house air exchanger.
Get rid of the living people and animals in the area.
Add a massive amount of plants to your house.
 
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I went through a similar thing with the basement where my tank is. The area is getting a lot more use now. I ran an air hose from outside to my skimmer. Now I am around 8.1 after being at 7.7ish. Close enough.
 
I’ll admit that I went down this rabbit hole. After watching a BRS video about pH and growth I bought a jumbo co2 scrubber and media. I even priced out whole house air exchangers and looked into house plants.

The co2 scrubber does work and pH was going up to 8.4 or higher, but then the media exhausted and pH dropped down which in turn caused Alk to spike which in turn caused some coral losses.

Btw, I currently have my skimmer connected to outside air. My skimmer was making really loud noises so I took it offline for a couple days. As a result, pH dropped and Alk slightly spiked. I don’t test Alk too often since the tank is stable and mostly predictable. The corals looked “off” which led me to run tests including Alk. I caught the spike in time and there were no deaths.

I wouldn’t recommend chasing pH. Chasing pH has cost me hundreds of $.

But if you are interested, I can sell you a jumbo co2 scrubber ;).
 
Lol yea I do have a line run out side to my skimmer. And a fudge set up. So as long as ithe ph stays over 8 im not going to go crazy worrying about. And the other day I noticed it dropping and the and the skimmer was pulling any air had to clean it like 11 pm when I was trying to go to bed. But other than that its been stable.
 
I agree with @Badbabyfry 's note above. It is not worth chasing the pH. And lower range of 7.8 is okay. With my current tanks, I'm lucky if it hits 8.1. Usually it is between 7.85 and 8.05, and the corals are just fine. The key is stability...
 
I have my tank 5 years in the basement and I dose Kalkwasser at night time to keep mine PH from 7.8 - 8.1 corals grow and colors with no problem.
 
As sort of a spin off from all this, I became very aware of the CO2 issue in my basement so I turned it into an electronics project.

I picked up an Adafruit CCS811 Air Quality Sensor and will hook it up to one of the Arduinos I have lying around. Hopefully I will be able to set this up to alert me when CO2 is high and allow me to see how it fluctuates through the seasons, both for my tank's sake and for me working in my Covid home office.

Plus, data to play with!
 
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