water ph

Hello, this is the second time i do a water change and my PH drops from 8.2 to almost 7.8, is that normal, i try to raise it w/ seachem reef buffer, and it usualy takes up to 3 days. But my question is why it drops so much and it'll be OK for my stock. everything else is in normal range.

 

I don't wanna steer you the wrong direction here....but I never rely on Ph. Maybe thats bad though. I check Calcium and Alk. They always seem to stay high for some reason.

I would be more concerned with the Ammonia, Nitrates, Salinity,temp....

maybe more experience will jump in..!!

Scoffer

 

Have you tested your new water prior to adding it?

 

How many gallons of water do you change?

John

 

My water is Catalina water, and no I haven't check it prior to add in the tank, i also made a 2 gal water change. Ammonia nitrate, and nitrites are 0 each alk is at 11 , sepc g. is 1.026 and calcium 540. I check PH yesterday at night and it was at 8.2

 

Do you airate your water before adding it? I would test your change water prior to adding it to the tank. I would then try adding an air pump to the water for a couple of hours before you add it to your tank, just to see it O2 can bump the PH a bit

J

 

Thank's Jason, no i haven't done any of what you mention, I'm doing a water change this weekend and I'm going to airatethe water, for a wile, about the air pump I will have to get one. Also i read about matching your new water temp to the current one, the only way I can think of doing that is trough microwave am I correct?

 

I use a small aquarium heater.

Your salinity will very greatly with temperature.
This is what I usually do.
Fill a 10G bucket with RO/DI water. put a heater and a maxijet power head in the water. Wait until my water is 79F then start adding salt until I reach the desired SG. Add an air pump for about 1 hr. then perform the water change

J

 

Hey Jason, i did what you mention in your first statement, i let the water airate for couple of hrs, then i place a heater in water, then i pour it on tank, i use CATALINA water so i don't mess w/ adding salt, salinity is normal but PH droped again to 7.8. I also check the CATALINA water and PH was 8.4, so I don't know what is going on.

 

As Jason pointed out, the water PH can vary dependant on the amount of CO2 it contains. To drive out the CO2 you can simply aerate the water with an airstone and the PH will normally adjust if thats the problem.

As an experiment, take out some of the Catalina water and aerate it for 24 hours and see if there is a PH difference between aerated water and unaerated water.

John