What would be causing my pH to fall during the day?

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by leighton1245, Oct 2, 2011.

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  1. leighton1245

    leighton1245 Horrid Stonefish

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    What would be causing my pH to fall during the day? I recently added a chiller but havent changed anything else my pH was 7.8 now its 7.75 im worried cause it drops below 7.6 at night. My tank is recovering from high ALK 14 right now an Ca is 300 which im in the process of bringing up and Mag is 1400, but no matter what i cant keep my pH stable. Any help please :)
     
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  3. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    .2 change overnight is not unusual or cause for concern. How much surface agitation do you have.
     
  4. pink4miss

    pink4miss Panda Puffer

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    kalk in your ato looks like your answer to me. your cal is low kalk will bring it up it will also bring your ph up. and stabilize both
     
  5. leighton1245

    leighton1245 Horrid Stonefish

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    I have a 750 PH point straight at the surface. what im worried about it when i did raise it to 8.03 it falls back down it shouldnt do that and at night it falls below 7.6 it was 7.57 last night. Thank you for the help
     
  6. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    It will fall during the night unless you have a large refuge with lots of algae and the light running opposite your display lights. Is the tank open top or covered?
     
  7. pink4miss

    pink4miss Panda Puffer

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    i had the same problem your having high alk low cal and low ph. ... running kalk in my ato solved it all. all is stable now. and its so easy.
     
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  9. leighton1245

    leighton1245 Horrid Stonefish

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    how do i go about running Kalk in my ato?
     
  10. m2434

    m2434 Giant Squid

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    pH in a reef tank is 100% a function of CO2 and alkalinity. If your alk is that high, you must have a lot of CO2. Kalk can help because it reacts with Co2 and maintains the alkalinity.

    I have a basement sump and there is a lot of CO2 down in the basement. It wasn't a problem until I added a bigger skimmer. The skimmer sucked in much more air and therefore CO2 and I had some low pH issue even with kalk dosing. The solution was to run the skimmer air intake hose outside of the house. Since doing so, my pH really never drops below 8.
     
  11. leighton1245

    leighton1245 Horrid Stonefish

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    Very informative thank you, so if i run kalk and increase air flow in my living room it might help? I have a HOB skimmer.
     
  12. pink4miss

    pink4miss Panda Puffer

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    i did it the bulk reef supply way. i put egg crate at the bottom of my ato water reservoir, used a double layer of egg crate, you have to keep your pump from sucking up the sludge that lays at the bottom from the kalk, thats why the egg crate . also you need a slow pump, to feed the water slow. mine feeds in my sump. thats best, feeding kalk in your display is touchy . i put a teaspoon of Kalk per each gallon of water added. after a while you get a feel for it. at times you just don't add the kalk with the water that you add.
    a ph probe of some sort helps with this. it reads your ph so at a glance you can see whats going on. i now have an apex controller and it reads it. but a pin point works well also

    honestly though i found BRS Kalk to not clear as fast when mixed, and have found kalk+2 by brightwell to clear with in an hour and work well in my ato.

    do some research into kalk, from the sounds of it its your answer. learn all you can about it before you start using it. but once you get it down its the best and cheapest way to keep things stable.