Low PH - I need advice

[Jasno999]

Well I tested my water parameters yesterday and came to foudn out that my PH is way off. It was well below the 8.2 mark and I think it is almost near neutral.

I also checked my akalinity and that was perfect and in range. Everyhting else seems ok I need to get some new tests kits for my nitrite and nitrate. But Phosphate was at 0.1 so that was good as well.

I did a 30% water change to get some new saltwater itno the tank. However I have no idea why my PH drops down like that.

What shoudl I do? What can I purchase to add to the tank to keep the PH in range? What can I check?


This tank is a 10 gallon tank with:

1 bubble coral
1 small leather
2 plusing zenia
Several sand polyups
1 rock with a few mushrooms
1 damsel
1 brittle star
And a few snails and hermits.

I currently have a 96W power quad light on it with 10K bulb. I also have a pengin old stype bio-wheel filter running with carbon filter and some PO3 remover in a media bag in the filter as well.

I also have about 10-12lbs of live rock in the tank. The tank has been runing for abotu 8 months with coral in it and for over a year and a half since it was first setup woth live rock. (yup I waited like 8 months before I added coral to it)

[Ninong]

Well I tested my water parameters yesterday and came to foudn out that my PH is way off. It was well below the 8.2 mark and I think it is almost near neutral.

It can't possibly be "almost near neutral" (7.0 pH) or you would have a lot of dead animals on your hands.

I also checked my akalinity and that was perfect and in range.

What was the reading? I don't know what "perfect and in range" means??? If your pH was near 7.0, then I suspect your alkalinity might not be "perfect."

But Phosphate was at 0.1 so that was good as well.

Phosphate should be <0.03 ppm. Phosphate levels of 0.05 ppm and above have been shown to retard the growth of coralline algae.

I did a 30% water change to get some new saltwater itno the tank. However I have no idea why my PH drops down like that.

It's perfectly normal for pH to fluctuate in our aquaria. It will drop at night due to respiration and then rise during the day when the lights are on. It would be nice to keep it between 8.0-8.4 but it is only a serious problem if it drops below 7.8 or rises above 8.6 and if you can keep it between 7.9-8.5, then you don't really have a problem.

[Dazza888]

r u sure the test kit is not spolit or past its use-by date? ph of 7 wud wipe out almost the entire tank

[leebca]

You may be able to resolve the test kit/test results by testing the freshly made saltwater before you use it to make a water change.

What is your source water? You can check the source water for pH also.

Good luck!

[Jasno999]

I will re-run my tests tonight but the test kit that I had Seachem did nto even register when I did the test. So I assume it is lower than it is supposed to be. When I added the drop of the stuff to check PH the water color stayed clear. I then tried their sample water and that worked and the drop turned that water to the color that reflecrted 8.2 or 8.3 on the chart.

As for the ALK test I forget the exact number but it was in the range stated on the test card. I will re-run the tests tonight and I will give you exact numbers.

Somehting is jsut not right and I knwo my PH is low.

However since I jsut did a 30% water change my PH may now be raised back up. I will stil ldo the tests to see what they say.

[Jasno999]

Well my source water is from a RO kit I have installed on my sink. SO the water out of that is nice and clean and has a neutral PH from the last tiem I tested it. But after I mix the salt with the water the PH typically goes u pto the 8.2 mark. I can re-check this as well.

My tap water however does have high PO3 levels.

Sorry about my first post I had an error. My PO3 levels read 0.01 not 0.1 it was jsut a misstype.

[dibenni]

something is obviously off here - as stated by others above - i would expect that if the ph was that far off: 1) you would have alot of dead animals in your tank and 2) your alkalinity would also be off.

however, if you do need to raise the ph then i would recommend a buffer, such as the following:

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_searchitem.asp

before you use one of these though, make sure it is safe for fish/corals, as i have only used it when starting up a tank to get the ph to the proper level, with no fish or corals in the tank. once it is up in the 8.0 to 8.4 range - it should stay there.

[Jasno999]

ok just did a check. Now I did a 30% water change yesterday so that changes everyhting. But today all is good.

PH was 8.4 and the ALK was at 5.5 meq/L

So looks good. and the corals look really happy today. Not sre what was wrong before but the water change fixed it for now.

[Ninong]

The 8.4 pH is fine but I wouldn't let the alkalinity get any higher than where it is now -- 5.5 mEq/l, 15.4 dKH. That's a bit on the high side and it could have a negative effect on your calcium level. A safer range for alk would be 8-12 dKH. My personal preference is for 10-12 dKH.