low ph

D

dia_cero2002

Premium Member
I have a biocube 29. 30 lbs of fiji pink live sand, 30-40lbs live rock(tufa and various other actual live rock pieces, but mostly tufa). I have a pearly jawfish and an ocellaris clown that are new to the tank. My tank was in terrible condition with old lights and the tank was dirty. I completely cleaned the tank about two weeks ago. Replaced the live sand with fiji pink from DNA and did total water change. Kept the same rocks I had before, but cleaned and washed them in salt water. My ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are at 0. Phosphate is almost non-existent. Magnesium, alkalinity,and calcium are all high. Problem is the ph is always around 7.7 to 7.8. I added kent superbuffer dkh. Only made the alkalinity go up. Ph remained the same. After doing some research I took a sample of tank water outside on the patio and aerated it using a wooden air diffuser. After about 30 minutes, I tested it and the ph was 8.3-8.4. This led me to believe that I have an overabundance of CO2 in my apartment. I bought a larger air pump and 25 feet of silicone air tubing. I left the air pump on the patio and am aerating the tank with air being pumped in from the outside for over 24 hours. Resulting ph is still 7.7-7.8. Any ideas as to what could be causing this?
 
I have done all of what you have described here with the same results. A small air pump likely cannot push enough air into the tank to make a difference. During the months that you can open the windows the pH will go up. I don't concern myself with the pH any more. Alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium at proper levels, and get fresh air in the house when possible. 7.8 is not a problem!
 
I'd really like to get the ph up to 8.3 or as close as possible. I was considering getting a tunze 9002, but that seems a bit costly to try and resolve this issue. I'm thinking of getting an mj 1200, putting it in the back chamber and connecting the air line coming from outside to it. I think it would aerate the water similar to what a protein skimmer would. Hopefully this would help get the ph up. Any suggestions or ideas?
 
I would do a search in used dry good section I have seen Tunze skimmers in there. Maxi jet with airline will not help compared to a skimmer plus the skimmer will clean the water and keep nitrates and phosphates down


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
 
Is the tunze 9002 like most skimmers where you can hook up an airline to it? I'd like to hook up the airline I have running from the outside patio to it so it gets fresh air.
 
Between the tunze 9002 and the cpr sr3, which do you think is best. I'm not really concerned with skimming ability, just which one has the most oxygen to water contact time.


@kuyatwo wrote:
 
Tunze..... If you ever have a problem they are located in Austin tx so you can get parts the next day if necessary shipped by ups ground


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
 
I just thought I'd post a follow up. My ph is finally where it should be, right at 8.3. The solution:
I bought a pondmaster ap-100 air pump, put it on the patio, and rigged it with a flat hose to run under my patio door. I drilled a one inch hole in the back of the hood and let 'er rip. My tank parameters are now perfect. Unfortunately, even the aptasia are happy. :)

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
 
I would be concerned about possible contaminants blowing through the air, and then getting sucked in to the aquarium. I guess that the same thing could happen having the house windows open, though. I would still worry about it, I think. Now that it has cooled down, we are able to open windows to get fresh air.

I know that you have spent a pretty penny for that pump, but another alternative is something that, for some reason you don't hear about on this forum, even when you ask questions about raising pH, is running soda lime. Have you heard about that? I have not used it, but several have told me that it works very well. It absorbs CO2 from the water.
David
 
I considered soda lime, however I ran a line from outside to the skimmer and it wasn't enough to make a difference in the ph so I don't think the sofa lime would make a difference since it would still be a low amount of
Gas exchange. I have the pump in an enclosure with filter floss around it. They won't be spraying for mosquitos so I think I'm safe.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top