Test Results Ph Needs to go up a bit !!!

[Civicdemon]

Ok Here are my results for today.

Salinity 1.025
Temp 79.2
Mg. 1340
KH between 7 and 8
Ca. 440
Phos. No change so i say 0

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate maybe 2 if that

PH was close to 7.8 maybe 7.9 this is about 2 hours of blues lights on and 1 hour with whites on. Thing is my Refugium light is on 24/7 so it should be Higher.

Im trying to get it at about 8.2 and keep it there.

Im thinking about doesing with Baking Soda, But i forget What is the right way to do it so it brings Ph Up ??

Do i put it in the oven a 350 for an hour or not. Couse i know one way brings KH up and lowers PH and the other brings both up Right ???

 

[Smitty]

I'm not sure which way is the correct way... but your tank may need more oxygen to help with the ph. Make sure you don't have a lid on the tank, and you're getting a good ripple effect on the water surface. You can even open a window in the room with the tank. When I had my old tank, I ran an airline tube from outside to the tank, so that it constantly got fresh air.

 

[Smitty]

And 7.9 isn't bad, it's within acceptable range... as long as it's consistent and not fluctuating, I wouldn't stress over it.

 

[Civicdemon]

What do you mean ran an airline Tube From outside to the tank. Line a Bubler or Something els ??/. i have good riples on the top of my tank and its a open top tank so it should be fine. Not sure why its so low its on the verge of being a 7.8 that has me worried. everything els looks good do just PH.

 

[Smitty]

Since my tank was about 2-3 feet from a window, I took some airline tubing and stuck one end outside the window and placed the other end in the tank. That way, my tank always had fresh air. Not saying that's your issue, but it helped me back in the day.

 

[Civicdemon]

O wow sounds good my tank is pretty far from a window. Does it matter how long the tubing is ??? I was also looking at the media from BRS that is co2 absorber that just lets good oxigen thru and not the bad stuff

 

[Smitty]

Nope, it doesn't matter how long the tubing is. But just cracking a window should help.I keep a window cracked in my front room all day, even while it's cold as heck in Chicago.

 

[Civicdemon]

Yeah i usually open the front door and and the window in the kichen to air out the house. You think it will help if i run a loner tube out of the stand ???

 

[Smitty]

It might help, try it out for a few days.

 

[Smitty]

How old are your test, and what brand are you using? Because your test kit might be giving inaccurate readings too.

 

[Civicdemon]

Test are not old at all, Maybe 6 months tops and Im using the API test kit for PH. I might start adding a bit more Kalk to my top off. since my calcium has ben going down a bit. that should actually help. I useto add 2 teespons for 5 gallons but my calcium shot up to over 500 so i went down to about 1/4 teespoon for every 10 gallons of tope off water and use it during the week. i think im going to go up to 1 teespoon for the 10 gallons and go from there that will still be less than half of what i originally started using.

 

[Smitty]

Yeah, I've learned that those as api ph test aren't the best, imo. But I think your ph is fine, as long as it's stable.

 

[Civicdemon]

yeah i know the one i had for calcium really suked but i havent heard anything about the ph one. im going to get a PH probe from amazon to make sure my Ph is where it is before i do anything rash.

 

[Steveg229]

Once you check your ph with the probe, let us know what it is. I use the api test kit as well and my ph is always approx 8.0. Never seems to fluctuate. Just curious if the api is accurate or not.

 

[FishyReef]

What kind of skimmer do you have? I've found that how well your skimmer works also affects pH because of how well it bubbles and oxygenates the water. I also know a local reefer (reefkeeper2 on RC) who had a very hard time keeping his pH up and he resorted to making a DIY pH reactor - I wish I could explain the set up he had but it basically used air stones in a thin tube inside a bucket inside his sump to create a ton of extra bubbles and flow. If you google his youtube videos or RC thread you might be able to find discussions and pictures of it.

 

[Civicdemon]

Well for now i ran a hose to the skimmer and out of the stand to see if that helps. Everything is open in my house so it will air out and i will check the reading in a couple hours. As far as the probe goes looking into getting one soon.
My skimmer is a sc aquariums 302 skimmer rated for 180gl. It creates lots of bubles and works good.

I was thinking of getting tje brs reactor with the co2 obsorving media that hooks up to the skimmer.

 

[AmberSunrise]

I say leave it alone mine is 7.8 always for years and every time I monkey around with that I lose a fish or stress out corals.

 

[salt_for_brains]

I agree 7.8 is acceptable and keeping it stable is more beneficial then trying to raise it a couple tenths.