Help! Serious PH problems

[ItsMee]

I am using a just calibrated Hannah PH pen to test my PH:

after a steady kalk drip of about 1 and a half drips per second (2 tsps kalk per gallon) at night, the drip was still going steadily this morning when I checked my PH. My PH is 7.6-7.7! What the?!?! Its now 11:15 (i left the kalk dripping) and the PH is still the same. How can this be and what can I do about it? I thought that it was supposed to keep my ph in line? (75 gallon tank w/ 20 sump.)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Limewater (kalkwasser) will raise pH, but depending of the seriousness of elevated CO2 in your home air, it is not always adequate.

I'd suggest doing the aeration tests in this article:


Low pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

 

[ItsMee]

is this test still going to work even though the air outside is extremely cold? If not...what else can I do?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well, that is a complication. Try inside first.

 

[ItsMee]

Ok...ill try the test and g]report back. Thanks Randy!

 

[ItsMee]

Airstone in cup of tank water - 11:45

 

[ItsMee]

The PH is 7.6 Randy - excess c02?

 

[ItsMee]

Ok...so the cure to excess c02 is fresh air. Well my tank is in a basement and location where getting air to it from outside would be impossible. Is there any other known cures for excess c02?

 

[ItsMee]

well we have had condensation on all our windows to the point of causing a constant battle with mold. The house is so air-tight that our heaters barely even come on in the winter (gets really cold here). The PH pen is brand new and corectly calibrated. Im going to crack all the windows, turn up the heat and see if it kills two birds with one-one being mold, the other being low PH.

But if there is another way to remedy the tank's low PH besides the airline from outside and besides cracking windows, please let me know.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is there any other known cures for excess c02?

Adding limewater and aerting with fresh air are the primary ways. Are you replacing all evaporated water with saturated limewater?

But without the outside aeration, we cannot be sure that your pH measurement is accurate. What brand calibration fluid? Was it new?

 

[ItsMee]

Yes the calibration fluid is new. It is Hannah Instruments calibration fluid (im using a Hannah PH pen). After cracking every window in the house just a little bit (There is no condensation on the wondows, and my family can live with the temperature) and dripping limewater last night I noticed that at 1 in the morning the PH was 8.0 (Thats better!) and then this morning the PH is 7.9 (the drip is still dripping at the same rate as when I set it-a tiny bit over a drip-per-second) So I guess my question now is: Over time, does limewater lose its "PH punch"? How about its "CA and ALK punch"?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Over time, does limewater lose its "PH punch"? How about its "CA and ALK punch"?


You mean if you keep dosing a fresh solution every day (then no, it does not lose any of its punch),or if you leave the same solution sitting around open to the air (then yes, it can degrade as CO2 enters it).

This article has more info:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm