ph polyp extensions

[justy]

I recently piped the air intake to my skimmer outside I suspect the phone has risen but I did not test before I did it so do not know what the ph was. It is now about 8.3 during the day.
The question is would the supposed rise in ph cause dramatic decrease in polyp extensions?
The only other thing I have done is add a small amount of gfo but measurable po4 has only concern. Email down from 0.08 to 0.06 so not a big drop.
Has any body else seen reduced pe with an increase in ph?

Many thanks Justin

 

[inktomi]

A sudden change might stress them. I could certainly see them taking some time to adjust to a higher PH. Outside air can raise it noticeably and quickly - even just opening windows - as I'm sure you know.

 

[justy]

Yes thanks! this is my suspicion.
Just wondering if anyone has first hand experience with this happening?
Thanks again inktomi.

 

[Piper27]

I notice mine rises about .2 when I open the windows after having the house closed for a long time. I don't see a slight or even good rise in pH being a problem or causing stress. Did you test phosphates before the gfo was added? Have you ran gfo before?

 

[justy]

Yes phosphates were are 0.08 tested yesterday and it was 0.06 so not a massive drop. I only run gfo periodically.
My ph may well of risen by much more than 0.2
Unfortunately I will never know unless I pipe the skimmer air intake back under the sump.

 

[inktomi]

Have you tested alk lately? I've heard of adding GFO having an effect on alk levels and that can irritate coral for sure..

 

[justy]

Alkalinity is rock steady at 7.6
Just wish I had measured ph before the air intake change over.
I'm getting a 0.4 ph swing from day to night now.
I may well of brought ph up considerably more than this when I plumbed the intake outside? I will never know unless I put the intake back but this may stress the corals more?

 

[justy]

Thanks piper I'm going to turn the gfo reactor off and test the theory that it's the gfo that's causing the lack of pe?
Thanks Justin

 

[justy]

I'm now thinking it must be the rise in ph.
My tank has ran for three years with the skimmer air intake in the sump cabinet which is enclosed.
Ph must of been relatively low for this period and as a result all the inhabitants will of adapted to the ph including the resident bacteria colony and corals.

I just wonder if this rise in ph has shocked everything.

What does every body think? The ph yesterday late afternoon was 8.43

Thanks Justin.

 

[crawlerman]

If everything was fine with the air intake in the cabinet, why not just move it back? You could run a refugium or just some macro in your sump with the lights on opposite times, that should help with the day/night swing.

 

[justy]

Came home this afternoon to find another Mexican turbo snail dead that's three in as many days? I very rarely loose snails something is not right?

Please help

 

[crawlerman]

Is it possible that something was sprayed outside of the house near the intake. Pest control or weed killer. could be the stump remover too, highly doubt it is pure and could have any number of harmful things in it. Carbon, poly filters and water changes quickly before everything is dead. I would keep running the carbon and poly filters for a while after it seems clear too. Whatever it is, it probably is in your rock and sand and will keep leaching back into the water.

 

[justy]

Thanks crawlerman but it's definitely not a contaminant.
But water changes and carbon are sound advice.
I was rather hoping that some else had experienced similar affects after an increase in ph.
Thanks again.

 

[justy]

I have been reading up on polyp extension a lot recently and im wondering if it is more to do with the oxygen/Co2 balance/availability in the tank rather than the ph rise that is causing my issue of sudden polyp retraction?
Corals use there polyps for photosynthesis and gass exchange and expand or retract there polyps to increase efficiencies in these processes.
What are everybody's thoughts?

Thanks Justin