Alright so to start off I do have corals living in the tank and are doing well, but it concerns me that my ph is at 7.8. I do not have any fish currently, but I am trying to figure out why the ph will drop to this range. I do water changes weekly and have 2 types of salt mix. 1 being IO and the other is marin pro salt. I checked the ph on the marin pro salt mix and it comes out to 8.4 but I have not checked the IO, currently I am trying to get rid of the IO so I am using that till it is gone. I do run the coralife biocube skimmer but it hasn't worked the same since I started to use a media reactor (gfo/carbon). I'm curious to what's going on and how to fix this even though things are going fine. The test kits I use are the api ones and I strongly dislike the nitrate kit due to the colors being to close to compare. In the end I would like some insight as to why my ph would lower to what it is. I have read that it is poor air quality in the house that could cause this but usually when they mix their salt the ph would be low to begin with. Any help is appreciated, I do run a 12 hour light cycle as well not sure if that helps.
Ph problems
- Thread starter Ejb
- Start date
Never mind ph, as a rule. In some houses or with the tank near a furnace it can be an issue, but usually it's not a problem, or at least, not the problem that most needs fixing. Check your alkalinity, and if it's under 7.9 (range is 7.9 to 9: I keep mine at 8.3) use dkh buffer (Kent) to bring it into range. THat should also fix any ph problem.
ReeferNoob4ever
New member
How old is your tank? Sometimes the cycle can raise co2.
Ron Reefman
Active member
Of all the parameters we can test for, IMO pH is the one you need to worry about the least. And yes, 7.8 is at the low end, but it's not a problem. And pH can change by the hour, usually higher during the time the lights are on (algae doing photosynthesis and using CO2 out of the water) and lower at night. If the atmosphere inside your house has a slightly elevated CO2 level, like when it's closed up in the winter or under A/C in the summer, CO2 levels go up and your pH will go down a bit.
You might set a power head to make more water motion at the surface, this will help with gas exchange, CO2 out of the water and oxygen into the water.
You might set a power head to make more water motion at the surface, this will help with gas exchange, CO2 out of the water and oxygen into the water.
highlite2nice
New member
I agree 7.8 is not a problem, plenty of people have lower ph then the desired 8.2, the key is stability. you can open up a window in your house and see if the ph goes up it it does it is a co2 problem. You can get a co2 scrubber or run a airline from your skimmer to outside, but make sure you dont chase ph let it be if you can raise.
