PH problems

[Tallman50]

Hey all, I have been experiencing low PH problems for quite some time now. It usually drops right back down to around 7.8 a day or two after I buffer it or drip kalk. My alkalinity has also become elevated because of this at around 14-15dkh so I suspected it might be a Co2 problem.
SO....I did the Co2 test (aerating about a gallon of tank water with outside air) and it jumped to 8.3 in just a couple of hours so I instantly thought I had a Co2 problem.
Ok so I guess my question is, how would I go about aerating enough for around 230 gallons with fresh air and do so without affecting the temperature of my water??? I live in Michigan and its gonna be cold soon so I know it will seriously drop my temp.
ALSO I did get two of those long airstones and put them in my sump with a medium sized air pump and it hasnt really affected my PH at all. Am I not aerating enough???
Please help, I'm seriously thinking about giving up the hobby if I cant figure this out, and I just started 7-8 months ago. I dont feel comfortable introducing corals with my PH being so low.

My tank is totally enclosed 200 gallon with 40 gallon sump with fuge with Chaeto. All T5 lighting, Skimmer, Nitrate reactor, phosphate reactor, 2 Hydor 4's, CPR overflow, auto top off system.

Temp 78-82
PH 7.7/7.8 (night)---7.8/7.9 (day)
Nitrate- 15
Phosphate- 0
Alk- 14-15dkh
Calcium- 400-460

 

[lotus02]

How much water flow do you have?
Slow down your drip rate see if it helps. Also get your nitrates down or your going to have an even bigger problem ALGAE. Water changes and GFO will help a lot.
Are you using tap water? When you do water changes how long do you let your new water circulate before adding?

 

[falconut]

I may be incorrect, but this is what I believe: I think the aeration test you did revealed that the air in the house in higher in CO2. So, simply adding an air pump won't help, unless the pump is pulling air from outside.

You need to add outside air into the tank. I've been told that others have simply extended their skimmer air tube so that it was pulling air from outside and that worked. Maybe if you can for a test, move the air pump outside temporarily and see if that helps. I'm not sure how long you'd have to running before you'd see the change, maybe a day. If your air pump is already outside, then I'm not sure. HTH

 

[Roy G. Biv]

It can be as simple as adding house plants to the room your tank is in. I have a jungle in my house and I have a chronic 8.5-8.6 problem.

 

[Tallman50]

I have plenty of water movement, I'm using RO/DI water and I mix my salt for a few hours before I do water changes. Oh yea, and I already have an algae problem lol.
Would house plants really work? Would it be enough to lower the Co2 level that much?
Again my main question is, how do you pull in outside air without affecting your Temp?
Maybe I will have to get me an oxygen bottle lol.

 

[liquidlunch]

I have new construction and my house is as tight as a drum. I added a kalkreactor to address calcium suplimentation which in turn has "corrected" my ph issue in a round about way. Kalk has a pH ~12 so that balanced things out for me. My pH swings are 8.1-8.25 now. Without it, I dip to 7.9.