PH Rollercoaster during vacations...CO2?

[Cubed Reefer]

Alright the issue is relatively easy to explain however where the issue is coming from is what I am trying to figure out. So here goes my story...

House is 1700sq ft, Me my wife and two dogs.
In South FL so AC is running a lot( House kept @ 73. I have a 2yr old 16 Seer Trane Unit with a whole home UV air purifier ( Sanuvox SR+ for those interested) with all new ducting etc etc. I am a clean freak so everything is done well and clean. Now with that background info into the issue at hand....

My pH is very normal when we are at home, same goes with my Calcium reactor. Tank pH goes from 8.0 to 8.2 then down and repeat. A very stable and my opinion great operating pH. My calcium reactor pH VERY stable when we are at home and everything is the norm keeping me right around 9 Dkh.

So we leave for vacation, within 24 hrs, tank stays at 8.2 pH as the low and shoots to 8.3 as high (Not bad right?) however the issue comes from my Cal reactor which its pH goes way up due to the change in tank pH from my guess and therefor tank alk plummets. I run SPS only so a large alk swing is potentially a crasher for me. We are talking from 9 to 6.9 over 3-4 days.

But when we come home it starts to level out again and within 5 days is where it was before we left. So my question is what is going on? My first thoughts were CO2 in the house but I have friends with smaller/larger tanks same amount of animals and even some kids that do not have this issue at all. SO I am trying to get some other ideas after google seemingly didn't have much as I expected. Any suggestions would be great. Also tank specs are in sig.

 

[bertoni]

I would invest in a pH controller for the reactor, most likely, or at least start with a pH probe to check whether the reactor pH is dropping. With a bit of luck, your reactor will have a port for a probe. That seems a safer approach than dosing the house with carbon dioxide.

 

[Potatohead]

Easiest way to correct is to control the ph inside the reactor with a controller or similar, which IMO is a good idea anyway. Turn on CO2 at 6.8 and off at 6.6 (depending on media) or something like that.

 

[Cubed Reefer]

To answer both Yes controller would be ideal, looking for options on the aquarium plants. I have a pH on the second reactor chamber and the pH jumped from 6.6 to 7.6 lol. I asked Randy Holmes on the other forum and he said consumption increases significantly when tank pH raises. So this would explain it but wish the aquarium plants reg self adjusted lol

 

[bertoni]

Yes, as the pH rises, the consumption should increase. Calcification is easier at higher pH levels as calcium carbonate becomes less soluble.