Surface Agitation will raise or lower PH?
- Thread starter jimrawr
- Start date
newtank
Member
OK, I'll make a lame attempt at thinking out loud...The air you expel has CO2, CO2 lowers PH, so if there is a lot of CO2 in your house, like say in the winter, maybe the agitation would exchange gases and lower your PH, to what scale would depend on a number of things, maybe it's negledgible. You need surface agitation anyway...how else do you get shimmer lines???
When i first set up my tank i had a hood and my ph was low. Changed lights and went to open top, ph went to normal range. 8.2 http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1309457
Yeah, after rereading the article, it seems like it depends on the CO2 level in you home. Since I live in Florida, the house is always closed up with the air running. As such, for me, I have a higher level of CO2 in my house.
But I still run an open top aquarium with good PH numbers. I must have gotten confused because I remember reading that protein skimmers lower PH.
But I still run an open top aquarium with good PH numbers. I must have gotten confused because I remember reading that protein skimmers lower PH.
The direction and extent of the effect depends on whether your tank has an excess or a deficiency of CO2 relative to the air. More aeration with home air can either raise or lower pH, and there are many tanks around which do either, and may even have different responses at different times of the day.
FWIW, I discuss how and why it can raise and lower pH in these articles:
Low pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm
High pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.htm
Low pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm
High pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.htm
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