Anyone having a hard time keeping pH up?

[jasonrusso]

The title says it. I run the airline to my skimmer outside because I run my central air from April to October.

Usually my tank goes from about 8.0 at night to 8.3 just before lights out. The last few days I am topping out around 8.1 in the evening and 7.9 at night. I assume that is normal because the air is so humid and hot. I don't want to add alk to balance it because my all is between 8-8.4 (where I want it).

 

[reefstarter]

That's where mine is and that's fine

 

[MarvinsReef]

Ever since the start of this heat wave and with my windows closed up and AC on I am dealing with the same issues. All my levels are where they should be and I have the skimmer getting air from outside. The pH is 7.95 max during the day and as low as 7.79 at night. Waiting to see with a cool down on Saturday and windows open what the change in pH will be. I try not to worry since everyone says do not chase the pH. I just do not like 7.79 at night.

 

[Johnson556]

I'm having the same thing go on, my only concern is that because of the drop in PH my coral growth has slowed and my steady 8.5dKH has jumped to 9.3dKH in the past week... Quite annoying, playing the calibration game again. Need my PH to go back to sitting at 8.2 ASAP, been around 7.85 for over a week

 

[jasonrusso]

I'm not going to change anything, my alk is where is want it and I guess that is much more important. Like you said, I don't like the low pH numbers, haha.

 

[joe0813]

Yep with the central air on my ph has dropped from 8.2 during the day to 7.8ish

 

[gurumasta]

A/C on and pH normally 8.1 - 8.3 is now 7.8 -8.1. Alk also increased a little I'm not sure what causes that?

Not sweating the pH but the alk thing is a little strange...

 

[Chris A.]

Ph drops makes corals grow slower so they utilize less alk and since you keep dosing the same amount it creeps up

 

[stingythingy45]

I rarely test PH. I consider it a none issue like nitrite.
As long as Alk is ok I'm good with it.

 

[jasonrusso]

I rarely test PH. I consider it a none issue like nitrite.
As long as Alk is ok I'm good with it.

I don't test pH either, my Apex tells me

The only reason I ever look at it is incase something big happened (doser stuck on, dead fish, etc).

Normally when it starts creeping down I test my alk and it is a bit low. Not the case right now

 

[Chris A.]

When they say “ don’t chase ph” they mean don’t try to go higher than your tank makes it. If you’re tank changes the ph your alk will definitely change as well as a result.

 

[Cpage101]

Yup since the humidity came in PH has been lower than normal. Mine usually runs 8.22-8.23 by lights out time.

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[jasonrusso]

Looks like my graph. I'm also glad to see that I am not the only one who has 0.3-0.4 swings.

 

[Cpage101]

Looks like my graph. I'm also glad to see that I am not the only one who has 0.3-0.4 swings.

As long as alk is stable and everything is happy its all good


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[dz6t]

I normally dont worry about low pH as studies showed that low pH has little impact on stony coral growth that it can go as low as 7.6.
Coral maintains its internal pH.
I wont do anything as long as pH is around 8, and below 8.4.
High temperature can cause stony coral to slow down its growth due to heat stress.


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[dz6t]

AC recirculate air which can lead to hight CO2 level in the house and in turn drops the pH.


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[jasonrusso]

AC recirculate air which can lead to hight CO2 level in the house and in turn drops the pH.


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I noticed this when I first turned the central air on in April. I ran the skimmer air line outside and it took care of the "problem." It wasn't until this week that the air outside was just too poor to prop up the pH.

So you think that as long as pH is above 7.6, no issue as long as kH is good?

 

[dz6t]

Yes. I don’t think it is an issue.


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[dz6t]

When pipe in outside air, make sure the inlet is far away from
any exhaust port such as for hot water heater.


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[jasonrusso]

When pipe in outside air, make sure the inlet is far away from
any exhaust port such as for hot water heater.


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Not even close, but good tip.