PH fluctuates

[discretekarma]

Now that I have my AC3 hooked up I am able to see that my PH is fluctuating alot more than I realized during the night despite having my fuge light on throughout the night. At points in the night and early morning, my PH was as low as 6.9 and stayed in the low 7's most of the night.

 

What can I do to prevent this? I don't have a kalk stirrer or calcium reactor yet. Should I be dosing my two part at another time other than late morning/early afternoon?

 

Thanks

[ArtC]

1) What is your pH during the day - how much is it fluctuating?

 

2) what is your alkalinity? Alkalinity buffers pH.

 

3) did you calibrate your pH sensor prior to panicking?

 

Now that I have my AC3 hooked up I am able to see that my PH is fluctuating alot more than I realized during the night despite having my fuge light on throughout the night. At points in the night and early morning, my PH was as low as 6.9 and stayed in the low 7's most of the night.

 

What can I do to prevent this? I don't have a kalk stirrer or calcium reactor yet. Should I be dosing my two part at another time other than late morning/early afternoon?

 

Thanks

Edited December 31, 2007 by ArtC

[ReeferMan]

Kalk Reactor or two part will help. 6.9 and low 7's is not good at all. Are you sure your probe is calibrated or working right?

[scott711]

many people add kalk at night to maintain a higher ph

[discretekarma]

I know my probe is calibrated. During the day it's 8.1 - 8.2 and even though I used calibration fluid I still did a manual test just to make sure.

 

My Alk is at 10

 

If I add the Alk at night will it likely help keep my levels higher through the morning?

[dhoch]

I'm guess you have a interferance problem...One of your ballasts is changing the readings either during the day or at night.

 

Quick test:

 

Check pH today... Turn of all lights check pH... turn on refugium light check pH

 

Let us know what you find...I'm betting dollars to donughts that one of your ballasts is interfering with the pH.

 

Dave

[davelin315]

Wow, didn't know that these things could get ballast interference. Is that with all ballasts or just magnetics (or electric... or hqi... or eye...)? I keep on considering getting an aquacontroller and always find a reason not to get one (that and the price!).

 

Do you have a refugium on a reverse lighting cycle? That will help pH to remain higher at night.

[dhoch]

Any ballast and even wiring.

 

A ph probe is measuring electrical differential (or something like that) nearness to another electrical source will cause this problem (sometimes).

 

Dave

[jamesbuf]

Any ballast and even wiring.

 

A ph probe is measuring electrical differential (or something like that) nearness to another electrical source will cause this problem (sometimes).

 

Dave

 

Dave, using a DC4HD prevents the pH disruption from happening correct?

[dhoch]

Don't know... wouldn't guarantee it.

 

Dave

[discretekarma]

I do have a refugium on a reverse lighting cycle.

 

 

 

Do you have a refugium on a reverse lighting cycle? That will help pH to remain higher at night.

Edited December 31, 2007 by discretekarma

[discretekarma]

I did 3 manual Ph test with the lights adjusted like you said and wrote down the readings first. The readings were all the same which was all right between 8.0 and 8.1.

 

I then got the readings off the AC3 with the lights in the different settings and all three times I got the same reading of 8.06. I even restarted the controller in between each reading to be sure.

 

I usually dose 2 part in the morning when I get up but these readings today are without 2 part since I decided to wait until tonight before I go to bed to dose to see if that helps.

 

I thought that may be important in diagnosing the readings.

Edited December 31, 2007 by discretekarma

[dhoch]

Is there anything else that comes on at night other than your refugium light?

 

I'm VERY surprised to see a 1 pt ph drop (from 8.1ish down to 6.9-7.0)... This seems large... did you verify the nighttime ph with a test?

 

Dave

[discretekarma]

No I haven't verified the night levels with a manual test. I will try to verify tonight though. Should I dose my 2 part now then so my levels will drop tonight like usual so I can test?

[dhoch]

Not sure that's going to matter that much, but make sure you continue to try to keep the alk up.

 

Dave

[discretekarma]

I'll dose now and than test at 7am tomorrow which is when the Ph level was at it's lowest. I can't think of anthing else that's on at night.

 

Just my skimmer, heater, pumps, and fuge light.

 

The Ph probe is in the sump as well as my heater. They're on opposite sides (2 feet) of the sump though. Would that affect it?

Edited December 31, 2007 by discretekarma

[dhoch]

Wouldn't think so (that the heater would affect it), but you never know...

 

Post results I'll be interested.

 

I've found monitoring helps (i.e. website and database)...

 

Dave

[discretekarma]

I'll post the results tomorrow.

 

Thanks so far for taking the time to help me with this.

 

Wouldn't think so (that the heater would affect it), but you never know...

 

Post results I'll be interested.

 

I've found monitoring helps (i.e. website and database)...

 

Dave

[lletellier]

scott I have almost the same thing happening with my system, never had it drop that low though maybe down to 7.6 if I remeber correctly. I changed to a reverse lighting cycle on my fuge and that helped considerably. Can't remember off the top of my head what it drops down to now but i'll have to take a look when I get back home. Didn't know that it was unusual for that to happen.

[discretekarma]

I already have mine on that same reverse lighting cycle on my fuge and I'm still having this problem. I have to add so much 2 part now to keep my Alk and Ca numbers at 10 and 400. Does anyone think that has anything to do with it? When I add my Alk in, it's so much that it spikes the Ph. Does it swing back to really low?

 

I add about 300ml of each part to keep the levels right. It's about 15 pumps of each on my gallon jugs.

 

Maybe that'll help.

 

 

scott I have almost the same thing happening with my system, never had it drop that low though maybe down to 7.6 if I remeber correctly. I changed to a reverse lighting cycle on my fuge and that helped considerably. Can't remember off the top of my head what it drops down to now but i'll have to take a look when I get back home. Didn't know that it was unusual for that to happen.

[quazi]

I have had the same problem. I have a 55 gallon tank with a 55 gallon fuge. I was seeing 7.5 at night with 196 watts on at night with a ton of algae. I changed my lighting to 2-23 watt spotlights on 24x7 and now pH is around 7.9 at night. I am now seeing 8.5 to 8.7 with my lighting on in the main tank.

 

 

 

The real deal is that my tank seems just fine and did with the low pH at night. I am not sure there is a big probelm here. Any way, I just thought I would add my 2 cents...

[dhoch]

Scott you should consider dosing that stuff slower throughout the day... you'll be better off for it in the long run.

 

Dave

[discretekarma]

I'll start to at least split the doses in half for now.

Edited January 1, 2008 by discretekarma

[davelin315]

Guys, it is not unusual to have a pH swing at night, what's unusual is how big a pH swing he is having. His is going from the low 8s to the high 6s. The 6 is what is really concerning, as that is very acidic. A drop into the mid to high 7s is not as bad as that is approaching neutral versus being acidic.

[DaveS]

Also keep in mind that a change of one pH unit is a tenfold change in hydrogen ion concentration. For example, a solution with a pH of 7 has 10 times the hydrogen ions as one of pH 8, and pH 6 has 100 times the hydrogen ions of pH 8.

 

Pretty large swing in PH indeed!