Low ph

[Brad Shelton]

I having trouble getting my ph level above 8.0 . All the other water paramaters look ok I think . The Nitrate is 20, Nitrite is 0 , Amonia is 0 and alkalinity is 180. What can I do to raise the ph a little?

 

[Sniperhank]

Point a powerhead at the surface of the water. Having more oxygen into the water column helps with ph. This being said, ph levels will normally be lower in the winter months due to our homes being shut up and heaters running. This level also fluctuates during the day.
My normal suggestion to people who have 'ph issues' is to not do anything besides bring more oxygen into the water column. There are ph buffers out there, but when chasing this magical perfect number of ph we more than often cause more issues! Your system will find a spot where everything is happy in terms of ph. As long as nothing is being dosed into the tank, everything will be just fine as long as there is oxygen going in, co2 going out, and weekly water changes to replace essential elements and lower nitrates.

 

[Brad Shelton]

Ok thanks. Also my tank has the hoods for the light fixture should I leave those open at all times for fresh air to get in there?

 

[Sniperhank]

That would be one way of doing it.

 

[mrvincent]

PH of 7.9 seems of... Mine was at 7.8 without any issue with corals...

 

[Sniperhank]

PH of 7.9 seems of... Mine was at 7.8 without any issue with corals...

Agreed. I don't think I have ever seen the 'perfect' ph number that people chase. Chasing the perfect ph and dosing things to get such usually ends up to larger issues in our closed systems.
But in this case, what effects ph? Oxygen in and Co2 out. Opening the lid on a bio/nano cube or removing glass panels will help with this and stability of such.

 

[Brad Shelton]

I opened the lids on the aquarium and moved power head and nothing changed . I have a fish only aquarium my ph has been staying around 7.8 no matter what time of day or night I check it. I ordered somthing called proper ph 8.2 that says it will maintain a 8.2 ph level . Should I use it or leave well enough alone ? Im just getting into this so all this is a learning experiance for me. I thank all of you for you help.

 

[SpaceFish42]

http://homeaquaria.com/increase-aquarium-ph-naturally/

 

[Sniperhank]

I opened the lids on the aquarium and moved power head and nothing changed . I have a fish only aquarium my ph has been staying around 7.8 no matter what time of day or night I check it. I ordered somthing called proper ph 8.2 that says it will maintain a 8.2 ph level . Should I use it or leave well enough alone ? Im just getting into this so all this is a learning experiance for me. I thank all of you for you help.

Don't dose your tank to meet perfect ph. It always leads to issues. If your tank is sitting at 7.8, then it is at 7.8. It won't cause any issues.

 

[Brad Shelton]

I have 45 lbs of crushed coral and 50 lbs of live rock in my aquarium thats 55 gallon. I have 1 powerhead thats 500 gph and a aqueon 75 filter system. Do I need more water flow?

 

[mrvincent]

I opened the lids on the aquarium and moved power head and nothing changed . I have a fish only aquarium my ph has been staying around 7.8 no matter what time of day or night I check it. I ordered somthing called proper ph 8.2 that says it will maintain a 8.2 ph level . Should I use it or leave well enough alone ? Im just getting into this so all this is a learning experiance for me. I thank all of you for you help.

This change won't happens instantly, for the first year, my tank PH was at 7.8, stable, day and night. Now it seems to be more at 8 in the morning, 8.2 in the evening.

Just make sure you keep a stable Alk near 8-9 dKH°. Don't dose drastically chems to match perfect range. If your KH is in good range, then no worries for the PH, the corals will stay healty and will keep growing normally if you don' play with the params. Raising the PH (with kalk for example) will boost it for a day, then it'll drop.

I already dosed kalk to keep a 8.5 PH (Was trying to kill dinoflagellates invasion with high PH), but was impossible to keep it high. Even if the KH was at 8.5 dKH°, after 12-24h, the PH was back to 7.8-7.9. THe corals weren't happy, because I was messing a lot with the PH.

Don't play with it, I would worry if you reach an unstable <7.6.

 

[mrvincent]

I have 45 lbs of crushed coral and 50 lbs of live rock in my aquarium thats 55 gallon. I have 1 powerhead thats 500 gph and a aqueon 75 filter system. Do I need more water flow?

Depends on your corals needs, but I would say yes... If everything is ok (no cyanobacterias), I think you can keep it like this. More powerheads = more flow patterns possibility.