okay stumped

[swjunkie]

alright I am trying to raise my ph. I premixed 2 gal. of water last night got evrything including ph where it needs to be. this morning got up and checked it and the ph has dropped again. I found a article on the net that said too much aeration can cause ph to drop. I had a powerhead in the bucket could that have caused it to drop?

[Hara]

no....ph is always lower in the morning after the lights have been off. Lack of surface agitation can cause it to drop. too much is not going to cause it to drop.

[swjunkie]

alright how can I get my ph up in my tank no matter what I do I will get it right and the 24 hours later it drops back down to 7.8. any ideas?

[Hara]

how much surface agitation is there? how well does the water move/churn at the top?
What are the rest of your test readings, especially the alk?

[swjunkie]

I have alot of surface movement I have a powerhead that I point upward and then the filter. the surface is always churning. I went and bought an alk. test yesterday and it took me 10 drops = to 5.0 meg/L. calcium I tested yesterday said 410 ppm.

[Hara]

I would suggest taking ph readings a few nights in a row, without any additives, and see what readings you get.

[swjunkie]

I had tested for about 5 days and no change. friday I added a little super buffer and it brought it up to 8.0 and then the next day it was back down again. I premixed some saltwater in a bucket and got all my levels where I need them to be and the same thing happened everything else stayed the same but ph dropped. confusing me royally

[FishFrik]

What salt are you using? Maybe the new SW is lowering your PH? I've heard people having low PH problem w/ some specific brand of salt

[roka64]

IME it depends on the lid you have. If you have a covered tank, there is not enough gas exchange. You could have all the surface agitation but not enough gas exchange. I used to have a lid and could not get my pH above 7.6/8. I removed the lid (when I upgraded my lights) and the pH jumped to around 8.2ish (I have trouble reading my pH test).

[swjunkie]

I am currently using IO. remember I switched to Oceanic for a while but I didnt see any difference and I didnt like the way it mixed. I have tried taking my hood completely off for about 4 days and tried another powerhead and nothinhg.

[roka64]

Hmmmm, can you get a pic of the whole tank?

[seaham358]

how are the fish and corals?

[MT79]

What is the total turn-over rate per hour for the tank?

[swjunkie]

okay I think I might have figured something out kind of silly but, when I take the tube and put it up against the card it shows 7.8 but when I take the tube and stand it up on the card and look down it shows 8.2 so I am gonna go by that reading. The fish and corals look great everything is exactly the same as when I posted a pic in the nano forum. I am not sure what the turnover rate is. How do I find that out? All other readings are great just where I need them. I just did a 20% water change I usually only do 10% but I did 20% today. As I said everything looks good shrooms are growing well. I did notice my cabbage leather perk up when I raised the calcium level to 410 from 380. I did that over about 5 days. I just wish they had a better color chart for PH because I think I might be a little color blind. LOL

[roka64]

I am gonna go by that reading.

Can you take it to your LFS and see what they test? I bet you are correct.

[swjunkie]

That is what I wante to do today but something came up so now its on my to do list for tomorrow. I will let you know what they say.

[MT79]

I am not sure what the turnover rate is. How do I find that out?

Add up the water output of all your equipment -ie. power heads, filters, etc. in GPH and divide that by your tanks size in gallons. That will give you the turnover rate per hour for your tank.

[swjunkie]

went to lfs and they said that my ph was 8.1 so not as bad as what I thought. I will try to find out what the turnover is but I cant remember what the filter is. I know the powerhead is a 600.