7.8 PH level. NEED HELP FAST.

billr70

billr70

Member
My PH is 7.8 and ive used different buffers to raise it and it wont come up. Iam worryed about my corals and fish.
My tank has been up for about 7 months, i use distilled water and do 10% water changes every two weeks. (sometimes more)
Tank is:
60 gallon octagon tall
400 watt MH
seaclone 150 skimmer
power head
filter: Rena Filstar XP2
sand bottom
plenty of lr
mushrooms
star polyps
open brain
xenia
2 leathers
frog spawn
3 fish
snails and hermit crabs
PH 7.8
KH 17
Cal. 460
Nitrite 0
Thank you Billy:help:
 
007

007

Active Member
first off . . . don't do anything drastic. A rapid rise in pH can be more detrimental than a low pH of 7.8
 
yosemite sam

yosemite sam

Active Member
Stop adding buffer. Your alk is pretty high. Buffer does not raise PH, despite what the container says. It raises alk, which, if too high, will cause your PH to crash. Do a search about PH and buffer, Bang has an excellent post about this a few weeks ago.
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
nobody ever seems to have a good answer to this problem....
Well that's probably because there is no one answer. Your alk if a bit high so I agree you should stop the buffers.
What time during the day are you getting the 7.8 reading??
 
swnewb

swnewb

Member
Just one powerhead? Could the low pH be a result of lack of water movement? Maybe get another powerhead and point it so it causes a break in the surface to help with oxygen exchange in the water.
 
X

xnikki118x

Guest
I don't know how many people would agree with this, but I know you're very worried and this might help ease the tension.
If you have a QT, take anything out of your display tank that you feel is the most fickle and is most likely to die because of the low pH level. Just make sure you drip acclimate them in a bucket for like 2 hours at least. With the water params being that different, I'd fill the bucket up once, dump half, fill it again, dup half, and do that two more times before adding everything to the QT. Just make sure you do fish and inverts in different buckets.
I'd do this anyway whether or not you have a QT--do maybe a 20% water change right now. Test the pH of the water you're going to put in to make sure it's at least a little higher than 7.8 and make sure you add it slowly enough that it doesn't disturb any of your tankmates. Hopefully this will raise the pH and lower the alkalinity a bit, but not too much that it will shock everything. Then tomorrow do another 20%, and 20% the next day, and hopefully everything will even out soon.
I agree with everyone who said to stop adding the buffers. A sharp rise in alkalinity can cause the pH to crash, and you definitely don't want that to happen.
This hasn't ever happened to me before, or to anyone I know, so I dont' know if this will work or not. But I understand what you feel when you have a huge problem and don't know how to solve it, and every suggestion helps. I hope you get it stabilized soon. Good luck!
 
greatfullreefer

greatfullreefer

Active Member
IMHO the immediate dangers regarding PH are instability. I suggest you test your PH in the morning before lights come on and again in the evening just as lights go out. 7.8 is not all that worrysome if it is stable.
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
A PH of 7.8 does not warrant drastic action. Please don't start emptying the tank... my guess would be CO2 buildup sense that seems to be the most common thing to cause low PH outside of low alkalinity.
Get a liter of tank water. Aerate it outside for a half hour or so and then test the PH. Post the results.
If it's not CO2 then we can look at other areas.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
I agree 7.8 is not worthy of any drastic action ...and I suspect it is pretty stable. You should definitely read up on alk, calcium and pH and how they are related. Circulation may definitely be an issue, IMO...but I imagine if you just lay off the buffer stuff, things will stabilize over time. But would be very handy to know more about circulation and any other additives you have been using and whether the pH is stable over the course of early morning versus after lights have been on all day.
 
billr70

billr70

Member
Well i checked my PH morning is 7.8 and so is evening. I did another test today and found my Natrate to be very high, this is killing me..... So i tested my water that i use for water changes and the Natrate is high. I will have some distilled water for tommorrow to start doing some water changes. My fish seem to be breathing a little heavy also.
I wont do anything to drastic, dont want to harm anything anymore. Will start with some water changes.
Man i hope this works, i am very concerned and worried.
Thanks for the replys. Billy
 
michael7979

michael7979

Member
Make sure the surface has a "break' in the water, this will help with oxygen if the fish are breathing wierd.
Try (if possible) to open a window this will lessen the CO2 in the room and should raise the PH slightly.
I agree that a PH of 7.8 is not a major problem if stable.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator

Originally posted by ccrljmr
nobody ever seems to have a good answer to this problem....
That's because it's not a problem. Low PH is not a problem..... it's just an indicator that for some reason there is too much CO2 in the water. The problem is finding out why you have excessive CO2.
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member
If you have an airpump take a cup of tank water and run an airstone in it for about an hour and see if PH gets close to 8.3. If it does you need to make changes to your circulation to increase your gas exchange. If it doesn't take a cup outdoors and run an airstone in it for about an hour and check PH. If the PH rises up near 8.3 your problem is high CO in your home which is possible if things are closed up for the winter.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Actually based on the type of tank it is (a 60 octagonal tall), that could definitely cause issues. It is sometimes more difficult in these types of tanks to deal with circulation etc...I don't think low pH is uncommon for them.
 
fastmarc

fastmarc

Member
This is not a panic situation.
More than likely, opening a window and ventilating the room, will bring up that ph.
 
fastmarc

fastmarc

Member
Also, what is it that you use to measure your ph? It would be wise double check the result with another test kit or preferable a properly calibrated ph monitor.
What exactly is your nitrate reading?
 
billr70

billr70

Member
Ok, just got home.
Also, what is it that you use to measure your ph? It would be wise double check the result with another test kit or preferable a properly calibrated ph monitor.
I use two test kits, Tetra Test Laborett and Aquarium systems Fast test.
NITRATE was 80 ppm, the test was in the RED.
If you have an airpump take a cup of tank water and run an airstone in it for about an hour and see if PH gets close to 8.3. If it does you need to make changes to your circulation to increase your gas exchange. If it doesn't take a cup outdoors and run an airstone in it for about an hour and check PH. If the PH rises up near 8.3 your problem is high CO in your home which is possible if things are closed up for the winter
Ok i will be aerating outside and insinde, I will post the results for you guys in a bit.
Thanks everyone. Billy:confused:
 
billr70

billr70

Member
Well here we go.
Aerated outside for 1/2 hr was 8.3
Inside was 8.2
Wow i feel better about that, i just have to fix it now that i know what the problem is.
Ok, my filter, skimmer and power head seem to have the water rippling really good. Should i place another power head in the tank?
NITRATE level seems to high at 80 ppm, any thoughts on fixing that one aswell or can i live with 80 ppm?
Thanks Billy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top