Hi,
The information came from Reefkeeping on line magazine. I admit I put 2 + 2 together to come up with the idea that my low PH was because of the vodka dosing.
As I understand it, and I am not all that smart so I could be wrong, but when the following article says low O2 it means low oxygen and isn't CO2 carbon dioxide..carbon combined with O2...So My line of thought was that if low PH was due to low oxygen and Vodka dosing can cause an excess of CO2, meaning that the carbon dosing would affect the oxygen level in the tank. Low oxygen = low PH
The following are from two articles the first is on vodka dosing and the second is from when I looked up causes of low PH.
Gas exchange. The increased bacterial biomass and growth will decrease your dissolved O2 levels in the water column. Too much vodka can result in a drastic decrease of O2 and can cause stress to your reef inhabitants, if not death
Then there is another article by the same magazine, when I looked up causes for low PH:
Causes of Low pH Problems:
As described above, low pH problems are those where the pH is below about 7.8. That is, where the daily pH low drops below 7.8 for any portion of the day. Of course, if the pH reaches a low value of pH 7.9, aquarists may still want to raise it, but the need is not so immediate. Several things can commonly result in low pH, and the solution to each of them is different. Finally, there's nothing to prevent a tank from having all of these problems simultaneously!
The first step in solving a low pH problem is to determine why it exists in the first place. Some possibilities include:
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A calcium carbonate/carbon dioxide reactor (CaCO3/CO2 reactor) is in use on the aquarium.
The aquarium has low alkalinity.
The aquarium has more CO2 in it than the surrounding air due to inadequate aeration. Don't be fooled into thinking that an aquarium must have adequate aeration because its water is very turbulent. Equilibrating carbon dioxide is MUCH harder than simply providing adequate oxygen. There would be NO change in the pH between day and night if equilibration of carbon dioxide were perfect. Since most aquaria have lower pH during the night, they also are demonstrating less than complete aeration.
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The aquarium has excess CO2 in it because the air in the home that it is being equilibrated with contains excess CO2.
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The aquarium is still cycling, and has excess acid being produced from the nitrogen cycle and degradation of organics to CO2.
That would help mix water and air.
