Is my PH too low??

[desert fishy]

My PH is consistently low. I know being stable is most important, but today it is down to 7.7 (usually at 7.8) What can I do to raise this? I have used buffer a few times, but not sure how often I should be using it or if there is something else I can be doing. Thanks for the help.
My parameters are:
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate are zero
Calcium 430
Phosphates 0
Magnesium 1215
Alkalinity 3.66 KH
Salinity 34
Temperature stays 75.5-77

 

[stanlalee]

things you can do to raise pH are:
increase surface agitation, air circulation over the top of the water line or anything that will increase air/water gas exchange.
water change(s) to remove built up metabolic acids which are a result of regular biological activity (fish breathing, eating and pooping).
maintain a low bioload to slow the build up of metabolic acids.
what are you using to measure alk? KH hardness is used for freshwater and I'm not really sure how it relates to saltwater testing (my kits away have seperate instructions for KH and dKH). dKH is used for saltwater. dKH should be in the 7-10 range. if that 3.66 is dKH it is way low. low measured alkalinity "usually" = low carbonates and bicarbonates which buffer pH from dropping rapidly or unpredictably.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by Desert Fishy
http:///forum/post/3107862
My PH is consistently low. I know being stable is most important, but today it is down to 7.7 (usually at 7.8) What can I do to raise this? I have used buffer a few times, but not sure how often I should be using it or if there is something else I can be doing. Thanks for the help.
My parameters are:
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate are zero
Calcium 430
Phosphates 0
Magnesium 1215
Alkalinity 3.66 KH
Salinity 34
Temperature stays 75.5-77

Unless you have critters like sea horses...your temp is way low. 78-80 at least for regular critters. They like it warmer but that temp slows bad things like algae blooms down.
Regular water changes will raise PH, or PH buffers.

 

[desert fishy]

Thanks for the replies. I use a Salifert test and the results are in two forms: I have 10.4 KH value in dKH or 3.7 Alkalinity in meq/L. So I was assuming that's not bad, right? I could do more water changes - haven't done much because I thought the water levels were good. FYI - I use a turf scrubber with no skimmer.

 

[cranberry]

What time of the day are you testing?

 

[desert fishy]

I test in the morning. Checked PH at night after lights went out once and still had the same reading. PH has been at 8.0 the last few days.

 

[king_neptune]

your alk is a tad low too. 4-6 being ideal.
mine is 4.5 and im a little wary of even that.

 

[jackri]

Take a reading before your lights come on and right before they turn off. Something I should do myself but I always test the same time of day at 6pm (just because of the convience of the time like you I'm sure). I'd be curious to know how much your system swings throughout the day (like my own systems now that I've read this).

 

[gmann1139]

Test your test kit. Buy another brand, or ask your LFS to test your water.
Also, some pH tests are light spectrum sensitive. Try to read the test using sunlight only once, and see if it makes a difference.
And for reference, I gave up on Saliftert's pH test. I seemed to get weird results, and I hate their dropper bottles, since I always seem to lose a drop of solution with each test.