What are some good ways to raise PH?

crzyfshygy

crzyfshygy

Member
I just calibrated my PH pen and unfortunatley realized that my PH was way off. It was showing 8.47 during the day and 8.39 at night. Well now it is showing 7.8 at night and 7.9-8.0 during the day.
So I am trying techniques to raise it.
1) Aerated the sump from the outside air
2) Opened all windows in the house..used a fan outside and blew fresh air in.
3) Used buffer once last night (did nothing really)
4) Mixed Kalk and dosed a little but calcium is high right now
I really need more ideas :help:
 
120reefer

120reefer

Member
Agreed... a good water change or two. How high is your calcium level? I would recommend checking Alk as well, if you calcium and PH are off.... your alk probably is too
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
What are your calcium and alkalinity readings?
How are you calibrating your pH pen - with what buffers?
It is not a bad idea to double check this with a chemical test as well; pH pens can be off, or can be "finicky" in readings. How are you taking the reading with the pen?
Your pH, BTW, IMO is fine. It does not require drastic action but be sure that calcium and alk at least are in range.
Do you have glass tops on your tank?
If it is a circulation/exchange problem, just take a gallon out, and aerate over night to see if the pH changes.
 
dogstar

dogstar

Active Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
It is not a bad idea to double check this with a chemical test as well; pH pens can be off.
 
crzyfshygy

crzyfshygy

Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
What are your calcium and alkalinity readings?
How are you calibrating your pH pen - with what buffers?
It is not a bad idea to double check this with a chemical test as well; pH pens can be off, or can be "finicky" in readings. How are you taking the reading with the pen?
Your pH, BTW, IMO is fine. It does not require drastic action but be sure that calcium and alk at least are in range.
Do you have glass tops on your tank?
If it is a circulation/exchange problem, just take a gallon out, and aerate over night to see if the pH changes.
Calcium is reading is 420 alk 3.5 meg 9.8 dkh
The pen is submerged correctly according to instructions and then swirled around. Also there is no glass top due to Halides. My tank turnover rate 25x per hr.
I did raise it origianlly when the problem was found from 7.29 to now 7.99 as of 20min ago. It raised through aeration pump placed outside. It is still not where I want it though
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
If you find that your ph is indeed low and a water change doesnt raise it as high as you would like....you can use small doses of baking soda. However, do as everyone said and check everything else 1st.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Originally Posted by crzyfshygy
Calcium is reading is 420 alk 3.5 meg 9.8 dkh
The pen is submerged correctly according to instructions and then swirled around. Also there is no glass top due to Halides. My tank turnover rate 25x per hr.
I did raise it origianlly when the problem was found from 7.29 to now 7.99 as of 20min ago. It raised through aeration pump placed outside. It is still not where I want it though


Can I ask what makes you decide "where you want it?" Not all tanks run the same, and trying to reach some ideal (such as the 8.3 often given) can be frustrating and possibly damaging...and perhaps not even really necessary. But I would definitely double check it against a test kit. pH monitors such as this should be calibrated at least using two control buffers, in this case something like 7 and 10. How is this calibrated?
 
92protruck

92protruck

Member
I know where Dogstar lives.....but I can't say....the tang police maybe monitoring this board....he has like 50 tangs in one tank...I have seen them myself....Although, if you wanna give me any frags I will rat him out in one second!!!
 
toonascott

toonascott

Member
You might want to try sea chem buffer
, I had low ph and low calcium for a couple months. I add Sea Chem buffer to my top off water and after a week, my ph is 8.3 :cheer: . I also used Kent Calcium to get my calcium to 420. No water changes :jumping:
.
My 40 gallon has medium green button polyp colony, large GSP, large WSP, Large Goniopora Pendulus, Large Branching Hammer tooth, medium yellow polyp colony, large zoo colony, small montipora, small xenia colony, medium tube astrea, 40 snails, 5 small fish, small pincushion, flame scallop, 12 hermit crabs, cleaner shrimp, lettuce nudibranch, 40 lbs live rock, and a bunch of other things I can not remember off hand.
I use a couple tiny rio powerheads, a bak pak 2 skimmer, and penguin 400 using my own custom filter pads(removed carbon and filter media from stock filters, superglued filter media on ole plastic "holders" I filled the media holders with Kent Marine Carbon. Water is beautiful and fish and corals are happy and growing in leaps and bounds.
I add Kent Strontium and Molybdenum, Sea Chem Iodine suppliment and I target feed with frozen foods and "phyto feast"
Water params
ammonia = 0, zilch, nada, bupkiss, zero, zip
nitrates = 0
nitrites = 0
phosphates = 0
calcium = 400-420
ph = 8.3
picking up a ka kit tomorrow
 
dogstar

dogstar

Active Member
Originally Posted by 92ProTruck
I know where Dogstar lives.....but I can't say....the tang police maybe monitoring this board....he has like 50 tangs in one tank...I have seen them myself....Although, if you wanna give me any frags I will rat him out in one second!!!
Truck, I will follow you home from the fish store....
crzyfshygy, near you, no offence but I did the frag thing a few times and dont want to get back it doing that as of now.....ProTruck ripped me off......J/K
sorry bout da chatting....
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
You have to be careful when using buffers. For instance, many alkalinity buffers also raise ph and contain a fair amount of salt as well. Water changes should be the 1st avenue of correcting a chemistry problem.
Once you get it balanced, start dosing small amounts of kalkwasser in your topoff water. You will wonder how you lived without it. (well, until you OD on the stuff and all your xenia dies, but thats a different story)
 
crzyfshygy

crzyfshygy

Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
Can I ask what makes you decide "where you want it?" Not all tanks run the same, and trying to reach some ideal (such as the 8.3 often given) can be frustrating and possibly damaging...and perhaps not even really necessary. But I would definitely double check it against a test kit. pH monitors such as this should be calibrated at least using two control buffers, in this case something like 7 and 10. How is this calibrated?
Your on the money man! I guess the 8.3 thing is due to all my books telling me whats the healthiest. Damaging is right, most of the issues I find in my system are through digital error and test kit error. I should know this because my tank looks great and growth is good. I fall victum to the bad testing errors once in while. My PH pen is not calibrating correctly and I realized it tonight using a different brand of cali. fluid. When I pulled the receipt to return the unit I realized I had not calib this in a years time...not to mention the pinpoint fluid lowered the pen dramatically which is what brought on my issues to begin with. I got the second batch of calib fluid and the pen went pretty much back to where it was to begin with a good reading, however by now I had pumped enough air into the tank with the aeration pump and dosed somewhat heavy calcium hydroxide to raise it that now believe it or not it was to high. 8.69 to be exact. Still...through it all I learn, and move to a healthier system for my pets and will again go back and by another test kit to check it once again. :thinking:
 
crzyfshygy

crzyfshygy

Member
Originally Posted by Dogstar
Truck, I will follow you home from the fish store....
crzyfshygy, near you, no offence but I did the frag thing a few times and dont want to get back it doing that as of now.....ProTruck ripped me off......J/K
sorry bout da chatting....
No sweat...just lookin to make friends
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Originally Posted by crzyfshygy
Your on the money man! I guess the 8.3 thing is due to all my books telling me whats the healthiest. Damaging is right, most of the issues I find in my system are through digital error and test kit error. I should know this because my tank looks great and growth is good. I fall victum to the bad testing errors once in while. My PH pen is not calibrating correctly and I realized it tonight using a different brand of cali. fluid. When I pulled the receipt to return the unit I realized I had not calib this in a years time...not to mention the pinpoint fluid lowered the pen dramatically which is what brought on my issues to begin with. I got the second batch of calib fluid and the pen went pretty much back to where it was to begin with a good reading, however by now I had pumped enough air into the tank with the aeration pump and dosed somewhat heavy calcium hydroxide to raise it that now believe it or not it was to high. 8.69 to be exact. Still...through it all I learn, and move to a healthier system for my pets and will again go back and by another test kit to check it once again. :thinking:

Believe me, TRUST what you see in your tank. TRUST your knowledge of your tank. DO question results, even from things that should be accurate. I've had my fair share of this sort of thing. Sometimes you can look at your tank, and how it has always run, and say the test is wrong, the reading is wrong...it really does hold true after awhile
 
cgrant

cgrant

Active Member
Originally Posted by crzyfshygy
Calcium is reading is 420 alk 3.5 meg 9.8 dkh
The pen is submerged correctly according to instructions and then swirled around. Also there is no glass top due to Halides. My tank turnover rate 25x per hr.
I did raise it origianlly when the problem was found from 7.29 to now 7.99 as of 20min ago. It raised through aeration pump placed outside. It is still not where I want it though

Are you using a digital kit to measure these?
Just wondering how you got 3.5 on your alk? usually you test by adding one drop at a time @dkh? or are you testing for meq/L? You using a dig pen makes more sence!
If they are digital i would double check the calibration.
these are my readings, Next to them is acceptable range in ( ).
alk 9 (7-11 dKH)
ca 460 (380-450 ppm)
ph 8.1 (7.8-8.5 OK (8.1-8.3 is better)
If you alk is really 3.5 dkh then i would bring that up 1st, I have found that "USUALLY" when bringing up alk it will also start to bring your ca and ph toward the acceptable level then can buffer ph or suppliment ca if needed after alk is in check, just seems to work better for me getting alk in check 1st.
Did you use any supplements recently?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top