Low pH in Nano

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Little problem with my 10g nano cube.

I woke up a couple of days ago to see cloudy water. Some of the corals looked pissed. Some of the planaria (long time residents of all my tanks :x ) looked dead. All the snails, hermits, the two fish, the fire shrimp, and the pistol shrimp were alive and well.

pH was very very low....like somewhere in the 7.8 range!

So I slowly raised it ove the course of the day until I got to 8.1. I used a buffer combined with reef builder alk powder stuff.

I also did some whater changes....3 or 4 25% changes in one day.


the next morning, the pH dropped again over night and the water was mily again.

Same thing on day two...water changes and buffer.


Same story on day three


This is day four and the pH was low again this morning, but not as low. And the water was clear this morning.


So.... any advice here other than keep buffering and changing water until the system returns to stable?


Thanks

 

[blackcloudmedia]

Wow thats weird. What kind of substrate do you have?

 

[Anonymous]

about 3 inches of mized crushed coral and sand. Had to go with a mix because I have a yasha goby/randall's pistol shrimp pair. They have extensive burrows throughout the substrate with three or four entrances to the burrow complex.

 

[Anonymous]

here are some pix

one of the yasha goby, one of the tank when I set it up a few months ago, and one of the tank right now (I should clean the glass, but I've been very lazy lately)....I added that ugly air stone when this whole pH thing started in the hopes that it would help.

 

[Len]

Have you verifed the pH readings with other test kits/measuring devices? And what time did you take the readings?

My pH ranges from 7.7 to 8.2. I've never really worried about it much.

 

[Anonymous]

Have you verifed the pH readings with other test kits/measuring devices? And what time did you take the readings?

My pH ranges from 7.7 to 8.2. I've never really worried about it much.

I only used one test, but I tested my 75 gallon and my other 10 gallon and they all tested normal.

The low pH was always in the morning.

It's now back to normal.

None of my tanks every move from right around 8.2, even in the morning when they say pH is likely to be a bit lower.

could the cloudy water have been caused by calcium coming out of sollution due to the low pH?

 

[spaulr]

Unless you have a refugium with lights on at night I'm willing to bet all of your tanks have a drop in PH during the night. It has to do with Photosynthesis and the removal of CO2. No light = no photosynthesis = build up of CO2 = drop in PH. People running a Ca reactor can tolerate a lower PH because the reactor keeps a very high Alk, which offsets the lower ph.

You might have an Alk problem.

What is your Alk?
What is your Ca?
Salinity?

 

[danmhippo]

Yep, I agree with spaulr

If you had experience with planted tank, your observation is very close to what most of the planted tank folks have. Reduced consumption of CO2 during dark period (night) leaving excess CO2 in the water which leads to pH drop.

Try adding another small pump or pointing a powerhead in the tank to shoot upwards, or simply cause more surface agitation. Surface agitation will speed up gas exchange.

Let us know if there are any improvement.

 

[Anonymous]

that sounds right.

I never did test calc and alk on that tank...I was so worried about the pH and cloudy water that I did a ton of water changes...I figured all the water changes would throw off any readings so I didn't bother. Long term, I plan to go back to ESV b-ionic, as I've found that to be pretty fool proof in keeping calc and alk in good standing.

As for the CO2 build up, I'm willing to bet that has a lot to do with the nano-tank design. Anyone who has one will notice the lack of air exchange with the outside world. The tank is so closed up, that I only have to top off once a week or less! Contrast that with my open top 10 gallon nano that needs almost half a gallon a day.

My main tank and my open top nano both have fans blowing across the surface all night and good surface aggitation, along with skimming. Maybe all that gas exchange keeps them from having large drops in pH over night because they have a chance to lose some of that CO2 through diffussion.

The JBJ nano-cube has a totally closed lid design with no exchange with the outside world. I bet that had a large effect on causing those overnight pH drops. And I bet those overnight pH drops caused the water to cloud up by pulling something out of sollution.


Hey...thanks for all the input guys.