ph drop

[jadakiss]

hi guys i have a ? about my ph . i have a euro reef rs80 in my sump and ever since i had a open tank ive had evaporation like crazy . im goin to say at least like half a gal a day. i dont have a auto top device so it can pour by itself, so i pour it my self. now my thing is when i come home from work my evaporation goes under a line that i put that tells me its reaching the 7inchs of the pump level for the rs80. so when i get home i pour water inside the sump and also in the night time when i go to bed. my thing is that my ph is droping from 8.2 to 7.8 some times even lower. i catch my self adding part 2 of b-ionc consent just to have my ph at the right level. i was thinkin of puttin b-ionc part 2 alk inside the ro i have stored for top off. and i was goin to make sure that the ro ph is 8.2 . i thinkin that while my sump water evaporates and i have the ro top off at 8.2 i wont have to worry no more? what u guys think , i will like some advice pls.

 

[ShaunW]

Don't add the alk part of B-ionic to RO water top off. What you want to do might work, but it won't solve the problem.

You need to fix the pH swings, and IMO the cause is that you probably have low magnesium levels within the tank. Your tank is not buffered properly to the correct pH.

 

[juiceguy]

when you add the top-off water your ph drops but then returns to normal after a while? if that is the case then that is normal, the buffering capacity of your tank is working. if you add b-ionic to your top off, then you will be increasing the alk in your tank to higher than normal levels. r/o water has a low ph so if you add a lot of water at one time, then you will have ph swings. try getting an ATO unit or use a Tom's aqualifter pump with a valve to drip you top-off.

 

[jadakiss]

ok.:givebeer:

 

[Chris5]

when you add the top-off water your ph drops but then returns to normal after a while? if that is the case then that is normal, the buffering capacity of your tank is working. if you add b-ionic to your top off, then you will be increasing the alk in your tank to higher than normal levels. r/o water has a low ph so if you add a lot of water at one time, then you will have ph swings. try getting an ATO unit or use a Tom's aqualifter pump with a valve to drip you top-off.

I agree, I've been in the same boat and it depends on when you test before or after the top off ... but it almost always returns to normal within a few ...
Sometimes even a small water change could help bring it back ... but its when it drops way to low that you have to worry ...

 

[clownlover]

r u running any type of denitrator?

 

[jadakiss]

no.

 

[reefkprZ]

Ph should be stable but here is the crux, you need to test you ph at the same time every day, Ph tend to be lower at night when creatures stop photosynthesizing and release c02, this is one reason people tend to run sump lighting on opposite scheduals to their display, so the macro algae photosynthesizing will help mitigate ph swings.

you cant blame the drop in PH on top off water, all the buffering capacity remains behind when your water evaporates, it may lower PH for a split second or two, but only untill it is mixed in, and it takes almost nothing to buffer RO water.

high organics can result in PH swings, alkalinity problems can result in PH swings(usually the two are hand in hand) excess c02 can result in lower ph. improper magnesium (as shawn mentioned above) can result in swings. you need to track down the cause and work on a solution for that instead of just "dumping in" a quick fix that may cause you moore headaches in the long run.

I do my ph tests one hour before lights on and one hour before lights off, testing at those times tells me a few things to check, wheather I have a co2 problem or not, how far my Ph changes through out the day, and..... if I need to see what if anything else is out of whack. people treat PH like it is a parameter, it is and it isnt, it is actually a result of several parameters and just adressing one wont nesccisarily fix the problem.

good luck