Elevated PH causes

toddarcham · 02/28/2017, 09:54 PM

The PH in my 32 gallon reefer recently went from about 8.2 to slightly above 8.5. I tested two ways so I'm comfortable with the measurement. I cant figure out why it is going so high. It ran 7.8 to 8.1 for around a year. I can only think of a few things I have done lately; could these be the issue?

1) I took some live rock from the main tank and crushed it up so it could fit in the sump. I didn't want to give up the bio filtering.

2) I got a new RO DI filter. It tested 0ppm tds.

3) Had a leather coral get ripped up. Could be some of it decaying somewhere.

I know 8.5 is OK i just always need to know why.

bertoni · 02/28/2017, 11:23 PM

None of those changes should raise the pH. A change in aeration might be the cause. Checking the skimmer and the water surface might be an issue. How are you checking the pH? Measurement problems are common.

toddarcham · 02/28/2017, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bertoni

None of those changes should raise the pH. A change in aeration might be the cause. Checking the skimmer and the water surface might be an issue. How are you checking the pH? Measurement problems are common.

I used a seneye and a neptune probe. I even calibrated the neptune probe to make sure it was right. I did change the angle of a power head and pointed it up so it is stirring up the surface of the water a lot so maybe that's it.

Synden · 03/01/2017, 10:02 AM

ya none of those would make your ph go up. In fact the torn/decaying coral would likely do exactly the opposite and make the ph drop.
ORP reading might be able to give you a clue as to 'why'. Higher PH in the tank generally means more oxygen in the water, and ORP would be able to tell you if the dissolve oxygen in the tank is elevated or not. It wont tell you the root cause or anything but it could help eliminate some possibilities.

bertoni · 03/01/2017, 05:14 PM

Oxygen doesn't affect the pH level. Only carbon dioxide will do that, in a stable tank. I agree that decay will lower the pH, though.

toddarcham · 03/01/2017, 07:33 PM

ORP is at 450 according to my probe. It has stayed around that level for months and only really drops at water changes. I just realized I made another big change recently. I removed a hang on refugium about a weeks ago. It had no immediate effect but maybe this is from that.

disc1 · 03/01/2017, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synden

Higher PH in the tank generally means more oxygen in the water

No it doesn't. High pH does mean there's less CO2 in the water, but that does not mean that there is more oxygen. Oxygen has absolutely zero effect on pH.

02/28/2017, 09:54 PM	#1
toddarcham Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 17	Elevated PH causes The PH in my 32 gallon reefer recently went from about 8.2 to slightly above 8.5. I tested two ways so I'm comfortable with the measurement. I cant figure out why it is going so high. It ran 7.8 to 8.1 for around a year. I can only think of a few things I have done lately; could these be the issue? 1) I took some live rock from the main tank and crushed it up so it could fit in the sump. I didn't want to give up the bio filtering. 2) I got a new RO DI filter. It tested 0ppm tds. 3) Had a leather coral get ripped up. Could be some of it decaying somewhere. I know 8.5 is OK i just always need to know why.

02/28/2017, 11:23 PM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	None of those changes should raise the pH. A change in aeration might be the cause. Checking the skimmer and the water surface might be an issue. How are you checking the pH? Measurement problems are common. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

03/01/2017, 05:14 PM	#5
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Oxygen doesn't affect the pH level. Only carbon dioxide will do that, in a stable tank. I agree that decay will lower the pH, though. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

03/01/2017, 10:02 AM	#4
Synden Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 90	ya none of those would make your ph go up. In fact the torn/decaying coral would likely do exactly the opposite and make the ph drop. ORP reading might be able to give you a clue as to 'why'. Higher PH in the tank generally means more oxygen in the water, and ORP would be able to tell you if the dissolve oxygen in the tank is elevated or not. It wont tell you the root cause or anything but it could help eliminate some possibilities.

03/01/2017, 07:33 PM	#6
toddarcham Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 17	ORP is at 450 according to my probe. It has stayed around that level for months and only really drops at water changes. I just realized I made another big change recently. I removed a hang on refugium about a weeks ago. It had no immediate effect but maybe this is from that.