errant pH readings ?

[gregzz4]

At what point do we, or I, start ignoring errant readings ?

Maybe more of these questions may show up, now that summer is over, and our home air quality goes down ...

The pH pen I bought boxing day crapped out. It won't cal anymore, so I tossed it. I was told it only holds a 6 month warranty :surprise: wish I'd known that when I bought it
$60 down the drain - thanks Milwaukee

So, here's what I'm dealing with

My 4-month-old reef started off with a pH reading of 7.8 in the am and 8.2 before lights out. This is after a 12 hour light cycle

Now, in the morning, it starts off with very low pH readings ... sometimes as low as 7.5, according to my DA probe, which is plugged into an SL1

I've tried re-calibrating the probe a couple times, and have just bought a new Pinpoint probe, so I'll report tomorrow what I find, but my new cal readings are no better with the old DA probe
I'll spend the day tomorrow cal-ing the new Pinpoint probe, but I suspect it will not be any different

I say this as the new PPoint probe in my QT ( cal'ed and only 1 month old ) is giving me the same readings with cal solution as the suspect probe is .....

I find it hard to believe my pH could be as low as 7.49 when my Alk is 7.5 and my Ca is 420

My skimmer feed is running on outside air, our windows are still open to give fresh air, the furnace fan is still running, I open doors all day long ...

Something is off with my readings ....

As I said, I'll report tomorrow after I cal the new probe, but I don't feel it will make any difference as my QT Pinpoint probe gives me the same readings in cal solution ...


Any suggestions ???

[lockrookie]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around testing something I rarely do these days so sorry no help from me


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[monocus]

my Milwaukee probe was off by 1.0 ever since i bought it.take a water sample to j&l and have them test it

[mrhasan]

pH pens are a total pain. Caused me an heart attack one day when it showed my pH of something around 6.8 after the lights are off (I was like how is that even possible in a saltwater tank!!!!). API test kit saved me from dying. I got mine from ebay for like $10. Guess the expensive ones are of no difference.

[gregzz4]

I just used a cup of water from my DT, which has been reading 7.4 ish, and I put my QT probe in it ...

It gave me a pH of 7.94

Regardless of the higher reading, I'd say I have a low pH issue in my tanks

[PurpleMonkey]

Greg, don't rely on the phone probe... Mine is consistently off by about 0.2... I verified this using an API and Seachem test. I also got JL to test it for me.

[Mandosh]

If you're not noticing any negative impacts, you are better off not messing with it. I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I checked the pH reading on my contoller. Everything in my tank looks happy, so I never bother.

[gregzz4]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around testing something I rarely do these days so sorry no help from me


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I wish I could just ignore some of these tests ... :smile:

Weeks ago, Brad told me to ignore testing ....

I can't help myself with pH testing, but I'm tempted to unplug my pH probe .........

Someone with more knowledge than I will chime in here and tell me to unplug my useless probe .....

[Wheelman76]

I'm dealing with the same thing right now. My tank is four and a half months old and my ph has always hovered between 8.15 and 8.25 during lights on and it drops down to 8.05 to 8.10 at night and I run the light in my refugium 24/7. For the last three or four days the ph won't get above 8.12 during the day and drops to 7.97 at night. I know it's not a huge difference but it's bugging me. It must be the weather since we are both dealing with this problem at the same time. I have my balcony door open all day and night as I have for the last few months and have made no other changes, so I think it must be excess co2 causing the drop in ph. Btw my alkalinity sits between 8.4 and 9.0 and I have an apex controller that reads the ph , which I just calibrated three days ago when I noticed the drop. I plan on running a tube from the air intake on my skimmer out my window to see if it makes any difference.

[gregzz4]

Greg, don't rely on the phone probe... Mine is consistently off by about 0.2... I verified this using an API and Seachem test. I also got JL to test it for me.
My probe has been off by as much as .5, so you see why I posted this ...

If you're not noticing any negative impacts, you are better off not messing with it. I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I checked the pH reading on my contoller. Everything in my tank looks happy, so I never bother.
I've not noticed any negative impacts so I guess you're right ...

Although my pH readings, Alk, Ca, Mag and such have been higher than others may like, I guess I'm good to go

Harken back to other posts where I was questioned about my params ...
My salt is good :razz:



Yup, you guys are right ...

The way my tank has looked lately leads me to believe nothing is wrong ...
With my pH readings from my controller, I've been concerned ... guess I'll have to learn to ignore the readings and focus on the corals ...

I guess I should do as Brad has told me before ...

:mrgreen: spend more time enjoying it and less time working on it :mrgreen:

[gregzz4]

I'm dealing with the same thing right now. My tank is four and a half months old and my ph has always hovered between 8.15 and 8.25 during lights on and it drops down to 8.05 to 8.10 at night and I run the light in my refugium 24/7. For the last three or four days the ph won't get above 8.12 during the day and drops to 7.97 at night. I know it's not a huge difference but it's bugging me. It must be the weather since we are both dealing with this problem at the same time. I have my balcony door open all day and night as I have for the last few months and have made no other changes, so I think it must be excess co2 causing the drop in ph. Btw my alkalinity sits between 8.4 and 9.0 and I have an apex controller that reads the ph , which I just calibrated three days ago when I noticed the drop. I plan on running a tube from the air intake on my skimmer out my window to see if it makes any difference.
I'm looking forward to your observations once you find something different to explain what is happening to your tank

I can't change what I'm doing as I have the doors and windows open as much as I can

[Proteus]

I quit testing when my ph pen started saying 3. Lol. The Mh lights were affecting the electonics like a solar flare.

The only test I do every couple months is ca/alk/mg

[Enigma]

Unless something starts to look off, don't worry about the pH. My system is dropping down too: now that all of the windows are closed overnight in the house again.

There are much more important parameters to worry about. ;)

[reefwars]

whats ph??

[Cal_stir]

I run my skimmer air thru CO2 absorbant, my ph is 7.5 without it and 8.3 with it. My sump is under my basement stairs, I tried drawing outside air but didn't see any significant results.
I don't understand why people who don't test ph tell others not to, maybe there ph is ok and not testing it doesn't matter.
Everything I've ever read says that 7.5 ph is too low, my tap water is 7.6.
I monitor ph mainly as a quick indicator of chemistry problems and find it hard to believe that a ph of 7.5 is not detrimental to the long term health of a reef tank.

[PurpleMonkey]

The reason that some people will say not to worry about the pH is that as the pH drops down, the aragonite will dissolve and bring the pH back up.

(I think this is correct, someone correct me if I'm wrong)

[Proteus]

If I ran a ca reactor I would monitor ph. But until then. My tank was always stable. If you really want aquavitro has a great buffer that will not raise over 8.3.

But until I see fish loose direction or inverts fall apart I won't worry

I highly doubt that the oceans them self are constant considering co2 is absorb and released with flux in temp and agitation. The ocean is the largest source of co2 in our world.