PH refuses to go up!!

[Hightower]

Well the rom that sits in is sealed well, but there is a single pane window not too far away. Ive opened that sometimes, and I have a air pump running from the window to the my sump.

8.1 is the most ive seen it. It always sits at 8.0

Frogspawn,hammerhead, trumpet, mushrooms all look pretty good. Just dont understand the torch and xenia just melting away.

I'll leave it at that. You would think that having your top off water as kalk witha ph of 12 should keep your ph in the tank up.

[Beverly]

Ah! Sealed room with little ventilation can cause low pH for sure.

To see how low O2 levels are in the room, aerate a glass of water in the room for 20 minutes, then aerate a glass of water outside for 20 minutes. Test pH before and after aerating. You can use tapwater or tankwater for this experiment. If there is a big difference in pH between the inside and outside experiments, you need better ventilation in your tankroom.

[Hightower]

Thanks Beverly. Ive done that test, but there was very little change. The house is all concrete, but the room does have the single pane window which im sure is not very sealed.

Ill just live with it. PH this A.M 7.8

[Beverly]

You would think that having your top off water as kalk with a ph of 12 should keep your ph in the tank up.

My pH slowly slipped to a morning pH of 7.83 in my 67g when using kalk for top up. Alk was also low, though that does not seem to be your problem with an alk of 10. BTW, what test kit are you using and when was the last time you tested alk?

but the room does have the single pane window which im sure is not very sealed.

Ill just live with it. PH this A.M 7.8

A morning pH of 7.8 is cause for concern, ime. I still suspect your sealed room to be a contributing factor. High humidity in the room could also become a problem over the long term. There was a recent thread about air exchangers that you might do a search on.

Anyway, once I realized pH and alk were so low in the 67g, I used more "baked" baking soda in Randy's diy alk recipe. AM pH in the tank is now 7.94, which made an immediate big difference to the finger leather in that tank. All other corals looked fine to me when morning pH was 7.83, including an RBTA, but I think they were doing well inspite of my lack of attention to the pH and alk.

I would like to suggest using a "baked" baking soda mix of one tablespoon to 200 ml RO. Stir well. Store in a small sealed container for use over a few days. Add this mixture at a rate of 10 ml 3-6 times throughout the day and night. If 10 ml raises pH too much at one time, drop it down to 7-8 ml at a time. Keep an eye on alk while you are doing this.

For dosing 10 ml at a time, I use a 10 ml plastic syringe found in the baby aisle at the local drug store.

[StirCrazy]

In 4 years the highest my PH has ever been is 7.9, it has been at 7.8 several time with no ill effects. if you don't find a problem I wouldn't lose sleep over it but I have only ever been able to temporarly raise it over that.

Steve