How to increase PH???

[Ah-lim]

Btw, I checked hardware shop , but cannot find baking soda.

Where to ya guys buy from?

Thanks.

[Adrianli]

Btw, I checked hardware shop , but cannot find baking soda.

Where to ya guys buy from?

Thanks.

Provision Shop or Supermarket.

[STORM TROPPER]

Provision Shop or Supermarket.

Hello there

can i know what is ur PH now ?

[angelfishlover]

Are you using those liquid test kit which is you bought it last year.Cause liquid test kit will tell wrong stuffs if it is more than a year old.I got once.How about bring ur sample of water to MarineLife to test your water.Most people usually do that.

[madmac]

Wow!... a Plectropomus laevis... I can't believe you're trying to keep these sort of groupers... beautiful fish, but extremely difficult to keep alive anything past 2weeks, even for a 10 ft tank. Is it feeding? How big is it?

A persistently low pH, is usually a symptomatic of high ambient C02 or a very dirty tank, i.e. time for change of water or change out the sandbed.

Bicarbonate of Soda or baking soda, when added fresh will actually lower pH, but increase your Alk... to correct a low pH quickly, baked it for 1 hr at 250ºC, then use it.... correction will be short lived if the two conditions still exist...

BTW... is it really pH of 6.8... at that level, any aragonite will melt... its the pH level of my CR!.. maybe good to validate your pH kits.

[kareen]

Wow!... a Plectropomus laevis... I can't believe you're trying to keep these sort of groupers... beautiful fish, but extremely difficult to keep alive anything past 2weeks, even for a 10 ft tank. Is it feeding? How big is it?

A persistently low pH, is usually a symptomatic of high ambient C02 or a very dirty tank, i.e. time for change of water or change out the sandbed.

Bicarbonate of Soda or baking soda, when added fresh will actually lower pH, but increase your Alk... to correct a low pH quickly, baked it for 1 hr at 250ºC, then use it.... correction will be short lived if the two conditions still exist...

BTW... is it really pH of 6.8... at that level, any aragonite will melt... its the pH level of my CR!.. maybe good to validate your pH kits.

but... before he only have 2 fish and now, probably 3... that make me rule out this possibility.... WAIT! What is your water exchange rate, flow, sandbed, etc, anything that could contribute to the buildup of CO2 in tank?

PS: maybe some coral chips helps...

PSS: I will recommend using proper marine buffers... rather than washing soda and baking soda... it's safer

[angelfishlover]

I have a bad experience with baking soda.Added too much the next day wow kh till 30dkh.

[Adrianli]

PH currently is 6.9, measured with Digital PH pen bought from C328 quite some time back. Calibration PH 7.0 liquid bought from Petmart two mths ago.

Litmus paper was an industrial brand one, its showing the same result also.

Yes, the grouper is feeding well and cohabiting wif my black grouper happily. Have been feeding them market prawns daily. Its almost 1.5 weeks now, no problem at all. Groupers are hardy creatures and I have been keeping them since 3 yrs ago.

Last weekend wanted to get Seachem Reef Buffer n dKH kit, instead got the Seachem Reef Builder. Really gotta kick myself in the butt for not reading the instructions properly. Reef Builder wont raise PH. Now I have a brand new Reef Builder. Will get the Reef Buffer when I'm free again.

[Adrianli]

but... before he only have 2 fish and now, probably 3... that make me rule out this possibility.... WAIT! What is your water exchange rate, flow, sandbed, etc, anything that could contribute to the buildup of CO2 in tank?

PS: maybe some coral chips helps...

PSS: I will recommend using proper marine buffers... rather than washing soda and baking soda... it's safer

Yup, now three fishes in the 4ft tank.

Water exchange - Using a Weipro 5000L/hr return pump

Main tank - One big cave for the groupers n 5 inch deep sand bed

Sump tank - Coral chips, bio ball, deep sand bed n biohome

Will get 5 - 10kg of coral chips n put in the sump.

[kareen]

So to begin with, u already have coral chips.... then no need to get liao... Maybe faulty PH pen? Verify with some PH u know, distill water?

[kareen]

How about adding some shells to your main tank like some deco on the sandbed instead in the sump? If your ph is low, the shells will get dissolve and then buffer your water.....

[madmac]

PH currently is 6.9, measured with Digital PH pen bought from C328 quite some time back. Calibration PH 7.0 liquid bought from Petmart two mths ago.

You need two pH calibration liquid to calibrate a pH pen, yes...?

[Adrianli]

You need two pH calibration liquid to calibrate a pH pen, yes...?

Nope, I dip the PH pen into the calibration fluid n adjust it to PH 7.0. Thatz all.

I'm also using litmus paper.

[kareen]

ok.... if the ph is correct as indicated then I will ask myself....

Are there anything that could contribute to low ph?

Points to note:

The normal trend for pH in a tank is downward, or more acidic. The additions of acids into a tank will lower the pH in the tank water. These acids come from several sources, the primary ones being:

1) excess carbon dioxide (CO2) from respiration caused by lack of sufficient gas exchange,

2) nitric acid from biological filtration (nitrification),

3) organic acids from metabolic wastes. Respiration and metabolic wastes are a natural part of the ocean.

The reason that sea water pH does not change is that sea water contains a number of chemicals, such as bicarbonate, calcium, carbonate, borate and hydroxide, which act as natural "buffers" that retard the drop in pH.

okay... from the pic and facts given provided the ph is correct then the likely cause could be the 5 inch deep sand bed...

But to remove that is not an easy task since there is inhabitants and disturbing the sandbed might not be wise unless the situation cannot be corrected. I will add some form of aerations and monitor the situation.....

[babareef]

What Kareen said was spot on. Those are the likely causes of low Ph. I would suggest u do 3 things:

1. get another Ph meter to confirm your readings.

2. test your alkalinity- u should not exceed 11 dKH (or get it between 8 to 11 dKH)

3. test your calcium: it should be between 400 and 450 ppm.

You should try to get all these three parameters right first.

Only after running these tests and getting those parameters right, then u need to determine which is the most likely cause of your low Ph like Kareen explained. Read this article.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

These steps and generally reefkeeping require lots and lots of patience and love for the hobby.

If u think u r lazy to even do water changes then I think this hobby is not for you.

Just a piece of advice. I hope you take it positively.