best way to raise pH?

Laura and Jim will be hosting the May meeting this Saturday the 12th and it will be the usual of food, drinks, raffle and fun.
 
Doors will be open at 6:00 pm for social talk and the meeting will start at 7:00.  Parking gets a little tight and the city says you can't park on 4th but there is a parking lot a block away.   Meeting is usually held in the backyard so feel free to bring your favorite lawn chair, weather permitting of course.

If you need address/directions, contact a club member.

Best if you park at Mini Mall (where the spaghetti establishment use to be)
 
You will get to see his new frag tank set up in the making.
 
Hope to see you there!

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[VickiG]

We need to raise our pH a bit - we've been dropping down to about 8.12 in a.m., but barely back up to about 8.2 last night.  Our calcium has been running between 380-420, so we are not sure if we should add more Ca or what?  We have a B-Ionic Calcium buffer system (two component) that we haven't tried yet - should we use that or what other ways are best to raise the pH a bit in our tank?   Thanks for any advice!

[angelscrx]

Your parameters are fine.  What are you trying to raise it to?  The PH will differ from lights on to lights off.  If you have a light in the sump that is on a reverse cycle of the display tank that will help.  If you need to raise the PH the second part of the B-Ionic should be the one to add if I am not mistaken.  One is calcium and the other is the buffer.  Add the buffer.  Lime water works great and is cheaper than B-Ionic.  You can mix it in your top off water.

[Ed]

things that stabilize PH...

YOu could use a refugeum with lights going, 24h/7 or opposite of your lighting cycle.
You could use a air pump with air stone in your sump or overflow.
You could drip Lime water (Kalk) slowly at night.
CO2 is the most common factor in PH.

The higher your PH the faster rate your phosphates percipitate, but too fast of shift will severely harm your animals.

A good goal IMO is 8-8.3 usually.

At night your PH will lower, and raise slowly during the day, then slowly decline at night.

[Ed]

Here is a little bit more about PH from Boomer and Randy Holmes Farley.
I copied this from Reef Frontiers.   Randy and Boomer are best friends.

People are often mislead about this adding buffer to RO/DI water. In short, it is not needed. As the water from your tank evaporates it leaves behind said buffers, so there is no reason to add buffer, they are still in the tank. However, if you feel better about it you can add some. If you do watch your Alk.

These are the reasons why there is no need;

From Randy;

Aside from the issues discussed above concerning the effluent’s pH when the DI resin becomes depleted, the final pH coming out of an RO/DI system should not significantly concern reef aquarists. Many aquarists with low pH problems have asked, for example, if their aquarium’s low pH may be caused by their replacing evaporated water with RO/DI water that they measure to have a pH below 7. In short, the answer is no, this is not a cause of low pH nor is it something to be generally concerned about, for the following reasons:

1. The pH of totally pure water is around 7 (with the exact value depending on temperature). As carbon dioxide from the atmosphere enters the water, the pH drops into the 6’s and even into the 5’s, depending on the amount of CO2. At saturation with the level of CO2 in normal (outside) air, the pH would be about 5.66. Indoor air often has even more CO2, and the pH can drop a bit lower, into the 5’s. Consequently, the pH of highly purified water coming from an RO/DI unit is expected to be in the pH 5-7 range.

2. The pH of highly purified water is not accurately measured by test kits, or by pH meters. There are several different reasons for this, including the fact that highly purified water has very little buffering capacity, so its pH is easily changed. Even the acidity or basicity of a pH test kit’s indicator dye is enough to alter pure water’s measured pH. As for pH meters, the probes themselves do not function well in the very low ionic strength of pure freshwater, and trace impurities on them can swing the pH around quite a bit.

3. The pH of the combination of two solutions does not necessarily reflect the average (not even a weighted average) of their two pH values. The final pH of a mixture may actually not even be between the pH’s of the two solutions when combined. Consequently, adding pH 7 pure water to pH 8.2 seawater may not even result in a pH below 8.2, but rather might be higher than 8.2 (for complex reasons relating to the acidity of bicarbonate in seawater vs. freshwater).

Your new water;

New seawater has an intial pH of about 7.8 quite often and often it will take 24 hrs to blow off the CO2, in which case the pH should rise to about 8.2 or so
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[Rico]

vicki,

Your tank is doing just fine.  Those readings are quite normal and if you go trying to keep the ph in a narrower range you will just drive yourself crazy and may even hurt the balance of the system from adding stuff that does not need to be added.

For example, my tanks for years regulary hit 8.2 to 8.3 by the end of the day just before the lights go out.  Then in the morning before the lights turn on the ph is anywhere from 7.9 up to 8.1.  This is normal.

Rick

[VickiG]

Thanks, every one of you, for your input/advice  I myself wasn't too worried about the pH but Darrel asked me to check with you guys.  He is calmer today about it, I think.  (being "almost" retired gives him way too much time to mess around with that tank!).  We are going to keep the refugium lights on a bit longer now, but otherwise, I am going to tie his hands behind his back and tell him to just chill about the pH.  Thanks again!

[angelscrx]

Careful with the whole tying thing he might like it!

[VickiG]

You are a funny, funny man!

[angelscrx]

:twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:  And my name is Angel!

[Ed]

Did you guys catch the quote from Boomer?

"New seawater has an intial pH of about 7.8 quite often and often it will take 24 hrs to blow off the CO2, in which case the pH should rise to about 8.2 or so "

This is something to consider when doing water changes.    That is why its always good to aerate your water a good 24 hours if possible.
 :!:
A water change done correctly causes less stress and prevent more losses.

[angelscrx]

A power head aimed at the top of the water and a heater to put the new water at the same temp are always a good idea.  Never make water and use it the same day.  If not mixed correctly the salt crystals still in the water will irritate your fish' gills.  Good information Ed.

[VickiG]

That is good advice, Ed and Angel.  Thanks.