Low PH

[Kelly]

I set up my 220 almost 2 weeks ago and did an 80% water change Sunday to remove the brown water leaching from the driftwood, no fish or plants yet, trying to get the PH up around 6.8 but my Pinpoint PH controller reads between 2.82 to 2.94. All I have in the tank is flourite substrate, landscape rock and some drift wood. I don't want to use chemicals to get the PH up, I would rather do it naturally. Any suggestions?

[lucius]

Maybe fill a filter bag of crushed coral and put it into your filter.

[mm]

Are you using Ottawa tap water? To get such low pH the driftwood must be leaching lots of acids. Even using RO/DI water with no carbonates. I never got a PH reading below 4.5. I would just do a few more large water changes. Soon the leaching will decrease and the pH will rise. If you don't want to use that much water the solution is to buffer the water with bicarbonate. I would also confirm that the pH monitor is well calibrated. Less than 3 pH seems awfully low.

[mm]

Reading your oter threads I suspect that the pH monitor is not properly calibrated or working. I suggest that you get one of these
http://www.amazon.ca/Etekcity-Accuracy-Pocket-Handheld-Tester/dp/B00FJFEB2O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448445316&sr=8-1&keywords=ph+meter
There are several similar ones in amazon. I find them very reliable (after calibration).

[Mike L]

I would suggest using a liquid test kit.  Also might want to see what the monitor reads on water just out of the tap.  After an 80% change the water should not be that acidic.

[Kelly]

Thanks for the replies, I did calibrate the monitor according to the instructions. I think I'll buy some more test solution and re-administer the calibration. The wood could be the culprit also, I have 5 pieces of drift wood purchased at Big Al's and a dead Bonsai that I purchased from a company in Texas, all have been boiled 20 minutes but the drift wood did leach during that process and also during the week I had the tank filled and running prior to the 80% water change. It is now day 4 since the water change and the water is much clearer but the PH controller is still reading 2.84. I'll try another 80% water change on Saturday and see how that turns out.

[exv152]

What about taking the ph probe out of the tank and dipping it in a cup of tap water? If the readings are still off then you know for sure something's awry with the calibration. As mentioned, a cheap hand held ph probe you can get off ebay for like $8 also comes in handy for stuff like this.

[fischkopp]

What cal solutions are you using, pH4/pH7 or pH7/pH10? The latter wouldn't be good to measure pH below 7.

[Kelly]

I used pH7/pH10 because that is what was included with the controller, no PH4 although as you said PH4/PH7 would be better but I called American Marine and the lad I talked to said it wouldn't matter if I did the 7 -10 or the 4 - 7 that once calibrated it would give the proper readings.

The probe is plugged into my external reactor, I think I'll buy a hand held just to compare the results. What a waste of money, you'd think they would've included a couple packets each of the 4 , 7 and 10 to get you through the first couple months, cheap buggers.

[Mike L]

Have you tested your water out of the tap yet.

[charlie]

The probe is plugged into my external reactor,

Just maybe this is responsible for the low reading ?
Perhaps placing the probe back into either calibrating solution & see what it measure against the standard ....
Just a thought.

[Kelly]

I picked up some 4.01 and 7.01 calibration solution at Big Al's in Toronto while I was there so I'll try a re-calibration and see what that does.

[wolfiewill]

I used pH7/pH10 because that is what was included with the controller, no PH4 although as you said PH4/PH7 would be better but I called American Marine and the lad I talked to said it wouldn't matter if I did the 7 -10 or the 4 - 7 that once calibrated it would give the proper readings.

The probe is plugged into my external reactor, ....

If you mean into your CO2 reactor then perhaps the reading is correct but it's meaningless there. It should be in or near your return line and well away from the inflow pipe. I've never heard of a pH that low in an aquarium.... a stomach perhaps, but not an aquarium.

[rivermuse]

I had repeatedly boiled the hell out of my driftwood in a stock pot for days to get rid of the tannis as it was plunging my ph. Then re-balaced it using Tufa stone.. I think its Tufa stone, while coral like thing. I'm no expert but this worked for me. good luck.

[Mike L]

You can never boil tannin out of wood. If fact you might be better served to soak in alkaline  water. All I  think all your doing is opening up the pores so more leaches. If the wood is you concern  try removing and keeping in treated water for a few  week and see what happens. Try resisting changing too much at once.  If you have too many variables  it will be hard to pin  point what the problem is. 

[Kelly]

Finally figured out with the help of a lad at American Marine, my probe is defective and it is being replaced free of charge. Still waiting to receive the replacement for the defective one I sent back to American Marine, hope to get it this week then I'll be able to complete my set-up.

[Kelly]

I received my new probe and calibrated it with little effort, great! Now that it is set up and working the PH in my tank is very stable holding between 6.98 and 7.03. I'm not complaining I just thought there would be a little more fluctuation allowing for a little more co2 being released into the tank for my plants. Since setting it up last week there's been a grand total of 13 bubbles emitted into the tank. I prefer to have a stable PH and little co2 than the opposite for my fish but a really nice planted tank would be nice too. I was wondering if I ran the co2 separate and had my oxygen pump plugged to the controller then wouldn't the controller kick in the pump when the PH dropped allowing me to use the co2 also? 

[wolfiewill]

You can have both. The O2 levels are not effected by the CO2 levels. One doesn't take the place of the other. And the pearling that we planted tank people love so much are a testament to that. The pearling takes place when the water is saturated with O2 and cannot absorb any more, hence the O2 bubbles on the plant leaves. And in a high light tank, excessive CO2 is required for this to happen. So you can have high CO2 concentrations, and high O2 levels at the same time. However, it is wise to have an air pump supply the tank during the night when plants stop photosynthesizing and only respire, producing CO2 and consuming O2. This helps the excess CO2 'degas' when the plants aren't actually using it up in the photosynthetic process. And you aren't going to harm your fish provided they are acclimated or originate from acid conditions. The acid that is created in a low pH tank through the addition of CO2 is carbonic acid, and it's a weak acid. So it's not like H2SO2 or HCl. These are strong acids and are very corrosive, and the amount of carbonic acid in a controlled situation, with a pH drop of 1.0 or 1.5 pH units, is not harmful to fish. And even shelled livestock will be fine as long as there is enough calcuim in the water.