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Ph droping but still blue

Katfish

Katfish

Member
Joined
21 Jan 2012
Messages
141
Location
Tunbridge Wells
Yesterday I got my co2 up and running.

I am running 3bps and the co2 comes on 2 hours b 4 lights on.

The drop checker is still blue but my ph has dropped from 7.45 to 7.05 in 5 hours but still no change in the drop checker.

My KH is 8 in my tank if that is relevant

I have a good turn over in my tank but minimal surface movement but I do have a sump and have the down pipe in the sump below water level so only a little surface movement and the rest of the sump is still.

any suggestions or advice ?
 
Hi Katfish,

Are you using tap/tank water in your drop checker? If so you need to use 4dkh solution, this can be purchased from our sponsers.

Rowly
 
Out of curiosity which PH reagent are you using? I had one supplied with my DC from Hong Kong which did the same. Some say you can put a drop of vinegar in and if it turns yellow it's working but mine did turn yellow and still wouldn't go green no matter how much co2 I put in. I changed reagents to a nutrafin low ph which is bromo blue and put a dc with each type in next to each other in the tank and the nutrafin one stayed green while the HK one stayed blue.
 
Hi, how big is the tank in question? I agree with the other comments, if your drop checker is blue after 5 hours, then you need to increase injection rate. Have you checked for leaks on this setup between the bubble counter and diffuser?
 
hi the tank is 6x2x3 with a sump holds 850ltr water in total
I am using API ph regent and also I have the JBL co2/ph perm test gadget.

Any way it has now changed from blue to like a dark blue/green more to the green.
 
More co2 then :thumbup:
 
Thanks I will give that a bash tomorrow as co2 is now off for the day as I run it 2 on b 4 lights and then goes off 2 hours b 4 lights off.
 
Looks like you've sorted it by the sounds of it then. 3bps is nowhere near enough for that much water. I run nearly that bubble rate in 125l!
 
Ok think I am going to do damage to my fish
every time my co2 goes off my ph raises back to 7.45

so yesterday this is the way things went and the drop checker was a green/blue
8am ph 7.45 co2 on
10am ph 7.35 lights on
12pm ph 7.3 lights on
2pm ph 7.25 lights on
4pm ph 7.15 lights on
6pm ph 6.95 lights on co2 off
8pm ph 7.00 lights off co2 off

Today so far this is how it has gone with more gas as advised
8am Ph 7.45 co2 on
10am ph 7.2 lights on

This change over the day is sure to have an affect on the fish ? as with the new bps I am prob going to hit ph of 6.7 by 6pm

Please advise on how I can stabilize my Ph to not swing so much or is this not a problem?
 
Hi Katfish.

Adding co2 will lower ph. The drop checker measures the ph. If your aim is to get your drop checker to change from blue to lime green you need to lower your ph by adding co2.

Don't worry, I don't think you will cause any great ph 'crash'. If you make drastic changes you could risk gassing the fish, but this is really obvious and easily fixed by switching co2 off and adding an airstone.

I am in london and have really hard water that turns the drop checker dark blue after a water change. After running co2 my drop checker is almost yellow. Fish are fine.

Just make any changes gradually. Don't worry so much about water chemistry, your fish will tell you if they are unhappy.
 
I was the same when I first started to use co2. Its not surprising when you read about devastating ph crashes on other forums. I got caught up once using RO water, then worrying that the water would not be hard enough to buffer and cause a ph crash, I started to mess around measuring gh and kh. It was all completely unnecessary. Now I just aim to keep the water clean.
 
I wouldnt worry about the ph drop, as far as I am aware, the ph change from co2 is completely different from a ph change caused by something else. My tap water ph is around 7.4 but in my tank it is around 6.6-6.4 from the co2 with no ill effects.
 
I have decided to run co2 24/7 and let the co2/ph controller dose as required.

I am dropping the ph by 0.1 every 24hrs to give the fish a chance to adjust

Ph is now down to 7.15 and all fish look great no ill affects no gasping and the fish seem brighter I reckon my ph will be 6.80 when I hit my co2 target.

I also spent a day moving stuff around in my sump and built a new stand pipe so now I have min surface movement i must say it was worth it just for the noise reduction 80% less noise now.
 
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