Lots of house guests = low pH?

[weaglereefer]

We had a party last night and there were probably 20 people or so over. The pH in my tank never drops below 7.8 at night, but we were playing a game of pong (right in front of the tank, nice long straight area) and I was checking on the RKL on the side. I saw the pH at 7.69, and watched it drop 0.01 every 2-3 minutes before I started getting worried. First thing I did was break out some calibration fluid for the pH probe, it was dead on. I finally had to make a kalk slurry and add it to the tank to spike the pH back up (like 1tsp of kalk in 2 cups of RO/DI). Needed 2 dosings to get the tank back up to 7.85.

My thought is the large number of people in the house along with no open windows and the lights being off in the tank, contributed to a higher CO2 level in the house than usual, thus depressing the pH. It was fine this morning, don't see any negative side effects of the low pH or the spike I induced. I know people say don't chase numbers, but it's not supposed to get that low.

Anyone else ever had this happen when you had lots of guests over? I really can't think of anything else it could have been, and I've been thinking all day about it.

 

[oil_fan]

Anyone smoking inside the house? Just thinking off the top of my head.

 

[weaglereefer]

Absolutely no smoking in my house. A few people were outside, but most wouldn't brave the cold and made the rest of us put up with their nic-fits.

 

[lilrobb]

Google "co2 scrubber"

Your skimmer is the culprit

 

[weaglereefer]

My skimmer pulls air in from outside via a 1" PVC tube with floss and carbon. It is upwind and on the opposite side of the house of the smokers.

 

[ericmcj31]

somebody pour beer in the tank?? lol

 

[ericmcj31]

...or 'feed the fish'? lol

 

[weaglereefer]

Nope, canopy prevents that. And people were fascinated by it, I don't have the kind of friends that would do that.

 

[kernelpanic]

Yes, more people in your house means higher atmospheric CO2 and lower tank pH. I have seen my tank drop .05-.1 with just five house guests overnight. Don't chase pH. If your other parameters are stable, pH is just going to be what it is going to be. It is multifactorial dependent on atmospheric CO2, fish respiration, coral and algae photosynthesis, organic acids from waste breakdown, etc. This happens in your own blood too. If you go to high altitude, your blood pH rises until the body compensates. This is why you don't want to fly to CO in the morning and hike a 14er in the afternoon(bad headache). Check the reefcentral TOTM. Shows pH fluctuating from 7.6-8.0. Also if your alkalinity is lower, pH fluctuates more with changes in CO2.

 

[schwaggs]

I have seen it plenty of times. When my kids have their friends over and they invade the man cave for a few hours it drops like a rock. Check out my thread and graphic proof. http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=29263&">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=29263&</a>

I'm disappointed that having the external feed to the skimmer air intake in your case, didn't avoid the pH drop...

 

[weaglereefer]

Schwaggs;445279 wrote: I'm disappointed that having the external feed to the skimmer air intake in your case, didn't avoid the pH drop...

Me too, almost makes it seem worthless. For whatever reason my pH always runs on the low side. For example, whenever I refill the kalk reactor, for the first day or two it will get up to 8.15 right after top offs, but it generally runs right around 8.0. Again, I'm not chasing numbers, just curious to know why mine runs lower.

Alk 11.0
Cal 440
Mg 1400

 

[ryuchi]

outside air to the skimmer, hmmmm. Im gonna be up late now.:yes: