consistently low PH what should I do

[Bigtom802l]

My tank has been up and running for 6 months now (125 gallon) and everything seems to be going well.  I recently got and installed a apex reef controller and have been monitoring my PH for the last few weeks.  I have noticed that it is slowly decreasing with time.  I do 15 gallon water changes once a week and my water is decent.  I tested my water on saturday and I had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, .8 nitrates, 9.2 kh for alkalinity, phosphates at 0.04, magnesium at 1400, and calcium at 420.  My fish and corals seem happy but i am a little concerned with the downward trend on PH.  I calibrated my ph probe about 2 months ago.  today my ph topped out at 7.95 and is now 11 PM at 7.76.  It seems to not want to get above 8 at all.  I run a skimmer and GFO reactor but thats it.  No dosing of anything and no additional reactors.  Not sure what is keeping my PH down.  Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.  I am thinking about adding kalk to my ATO water to help bring up my PH but i am sure on what else kalk would do to my system. 

Thanks
Tom

[bbtm64]

I've been fighting this battle myself for awhile. No matter what I do seems to help. I've been considering getting the bottled sea water to help but I haven't got that far yet lol.

[Bluewater]

Have you tested the Ph of the change water? If it is a new tank adding kalk will raise cal and alk to an unstable level. I would let the tank run a while and just keep an eye on the Ph. 7.95 is not bad just try and keep it stable sometime it is worse to try to fix a low ph than it is to just let it be.

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[lazylivin]

Don't worry about your PH. As long as your Alk is staying in range which yours is it will cause no harm. The majority of tanks PH are in the range where your's is. You should however be buffering with alk daily. Even if it is a very small amount.

[chromiumlux]

Don't worry about your PH. As long as your Alk is staying in range which yours is it will cause no harm. The majority of tanks PH are in the range where your's is. You should however be buffering with alk daily. Even if it is a very small amount.

100% agree with this.

[Bigtom802l]

Thanks for the responses I am not going to worry about my PH to much then.  Another question thou.  What would you buffer the Alk with?  Would a little bit of Kalk in my ATO 5 gallon bucket work?

[lazylivin]

Yes that would work really well.

[Steve]

  Would a little bit of Kalk in my ATO 5 gallon bucket work?

It will also raise your calcium level so make sure to monitor it. My PH is around 7.8 right now also. Any time the house gets shut up and the air or heat is always on, Carbon Dioxide up, PH down. I have considered just opening my doors for a half hour or so every morning using a fan to suck in some fresh air to combat this. On a positive note though my corals are looking as good as they have in a while, so the PH is not having any neg effect. If you are just wanting to raise the Alk you may want to consider a little soda ash.

[bobdino]

The open door with fans does work. I've gone from 7.85 to 8.3. What I am trying to do now is find an air pump with an outside air intake and putting an airstone in each 1 of my sumps or over flows. I also wait for the coolest part of the day to open the door and run the fans

[Mussin]

When I got my tank started I always worried about my low PH, couldn't get it to raise..  I saw no ill effects of it though.  Now I don't bother to test for it or anything else for that matter...



Jeremy