Ph has risen from 6.8 to 7.8 from using airstones over night

[axl]

Hi,
last night i setup to airstones on timers and i checked the ph this morning and it has gone from ph 6.8 to 7.8. Why is this??? the co2 turns of at night with the lights on a timer. Creating oxygen shouldnt make the ph swing so much. I need urgent help on this 1 lucky i didnt have my disuc in there yet i get them on sunday.
Whats the go

[flaggy]

The airstone increases surface turbelance and drives off carbon dioxide from the water... causing the pH to increase.

[axl]

Oh ok dint no that, is there any way of stopping it. This is way to much ph swing for the discus. Do other people get the same swing. What am i going to do???.

[revkev]

I run a 6x2x2 planted discus tank with CO2 24hrs 7days ph 6.50 I have been using CO2 like this for over 12 months with no problems just adjust your bubble count to get the ph you want.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/revkev77/th_MVC-002F-5.jpg (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/revkev77/MVC-002F-5.jpg)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/revkev77/th_MVC-001F-5.jpg (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/revkev77/MVC-001F-5.jpg)
Substate Ecocomplete with Tunze 80watt under gravel heating, Heating 2 Eheim 300watt,Filters Fluval FX5 & Aquaone 1200lph with Pondmaster 36 watt UV on outlet, Lighting T5 twin 5ft 80watts tubes on timer,Aquatronica aquarium controller.

[ILLUSN]

WOW! thats a massive swing i didn't think you'd get one that big, your gonna have to try what i did, run your CO2 and your air constantly, i'm running 4-5 pbs (yes i know thats alot its a 4x2x2 tank) of co2 24/7 and i run my air pump 24/7 you'll have to "tune" the out put of your air pump till ph stays where you want and fish dont gasp. sorry mate this is the PAIN of discus and plants.

also make sure your lids are sealing your tank run some gaffa tape acropss the back and make sure the corners are covered. Sorry to hear this mate CO2's gonna get expensive welcome to the club :D
Jothy

[Greggy]

Hi guys,

I'm also having a problem with too high a pH on my planted 6x2x2 Discus tank :( My pH is always creeping up and last night I tested it and it was about 8.0 !!! This caused me to worry as I'm sure my fish will not be very happy about such a high reading. Tap water in our area is usually hard and alkaline (not a good Discus combination), so doing water changes generally increases pH.

I run an air stone at night, which comes on at 10:00PM and goes off at 7:00AM. The lights come on at 10:00AM and go off at 9:00PM. I don't have CO2 injection. Should I do away with the air stone? It does seem to help the oxygen levels in the tank though, so I'm reluctant to completely get rid of it. Perhaps I could reduce the amount of time it is on to only 3 or 4 hours?

What can you suggest to get the pH under control? Should I just bite the bullet and invest in a (expensive) automated CO2 injection/pH control system? If so what is the best way to go in this regard?

I just want what probably everyone on this forum wants... a heavily planted Discus tank where the plants and Discus are very happy. Seems like an impossible ask at the moment :(

Regards,

Greggy

[fishgeek]

you could always just go to the local swimming pool shop and buy some phosphoric acid(it is similar to what most phosphate buffers contain) wont drop the pH hugely adn si more stable
though ads phosphates to the water and can promote algal growth

or

muriatic or hydrochloric acid, much less stable as far as getting the pH set, and doesnt add phosphates
dont add this to your tank with fish in,
add it to water in a bucket and watch the pH first drop then slowly rise back up
add more and you will after some time find an amount of H+ ions needed to overwhelm your buffer to where you would like it

andrew

[revkev]

Hi I would check what you have in the tank ie rocks substrate?and how old is the PH test kit. :wink:

[Greggy]

I don't think my pH test kit is that old, and I believe its quite accurate. I've recently used it on my parent's 3x18x18 aquarium (angel fish, rummy nose & neons) and their pH measured approx 6.5 which is about perfect for them - and they run a UGF with 3 uplift tubes (two air stones and a power head). With that tank I'm always battling to keep the pH from dropping too low, where as I'm always battling to keep my pH geting too high. Their tank is very established though, probably running in its current state for the last 3 years I suppose. Their UGF has not missed a beat.

My substrate could be a factor (natural gravel) although most of the time my pH sits at around 7.2 which I'm much happier with than last nights reading of 8.0 I'll re-test tonight and report back. I'm reluctant to use Sodum Biphosphate to lower the pH because of the algae bloom it will no doubt casue.

If my substrate is indeed to blame what is the best way to manage it? Will lots & lots of water changes eventually leech the alkaline substances out of it? Maybe CO2 injection is easier/quicker?

Regards,

Greggy

[ILLUSN]

if your ph is creeping whilst co2 and surface moving stays the same then something is leaching into your tank. co2 with a ph controler will help short term but eventually as co2 increases water becomes more acidic, more alkelines leach (as they disolve faser in acidic water) so computer injects more co2, co2 conc rises and fish die (once co2 conc in water is higher then fish they cant diffuse co2 into the water, also blood becomes too acidic) try to remove some of your substrate and test with HCL (or vineger, put in a jar and leave o'night if you have bubbles come morning get rid of it)

[FishLover]

The sandy airstone may leaching Ca in your water. If you have such airstone, replace it with something inert.

Your plants don't need Co2 at night, nor do you need to run airstone when you have Co2 injection running at the same time. Just adjust your Co2 to a slower rate instead of running both. Save you some money on Co2 too.

[DiscusEden]

I know I harp on about this, but check your kH.

[Greggy]

I got home from work last night at around 6:30PM and tested pH which had dropped to about 7.6 (down from 8.0) - Discus actually looked a little better too as their colours where brighter/no verticle stripes. I will keep an eye on everything. I don't always test the pH of the tap water before I do a WC and I'm beginning to think I had a batch of water come thorugh that was very alkaline. From now on I'll watch this more closely, as I think my pH will drift back to around 7.2 if I put off doing a WC for a few weeks (like it usually is).

I doubt I'll ever get below this without CO2 or RO water.

Sorry axl I don't mean to steal your thread.

Regards,

Greggy