Low pH following water change

[Wade]

May not be related to the water change, but the pH was starting off around 8.15 in the morning and rising to around 8.35 by late afternoon early evening before the lights started to dim and it would fall again. I replaced the GFO and carbon when I did my water change this time around and over the last few days the range has slowly decreased.

5/30 - 8.04 - 8.36

5/31 - 8.0 - 8.27

6/1 - 8.0 - 8.34

6/2 - 8.01 - 8.29

6/3 - 7.96 - 8.13

I drip kalk in the morning and it tapers off through the day. About 1 - 1.5 tsp in a gallon on water and less than the whole gallon is used per day. I've also missed a couple of days of feeding (not in a row) during that period which is unusual for me. Anything I should look for or be concerned about?

[Wade]

today's range was 7.88 - 7.98. What, in general, would cause low pH?

[victoly]

High ambient CO2 indoors.

check out this thread.

http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/29195-ph-and-ambient-outdoor-temperature/?hl=%2Bambient+%2Bco2

[Wade]

That's a good idea with the bubbler. I have one in my sump for an upflow algae scrubber. The hose is long enough that I can run it through the floor from the basement and maybe introduce some fresh air. It's interesting to note that my house is sealed up all year around with the only difference being that it's gas heat in the winter and heat pump in the summer. I wonder what the correlation, if any, would be there. I'll let you know if having the bubbler pump in the basement makes a difference. Thanks for the tip.

[jestep]

I can't keep mine over 8 and I don't have any problems. There's so many factors that affect it, it's largely something that I ignore at this point, with the exception of it changing due to a chemical like Kalk. Most likely CO2 or some other arbitrary reason for yours to change.

[FarmerTy]

+1, I mainly ignore mine these days. Ran 7.8-8.0 for 4 years and had no ill effect. I still grew giant SPS colonies and nothing in my tank really cared.

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[Wade]

Thanks all. Moving the air pump did have a change on the pH. Today it came up to 8.26. Like you all said, it's nothing to worry about, but I like consistency for consistency's sake:)