PH trouble

I for some unknown reason can't manage to keep my PH up it was at 7.6 this morning I use Kent Superbuffer to get it up to 8.2 but it never stays for long maybe a day or 2!

levels

7.6 PH
.25 amm
.25 nitrite
.0 nitrate

please help this is so frustrating!!

I'll second everything Krazie said.

What type of sand do you have and approximately how deep is the sand bed? What are the rest of the parameters (calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium)?

I'd been having the same problem for the last few months and eventually narrowed the issue down to high CO2 levels inside the house. After installing a scrubber (BRS air filter with their co2 absorbent) my ph came up by 0.2 and after adding just a small amount of kalkwasser into my top off reservoir my ph is stable at 8.0-8.2 day and night.

-TYR- wrote: I for some unknown reason can't manage to keep my PH up it was at 7.6 this morning I use Kent Superbuffer to get it up to 8.2 but it never stays for long maybe a day or 2! levels 7.6 PH .25 amm .25 nitrite .0 nitrate please help this is so frustrating!!

oh, i just reread that and i missed one major point. 

On the bottom of the bottle, I put as many holes in the bottom with the smallest drill bit I had, as I could you want lots of spread out holes so you get a spread out more laminar flow of the air.  The more contact it gets with the lime the better.

nope, no reactor, no CO2 at all.  Just massive amounts of breathing in our house filling my basement with CO2.

Mark,

Even if you do ALL of that, if your tank is in a basement, and your house is sealed really well, then the CO2 levels in the house WILL be higher, especially in winter when no one opens windows.  This higher CO2 is pulled into the water by the air intake of the skimmer.  If you don't have a lid on your tank (which I don't on my 300, it is a eurobrace) and you have plenty of surface turbulence ( I have 4 returns breaking the surface PLUS a wp60 blasting the surface) you can STILL have too much CO2. 

The solubility of CO2 is high, and once it is dissolved in the water, turbulance alone won't remove massive amounts, some yes.  If you look at the solubility factors of CO2 in water on a solubility diagram, 77 degrees is about 25 degrees C, which means that the solubility of the CO2 in water at that temp is about 1.5 grams of CO2 per kg of water, which doesn't sound like a lot, but enough to really mess up pH.  you can increase the temp of the water to cause CO2 to be released, but not an option for our tanks.

If all of this is true, then the only way to fix this is to do something to either remove it from the water or prevent it from being dissolved.  So you can either dump more chemicals, OR you can go the more natural way and prevent it from ever being introduced to your tank.  Which is what removing the CO2 from the air going to your skimmer comes in.  That is the single biggest source of CO2 entering into the water.  You have severe turbulence and the air being broken down into little bubbles, which increases the contact time and contact surface between the air and the water, and the solubility of both the O2 and the CO2.  

After looking at what 100s of other people have done and proved, looking at the calculations for CO2 absorption,  and looking at what happened on my tank with PLENTY of alk, I think anyone running a skimmer should look at spending a simple < $10 and rigging up a CO2 scrubber.  Only cost effective NON chemical way to treat your water. 

Anyone who wants one can google "DIY aquarium CO2 scrubber"  and see multiple examples.

you should always run LOTS of tubing, and run the tubing up and hang it at the top of your stand then down to the skimmer.  if you don't have at least a foot of clear tubing space set up, then you should fix it ASAP!!!!  the last thing you want is water to go into the lime.  I don't think a check valve is a good thing, it is nothing more than additional pressure and flow restriction.  a simple pipe hanger to the top of your stand is the cleanest, safest way without additional costs and something to clog up and not work.

bmac2 wrote: you should always run LOTS of tubing, and run the tubing up and hang it at the top of your stand then down to the skimmer.  if you don't have at least a foot of clear tubing space set up, then you should fix it ASAP!!!!  the last thing you want is water to go into the lime.  I don't think a check valve is a good thing, it is nothing more than additional pressure and flow restriction.  a simple pipe hanger to the top of your stand is the cleanest, safest way without additional costs and something to clog up and not work.

I have about 5ft of tubing between the scrubber and skimmer and another 5ft from the scrubber back up where the line is held in place higher than the water level in my sump. The problem is that my tank has the sump in the back and I don't have any place to hang the scrubber above the skimmer without it looking bad.

I think that depends on the size of your skimmer. I added a scrubber to mine as well. My skimmer has surgical tubing (silicone type) running down to the venturi so I bought more of that and made sure that what I used was at least the same size as what the skimmer already had.

about the tubing effect.  Tubing doesn't effect the air flow enough to change anything, not in only 2 or 3 foot of tubing, as long as it is the same size as what is on there.