ph stability

[toyfreak]

I picked up a ph controller for my calcium reactor and just for now put it in my sump last night just to display the ph for me. After calibrating it with the solution I put the probe in and after a while it was displaying 7.8 so I needed to top off anyways so I dumped some sea chem buffer for the water quantity into the bucket and let it top off. We went out for a few hours last night and came back and i went to see what it was and now it says its 8.8 at midnight. Wow thats high so let it be and this morning it is saying its 7.8 again. I test it and it looks like its 8.0 to 8.2. I wonder if this ph meter is not right ?

Any ideas advise on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ryan

[Sir Patrick]

Do you have a sump? Is it lit? Have both lights on at the same time, or opposite cycles?

There tends to be a slight ph shift between lights out, and lights on. Dont think it should be shifting as much as you reported though.

[jolson10450]

did you calibrate it correctly? i use 2 packet calibration for mine, one is a 10.0 ph and the other is 7.0 ph, mine comes out almost dead on with the good test kits so i trust mine, my tank usually gets to 7.98 at night sometimes but during the day im roughly at 8.4, try to alternate your fuge lights and your main lights aka put your regular lights on during the day and fuge lights at night, this will help with the quick fluctuation at night.

[toyfreak]

I have the lights on opposite times. I only did a 7.01 solution calibration. I tested with my kit and didnt see that much of a variation so it might be the device

[schminksbro]

It is very possible that you simply elevated the Ph with the Seachem product. Your Ph should fluctuate from dark to light. My tank will drop to 7.8 in the morning and rise to 8.3 at the end of the light cycle. This is due to organisms such as algae consuming CO2 from your system while the lights are on. If when you added the Ph boost your tank was at the beginning of it's light cycle then it stands to reason that your Ph would continue to rise as normal. Possibly reaching a peak of around 8.2-8.4. After adding the Ph boost your Ph continued to rise on it's normal cycle with the addition of the Seachem Ph boost. It doesn't take much to create a swing of .4. What has the Ph been since then?