low pH

[Turf]

Dear Randy,
My pH has been fine for weeks running at about 8.3 and now has dropped and hovered around 7.8 to 7.9 for the last 2 weeks. All of my parameters are currently in the green except my Calcium is low. I have been adding kent Pro pH buffer but it never changes my pH only holds it stable. I don't have abnormal waste from food or fish either except that I added a Foxface about a week before this all started. What are all of the things that can affect the level of pH? Calcium? Excess CO2? Poo? Thanks for your response. I changed 10gal of my 55gal tank and it did nothing.

Turf

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It's hard to say why it changed now, but to raise pH, you can do one of several things:

1. If you have CO2 buildup in your house, allow the tank to be exposed to fresher air. This approach has worked for amny people.

2. Switch to an alkalinity supplement that raises pH. These include the original B-ionic, sodium carbonate, and limewater (and others).

Check through the posts for the past 2 weeks on this forum and you'll see a bunch where we sought solutions to this problem.