Low PH/low alkalinity in FOWRL in basement room with very little ventilation

[James_C]

I realize the title of this post is the largest reason why I’m having these issues, but want to hear if others have a similar setup and how they resolved the issue.

What is low ph for me? It’s usually 7.2 in the evening, dosing alk can bring it up to 7.6. It’s never ever more than 7.6 even with a water change. Alk tested last night was 3.0 dkh, I generally don’t test alk often but the low ph had me questioning what’s going on. Usually alk is around 6.0 which is still low.

Here is my setup
Room details: basement room 10x10 where my water tank/boiler is located. No windows but have a bathroom style fan to help vent out.

Tank: 250 gallons, about 200 gal water volume

Equipment: two MP40s 2 gyres for surface agitation, 2 skimmers (curve 9 and curve 7), one skimmer gets external air intake, the other is in a closed co2 scrubber loop, ozone generator connected to ozone reactor, sulfur reactor to deal with nitrates.

I do realize that sulfur will be acidic so I do have aragonite in the reactor as well but maybe it’s not enough or there is too much sulfur. Either way this has been an issue even prior to adding the sulfur reactor.

I’m dosing kalkwasser it helps but not near the level it needs to be.

Last night my ph was 7.2 and I dosed 50ml of alk and that brought my ph up to 7.5, by the morning it was around 7.35. I’ll do a test of alk and calcium tonight

I do have an inline duct fan on order from Amazon for later in the week, hoping I can vent outside air in and that will help. I’m assuming my oxygen levels in the room would be low and the fact the boiler is a gas boiler that consumes oxygen probably isn’t helping.

Any advice or anyone have a very similar situation/experience.

 

[crabgrass]

This is a question, not statement - but does Ph / Alk matter in a FOWRL? I am assuming high Ph could have an impact, but does low Ph do anything?

 

[James_C]

This is a question, not statement - but does Ph / Alk matter in a FOWRL? I am assuming high Ph could have an impact, but does low Ph do anything?

I’ve read and heard from some people that acidic water could contribute to HLL and or bacterial infections. Side note I’ve had a well established lion fish die recently from a bacterial infection and a well established 8-10 inch vlamingi tang get a scratch that has turned into a serious bacterial infection as well. I may lose her in a few days . I’m treating for it but it’s not going as well a so had hoped.