ph dropping

[ZAX]

tested water today, ph dropped from 8.3 to 7.8,
everything else tested ok, except amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0
kh is 161 which i think is ok
just put in 2 clowns last sat and think ammonia or nitrite or nitrate should be rising
bought marine buffer from store and put in 3 teaspoons as recommended on label..
not sure why ph changed so much...

 

[TORX]

The Critter shop sells Ph up for about 6$. I used their PH down recently when mine was too high. 1tbsp took it down .4 in my 40 gal. No idea why yours went down, but it  the down worked great for me.

 

[xxmurrxx]

exact same thing is happening to my PH..
Ever since I set up the tank it read around 8.4, after a good two weeks with a fish in there I tested yesterday and it was 7.8ish.
Curious what suddenly causes the drop?

 

[Cal_stir]

ph always drops at night, you should always check your ph at the same time to get an accurate result, I find the test kits are very hard to read, my test kit looks like 8.3 but both my ph probes read 8.1.
ZAX if your kh is 1.61 meq then it is too low, should be 3.5 to 4.5 meq.
if it is 16.1 dkh it is too high, should be 8 to 12 dkh.
kh is the buffer that helps reduce your ph swings, 100% arm and hammer baking soda will raise your kh. it is what is in the bottle of ph up you're buying.

 

[ZAX]

ph test is 9 drops of liquid, whick is  9 dkh or 161.1 ppm kh. Getting on the low side. After adding marine buffer, the kh did come up a little to 11 dkh, or 196.9 ppm...Does arm and hammer baking  soda raise the ph or raise the kh? I did buy the marine buffer already but just wondering....

 

[Cal_stir]

arm and hammer raises kh which will raise ph