ph problem

ive had my tank for about 3 weeks now. it has 2 clown fish, 9 hermit crabs, 2 snails, and 2 mushroom corals that came with a 3 pound peice of rock i purchased. i have 40 pounds of live sand and 20 pounds of live rock. But my ph is at 7.9, and i know it should be around 8.2-8.4. is there a way to naturally raise the ph of the water? i dont want to add a bunch of chemicals.

 

If the tank is only 3 weeks old I would not worry about that pH at all.

Also it is best to test pH the same time every time you test. Testing at the very end of the photoperiod will give you the highest pH value for the day.

Increasing water surface movement assist in increasing pH as well.

 

theres pretty good movement on the surface. and thanks, your right, i havent been checking it at the same time

 

The biggest cause of lower pH when alkalinity is at normal levels is the carbon dioxide level in the home.
When the home is closed up for heating or cooling purposes, there is often too little air exchange in the home to lower the CO2 level significantly so that sometimes even increasing the airflow across the water's surface, and increasing the motion of the water's surface can't rid the tank of the CO2 sufficiently.
In cases like this, the answer is to get air that is lower in CO2 to the water's surface either directly to the surface from outdoors, or by increasing the air exchange from outdoors to the home.
Sometimes opening a room window is sufficient and sometimes one needs a "vent" fan to blow new air into the home.
However, in the cases geographical extreme cold and heat, one sometimes needs to install an air exchanger.
ERV's (energy recovery ventilator) are sufficient for areas where the temperature doesn't get below -5C but for areas where the temperature gets lower than that, you new an HRV (heat recovery ventilator).
Here in Canada where newer standards require much more air tight, better insulated homes than we previously had, the new homes in most locals are required to have an HRV installed when built, just to get the required air exchange to make the household safe for people to live in.

 

I would not worry at all..PH at 7.9 is safe, but everything does better at 8.0-8.2..And plus since its only 3 weeks old, dont worry about it..