Controlling pH in a softy tank?

[pledosophy]

Hello,

I am looking for successful methods to control pH in a softy tank. I have more experience with SPS and in my SPS tank there is a greater calcium and alkalinity uptake allowing me to dose a larger amount of kalk to keep the pH above 8.2. My concern is with a softy tank I will not have that same level of consumption so I am looking for other means.

The tank I have is a 165g tank and does include a protein skimmer in the sump. The sump is small and does not allow space for a descent sized refugium. Using a chaetomorpha reactor is an option, as is drilling through the wall to connect a refugium in my garage, but I do have some concern over temperature control with that method.

I have an older home that is not at all well sealed, but I have found my environment to be one that surpresses pH as I live close to one of the busiest freeways in the world and a mile from a power plant. Opening a window, or pumping in fresh air did not bring enough of a benefit to my SPS system in the same home which is why kalk was a life saver for the sticks.

I am hopeful that other people have experience boosting the pH in a softy tank, and can tell me whether or not the project of adding a refugium in my garage is going to be necessary.

I appreciate your input!

 

[Saltyreef]

Seems like your issue as stated would be excess c02 from the freeway?

You can try using a c02 scrubber on your skimmer air inlet. Also, have you looked at using kalk not in the ATO? Or have you just tried the kalk in the ato?

Some people maximize the use of kalk by following this. Scroll down to part 1, kalk dosing system.

The Kalk / Calc Combo Method

By Bruce York I developed the Kalk / Calc Combo Method of maintaining stable water parameters in my reef aquarium over a 6 year period from 2008 to 2014. At

reefs.com

 

[Saltyreef]

I just kinda re read what you are after.

What is your first means of replenishing elements?

The softy tank will no dobut consume less but maybe you should set it up and do some testing.

Most of us would be shooting from the hip with assumptions anyways

 

[pledosophy]

Seems like your issue as stated would be excess c02 from the freeway?

You can try using a c02 scrubber on your skimmer air inlet. Also, have you looked at using kalk not in the ATO? Or have you just tried the kalk in the ato?

Some people maximize the use of kalk by following this. Scroll down to part 1, kalk dosing system.

The Kalk / Calc Combo Method

By Bruce York I developed the Kalk / Calc Combo Method of maintaining stable water parameters in my reef aquarium over a 6 year period from 2008 to 2014. At

reefs.com

On my SPS tank I run a c02 scrubber on the skimmer intake and an airline from outdoors that goes through a carbon filter and returns to the tank under my filter sock. The filter media in my c02 scrubber exhausts pretty quickly and it is cost prohibitive to keep the media at optimum levels, hence the kalk regiment.

I do not dose kalk via ATO, but have a DOS setup to dose kalk any time my pH is below 8.2 with a maximum amount that slightly exceeds my daily evaporation on some days (winter here). My ATO has refilled my display less than a half gallon in the last month, and I am sure some of that is evaporation.

I keep my kalk fully saturated and have my kalk reservoir covered with plastic and a stryofoam float sitting on top of the solution to minimize interaction with the ambient air. My bag of kalk is kept in a dry place, it is always sealed with the air out of the bag, and I keep that bag in another air tight container to minimize interaction. The kalk solution is is at the desired pH.

I have also added the IQ air filters to my home, and the rooms with my tanks have house plants.

There is nothing more that is possible to do with the kalk that I have ever heard of, and yes I have a lot of free time on my hands.

What is your first means of replenishing elements?

I will put the co2 scrubber on the skimmer for the softy tank, that room does have house plants, and I will use kalk to replenish the basic elements. Things like potassium, boron, iodide etc I plan to replenish using Brightwell and ICP tests.

The softy tank will no dobut consume less but maybe you should set it up and do some testing.

Most of us would be shooting from the hip with assumptions anyways

Oh I know. I am assuming some people have had similar problems, so while I am in the planning stages I like to reach out and see what has worked for whom so I know a good initial place to start from. The tank is currently setup, and has been wet since August. I ran it as a large pod culture for about two months after it cycled, added a clean up crew, and about a month ago started adding fish.

The tank already runs a pretty low pH, average is about 7.7, so I wanted to try to find the best means for it before I was experimenting on corals.