Goal of higher ph

[cilyjr]

Since setting up my current tank I've had pH running on the lower side of about 7.95 to 8.1 diurnally.

My skimmer already pulls air from the outside and all of my equipment is in a shed that sits outside of my house. My sump my frag tank everything. The only thing in the main living area of the house is the 320 gallon display. Most of the year the door is left open in the daytime. And I see no difference between when the door is open or closed.

I am running a calcium reactor. but to combat the pH lowering effect, I also run kalkwasser on a dosing pump separate from top off. In addition I have a 2nd chamber on the reactor and finally the effluent trips into yet a third chamber full of media. Which is just in open air PVC pipe. I was told adding a air stone to this third chamber may be helpful as well, which I think I may do this evening as that is free.

I am doing carbon dosing regiment of a homemade NoPOX but it's only 40 ml a day which is a pretty small dose for my total system gallonage of roughly 400g of actual water.

I'm not sure if adding a CO2 scrubber will do much for my system because of the amount of fresh air the equipment gets.

I'd love to hear some thoughts.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Your pH values are fine to have a great reef tank. If you want faster hard coral growth, then higher pH would help with that, but it’s by no means critical.

 

[cilyjr]

Your pH values are fine to have a great reef tank. If you want faster hard coral growth, then higher pH would help with that, but it’s by no means critical.

Yeah I know. My previous tank back in Rhode Island always ran a higher pH value and I feel I was more successful with my Stony coral.I'm aware it's not in apples to apples comparison but I'd like to be a bit higher. 8.2 or so.

 

[cilyjr]

Nobody has any thoughts?

 

[Outlaw Corals]

When i added a CO2 scrubber to my skimmer my Ph went up from 8.1 to 8.3 but when i replaced the skimmer with a algae scrubber it took the Ph to 8.5

 

[cilyjr]

When i added a CO2 scrubber to my skimmer my Ph went up from 8.1 to 8.3 but when i replaced the skimmer with a algae scrubber it took the Ph to 8.5

I'm pulling air from the out side with my skimmer and am running an air stone off of a 2500 lph air pump.

What are the odds that excess is still an issue?

 

[Pod_01]

Nobody has any thoughts?

Scrubbing outside air may not be the best way to spend your $$$.
But, it will remove CO2 so you may see further improvement, and outside air does have CO2.
I say try it and let us know how it went…

 

[Outlaw Corals]

I'm pulling air from the out side with my skimmer and am running an air stone off of a 2500 lph air pump.

What are the odds that excess is still an issue?

Could very well be, what’s your Alk at ? You can bring that up some and your Ph should go up

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Nobody has any thoughts?

About what exactly? No one can predict pH changes due to the many variables in each home and aquarium. Scrubbers work well, but can be expensive over time. Outside air is free, but often not as good as a scrubber. Fresher room air works well, but can be hard to implement. Hydroxide for alk is the best supplement method, but alone is sometimes not enough. More photosynthesis (ats, refugium, etc) works but often not completely.

 

[cilyjr]

Could very well be, what’s your Alk at ? You can bring that up some and your Ph should go up

Pretty steady at 9.5

 

[cilyjr]

About what exactly? No one can predict pH changes due to the many variables in each home and aquarium. Scrubbers work well, but can be expensive over time. Outside air is free, but often not as good as a scrubber. Fresher room air works well, but can be hard to implement. Hydroxide for alk is the best supplement method, but alone is sometimes not enough. More photosynthesis (ats, refugium, etc) works but often not completely.

I was finding it odd that pulling fresh air already (from both skimmer, and air pump) and pouring in 1 gallon of lime water daily. It seems low. Though this Aquarium does not have the colonies of coral that my old tank did. It is not by any means lightly stocked.
I'm growing macro in a 5 gallon bucket in a reverse light cycle.

Here's another fun fact, all of my equipment, meaning my sump, frag tank, ect are all in a shed adjacent to the tank room. Even if I leave the doors open all day, it doesn't make a difference. So much so that I thought I was having a testing error so I went out and I bought a new hand held pH probe.

 

[GARRIGA]

When i added a CO2 scrubber to my skimmer my Ph went up from 8.1 to 8.3 but when i replaced the skimmer with a algae scrubber it took the Ph to 8.5

Natural co2 grab my goal as well. However, going to control the lights by shutting them off if Ph gets above a certain point.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

And the new ph probe tells the same story? I agree that your ph is just fine especially if it stays there. I wouldn’t chase that number.

 

[cilyjr]

And the new ph probe tells the same story? I agree that your ph is just fine especially if it stays there. I wouldn’t chase that number.

Yes.

And at the end of the day I know that the pH is fine. And this tank is run for a year like that.
Interestingly, since I've started adding vitamin c pH high has gotten lower but pH low has stayed the same meaning the tank is running between 8:00 and 8.05. Which is pretty awesome if we're just looking for stability.

I am going to try just running the calcium reactor during the daytime and allowing the kalkwasser to do more overnight.

 

[cilyjr]

For the first time in about 15 years I'm going to try to run without a calcium reactor.
I have a large kalkwasser reactor and will supplement with soda ash and calcium chloride.

I will absolutely keep the reactor because it may come in handy down the road.

This will be a fun experiment

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

For the first time in about 15 years I'm going to try to run without a calcium reactor.
I have a large kalkwasser reactor and will supplement with soda ash and calcium chloride.

I will absolutely keep the reactor because it may come in handy down the road.

This will be a fun experiment

Let us know how it goes!

 

[cilyjr]

Let us know how it goes!

Day 1 was 4/18.

pH went from 8.0 to 8.05
To 8.05 to 8.10 immediately.

Kalkwasser was in creased from 3300ml to 4200 ml. Give or take 35% as dosing is Trident controlled.

Today was the first time I needed to add any soda ash to correct alkalinity.

This has the floor at 8.1

With the breakdown of the calcium reactor a second pH probe will be available. I will probably add this to the display tank to get indoor readings as well.

Tank shot might be useful later.

 

[Jono667]

If I can raise a half gallon of my tank water from 7.7 to 7.96 overnight with single airstone outside, how long might I need to wait to see a similar increase when I feed my skimmer with outside air? Days or weeks? 75 gal tank has a close fitting lid but sump is open. I think my house is well sealed with elevated co2. I dose 35ml of kalk every 2 hours and have alk 8.2.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Effects cannot be predicted because it depends on the relative aeration of the tank top in high CO2 air and via skimmer in low pH air.

Whatever happens, it will not take more than a few days to stabilize.

 

[cilyjr]

I'm mostly using kalkwasser with a small amount of soda ash solution.

pH has a high of about 8.2 with lows as low as 8.06.

I have never really looked at orp. I do notice something interesting, daily orp are lows are corresponding to daily pH highs. Meaning when pH is at its highest orp is at its lowest.