Hydroxide Based Additive to Boost pH?

[chemchris]

I've had the best results in boosting my pH with Aquavitro Balance which I can't seem to find in large quantities. What are some other suitable alternatives? Before I found this product, I tried Sodium Bicarbonate, Soda Ash and Kalkwasser but they moved my Alkalinity too much. With Balance I can dose ~50mL and boost my pH ~.17 with almost no impact to my dKH (750 L mixed reef aquarium). My goal is to keep my tank above 8.0, but the purpose of this post is to simply find a product.

My question is: What product can I use that's similar to Aquavitro Balance - MSDS Data Sheet to boost my pH with minimal impact to alkalinity? Or does anyone have a guess whats in it? KOH or NaOH maybe?

I realize that no product is going to boost my pH without impacting alkalinity, so I'm looking for a product that impacts the alkalinity as little as possible. I suppose I could try Lye but I'm hesitant because it's so strong. Anytime I try a new additive, I do my own testing to evaluate the impact (both intended and unintended) on my tank.


There are some great and helpful people on this forum that might want to switch topic and talk about other ways to manage my pH, so I thought Id include a list of what I've tried.
I've tried the following to boost my pH:

• Surface Fans in Sump (slight help).
• Protein Skimmer intake moved outside tank (slight help).
  
  • Added CO2 scrubber to intake (huge boost but unstable. massive boost at first trickling down to no boost. I dont like the swing and the price of constantly replacing media.)
  • I cant move my intake outside my house because I live in South Florida and my tank would boil.
• Pointed gyre pumps up closer to surface of the tank (no noticeable change).
• I really dont want to deal with the mess of a refugium if I dont have to.
• Sodium Carbonate and Sodium Bicarbonate additives, but they pushed my dKH up to 12.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Why worry about alkalinity when adding kalk? Kalk will raise dkh and then in time it'll drop and sit where it wants to.

 

[Troylee]

Kalk top off works best for me! Sodium hydroxide works well also.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Kalk top off works best for me! Sodium hydroxide works well also.

What's your dkh if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Troylee]

What's your dkh if you don't mind me asking?

 

[chemchris]

Those are some impressive numbers! Are you using a kalkwasser reactor and dosing? Or just adding it to your ATO?

 

[Miami Reef]

It’s impossible to add an additive to a reef aquarium that impacts pH more in a ratio to alkalinity than hydroxide-based additives.

Anything that claims otherwise is false marketing.

My suggestion: Use limewater (calcium hydroxide) to supplement both calcium and alkalinity or sodium hydroxide to supplement alkalinity in a two-part system.

Only use the above additives to maintain alkalinity from 7-11dKH. You should use a complete dosing system that includes calcium and magnesium.

 

[Troylee]

Those are some impressive numbers! Are you using a kalkwasser reactor and dosing? Or just adding it to your ATO?

Just my top off fully saturated. Once the corals start growing they keep the alk levels in check.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Just my top off fully saturated. Once the corals start growing they keep the alk levels in check.

Looking at your graph I was going to say your doing the Chris Meckley way of dosing

 

[chemchris]

Just my top off fully saturated. Once the corals start growing they keep the alk levels in check.

Ah that might be my problem too. My tank is only 7 months old. I have some frags doing very nicely, but no true sps colonies yet to take up that alkalinity.

I didn't see the dKH as a problem. As I understood it, it's my waters ability to neutralize acids. Unlike pH, I couldn't stick my hand in my tank and feel a high dKH right?
The guy that brings me seawater every 6 weeks told me that my 12.8 was dangerous and I need to get it down.

 

[Troylee]

Looking at your graph I was going to say your doing the Chris Meckley way of dosing

Sorta… I don’t have it on a doser thou.. it just top offs 24/7 and keeps stable for the most part. The 2 peaks are when I shut my return pump off to feed my corals it dumps a little more as the tank and sump level back off.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Sorta… I don’t have it on a doser thou.. it just top offs 24/7 and keeps stable for the most part. The 2 peaks are when I shut my return pump off to feed my corals it dumps a little more as the tank and sump level back off.

Definitely working well for you! Amazing pH values there. With high pH you'd be squeezing out the carbonic acid outa the rock as well correct? What do you use for the Trace elements? Kinda asking myself what I should be using. I had to stop dosing AFR since my pH was struggling to hit 8.

 

[chemchris]

It’s impossible to add an additive to a reef aquarium that impacts pH more in a ratio to alkalinity than hydroxide-based additives.

Anything that claims otherwise is false marketing.

My suggestion: Use limewater (calcium hydroxide) to supplement both calcium and alkalinity or sodium hydroxide to supplement alkalinity in a two-part system.

Only use the above additives to maintain alkalinity from 7-11dKH. You should use a complete dosing system that includes calcium and magnesium.

So I have the ecotech versa dosing pump. Counting the days until Neptune upgrades the WXM module so I can dose 'reactively' though I can achieve stability doing my own monitoring.
Would you suggest adding the limewater via a dosing pump? I remember kalkwasser reactors with stirrers were all the rage a while back but I cant seem to find them anymore. Maybe if I just mixed in smaller batches like enough to be exhausted in 2-3 weeks?

 

[Troylee]

Definitely working well for you! Amazing pH values there. With high pH you'd be squeezing out the carbonic acid outa the rock as well correct? What do you use for the Trace elements? Kinda asking myself what I should be using. I had to stop dosing AFR since my pH was struggling to hit 8.

I use 60ml of all for reef daily on top of my kalk and just count on water changes to do the rest.as for squeezing out carbonic acid I have no clue haha! I’m not a scientist just a reefer

 

[Troylee]

So I have the ecotech versa dosing pump. Counting the days until Neptune upgrades the WXM module so I can dose 'reactively' though I can achieve stability doing my own monitoring.
Would you suggest adding the limewater via a dosing pump? I remember kalkwasser reactors with stirrers were all the rage a while back but I cant seem to find them anymore. Maybe if I just mixed in smaller batches like enough to be exhausted in 2-3 weeks?

Dosing pump or top off works.. I wouldn’t sweat alk unless it creeps up over 12. My calcium tends to run high around 550 but it doesn’t hurt anything

 

[GARRIGA]

Only way I know to boost pH with no impact on alkalinity isn’t an additive. Consider using macroalgae to scrub co2 out of the water or co2 scrubber on a skimmer to scrub co2 out of the air being introduced by the skimmer.

I’ll have to research Aquavitro Balance. Recall hearing these claims before but something must have changed my mind about it. Think a LFS was selling it. Been a few years but promoted as having no affect on alkalinity which goes against everything I’ve learned about pH boosting additives.

 

[rtparty]

So I have the ecotech versa dosing pump. Counting the days until Neptune upgrades the WXM module so I can dose 'reactively' though I can achieve stability doing my own monitoring.
Would you suggest adding the limewater via a dosing pump? I remember kalkwasser reactors with stirrers were all the rage a while back but I cant seem to find them anymore. Maybe if I just mixed in smaller batches like enough to be exhausted in 2-3 weeks?

Get a 10g reservoir (pick your size), make a kalkwasser solution, and use the Versa to dose the solution daily. I used to dose kalkwasser 24/7 on my system. I was around 3000-3500ml a day on my 250g. If you have the dosing pump pull water about 1.5-2" above the bottom of the reservoir, it won't dose the slurry and precipitation that settles on the bottom.

I would just dump in 4-5TBSP of kalk, top up the container to 9 or so gallons, stir it like crazy and let it settle overnight when I needed to make more.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've had the best results in boosting my pH with Aquavitro Balance which I can't seem to find in large quantities. What are some other suitable alternatives? Before I found this product, I tried Sodium Bicarbonate, Soda Ash and Kalkwasser but they moved my Alkalinity too much. With Balance I can dose ~50mL and boost my pH ~.17 with almost no impact to my dKH (750 L mixed reef aquarium). My goal is to keep my tank above 8.0, but the purpose of this post is to simply find a product.

My question is: What product can I use that's similar to Aquavitro Balance - MSDS Data Sheet to boost my pH with minimal impact to alkalinity? Or does anyone have a guess whats in it? KOH or NaOH maybe?

I realize that no product is going to boost my pH without impacting alkalinity, so I'm looking for a product that impacts the alkalinity as little as possible. I suppose I could try Lye but I'm hesitant because it's so strong. Anytime I try a new additive, I do my own testing to evaluate the impact (both intended and unintended) on my tank.


There are some great and helpful people on this forum that might want to switch topic and talk about other ways to manage my pH, so I thought Id include a list of what I've tried.
I've tried the following to boost my pH:

• Surface Fans in Sump (slight help).
• Protein Skimmer intake moved outside tank (slight help).
  
  • Added CO2 scrubber to intake (huge boost but unstable. massive boost at first trickling down to no boost. I dont like the swing and the price of constantly replacing media.)
  • I cant move my intake outside my house because I live in South Florida and my tank would boil.
• Pointed gyre pumps up closer to surface of the tank (no noticeable change).
• I really dont want to deal with the mess of a refugium if I dont have to.
• Sodium Carbonate and Sodium Bicarbonate additives, but they pushed my dKH up to 12.

Aquavitro balance is hydroxide, an ultra high pH alk additive. Don’t believe the laughable claim it does not boost alk.

As folks note, food sodium hydroxide is a suitable and very inexpensive alternative, and there are two part recipes made from it.