Is this going to be my normal pH?

[SWherrey]

Hello so I have a 75G mixed reef but mainly SPS dominant I have a lot of frags not yet mini colonies only about 3 are but not very big anyways. I was running my pH 7.8-8.05 before anything then I purchased a co2 scrubber and recirculating it I’ve raised my pH to a low of 8.0-8.2 with a high of about 8.20-8.25. I also have a fresh airline from the outside to my skimmer as well which turns on mainly at night to pump in fresh air and O2. I am starting to dose kalk 1. To have the benefit of raising pH and 2. To be able to lower the amount of two part I’m currently dosing to maintain parameters. I also purchased a co2 monitor from Amazon and I’m getting readings from 580 when no one is home to about 700 occasionally 1100 when we are home. Now I would like my pH to be at 8.4 but idk if it’s possible for me. I’m currently upping kalk and lowering two part daily and I’m around 500ml daily going in 50ml increments with about 32ml of ATI Essentials pro dosed daily. I am also dosing Neonitro and neophos to keep my nutrients up or else I bottom out. Tank is going on about 1 1/2 years.

params

Alk-8.8 currently goal is 9-9.5
Cal-418
Mag-1345
No3- 13.4
Po4- 0.05
Temp- 77.3-78.1
pH- 8.02-8.25

anything that might help or am I stuck at my current pH?

 

[sc50964]

Have you looked into Aquavitro 84?

 

[SWherrey]

I’ve heard of it but haven’t really looked into it.

 

[sc50964]

I’ve heard of it but haven’t really looked into it.

I’m no reef expert as I gave up doing that a decade ago & have focused on fish since then. But this particular product has helped me to raise pH safely to 8.4 when I didn’t want to bother with extra equipment such as the CO2 scrubber when my water is already good with dKH & magnesium.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

The Aquavitro 8.4 product will not help you in this regard. You are already dosing 2 part and maintaining alkalinity, so lack of buffering is not your issue.

Your tank PH will be directly related to the CO2 level your monitor is showing and the aeration of the tank. Normally, a test of taking a cup of water outside and aerating it to see if the PH rises would be suggested, but that is mainly to see if you have high CO2 within your home. You already know your CO2 level from the sensor.

I would suggest doing a cup test with a cup of tank water beside your tank and see if the PH rises. If it does, then providing more aeration will help your PH. If it falls, then your tank is already running at a higher PH then the inside CO2 level would allow, so more aeration will only hurt.

We need a tool to allow users to input their particulars (PH, dKH, CO2, etc. ) and solve missing elements and provide guidance of what the PH level would be with perfect aeration. There is a python library that provides most of those answers, but I need to figure out how to use it and then wrap it in a tool.

Dennis

 

[Dennis Cartier]

It turns out there is already a tool to calculate that. I even had the link but never noticed that particular tool.

See: Equilibrium pH Calculator

Fill in your details and you will see what your tank PH should be fully aerated. I was getting about 8.1 based on what I could glean from your post. So I suspect you may be at max PH unless you can improve your indoor air quality.

Dennis

 

[X-37B]

Nothing wrong with that ph.
My 120 is 7.9-8.2 and has been for over 2.5 years.

 

[SWherrey]

Thank you for the response. So would dosing kalk be pointless then in trying to raise ph? I’m happy using it with the benefit to reduce two part also…

 

[Dennis Cartier]

I expect that kalk is providing a modest boost already. You mentioned getting a high of 8.25 already, and with a CO2 around 700 ppm, that is already above the PH based on full aeration. So it is already helping a bit, and more kalk usage will help a bit more, but it will never get you to 8.4 by the looks of it. It will save you money on the ATI 2 part though.

As 90's reefer said, your numbers are fine for a healthy tank. I would not sweat it.

Dennis

 

[arking_mark]

It's certainly possible to maintain a steady pH at 8.4 NBS. I have a 100gal tank that I can dial in the pH. I initially started with 8.35 NBS and have over time decided to lower to 8.2.

Your main obstacle is overcoming the indoor CO2 aeration you get from powerheads and return pumps.

I had to really oversize my skimmer/CO2 scrubber to achieve control. However, if house CO2 goes above 800, i start losing that tight control.

i use reverse light schedule refugium, kalkwasser drip, and a skimmer/CO2 scrubber that is only on for pH control. With this i can usually maintain +/- 0.025. However, with occasional low or high CO2 levels I'm within +/- 0.05.

Lessons learned in trying to maintain pH stability

For those interested in maintaining pH stability around +/- 0.05 I have a couple of lessons learned. These are things that I found out on my journey to pH stability. Prior to seeking pH stability my tank pH was consistently around ~7.9. However, much of this journey went on before the tank was...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[SWherrey]

I expect that kalk is providing a modest boost already. You mentioned getting a high of 8.25 already, and with a CO2 around 700 ppm, that is already above the PH based on full aeration. So it is already helping a bit, and more kalk usage will help a bit more, but it will never get you to 8.4 by the looks of it. It will save you money on the ATI 2 part though.

As 90's reefer said, your numbers are fine for a healthy tank. I would not sweat it.

Dennis

I was at a high of 8.25 prior to starting kalk I just recently started dosing it a few days ago but haven’t noticed a boost yet if it is going to boost it. Im slowly raising it and reducing my two part. I didn’t want to jump straight from one thing to another.

 

[SWherrey]

It's certainly possible to maintain a steady pH at 8.4 NBS. I have a 100gal tank that I can dial in the pH. I initially started with 8.35 NBS and have over time decided to lower to 8.2.

Your main obstacle is overcoming the indoor CO2 aeration you get from powerheads and return pumps.

I had to really oversize my skimmer/CO2 scrubber to achieve control. However, if house CO2 goes above 800, i start losing that tight control.

i use reverse light schedule refugium, kalkwasser drip, and a skimmer/CO2 scrubber that is only on for pH control. With this i can usually maintain +/- 0.025. However, with occasional low or high CO2 levels I'm within +/- 0.05.

Lessons learned in trying to maintain pH stability

For those interested in maintaining pH stability around +/- 0.05 I have a couple of lessons learned. These are things that I found out on my journey to pH stability. Prior to seeking pH stability my tank pH was consistently around ~7.9. However, much of this journey went on before the tank was...

www.reef2reef.com

I’m sorry but what does NBS mean?
How did you get such a tight pH? I have a Bubble Magus Curve 7 for my 75 with a 29 gallon sump and I also run chaeto on reverse light cycle.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Oh, in that case, you will probably see a boost, depending on how much kalk you settle on. I think Randy has mentioned about a 0.06 boost for 1(?) dKH per day of supplementation (from kalk). See Mark's link for his results which were much better for kalk.

Dennis

 

[arking_mark]

Getting the most out of Kalkwasser basically requires you to use it to your evaporation limit. Generally speaking, this is usually somewhere around 1% for most aquariums. This amount of Kalkwasser will replace ~1dKH worth of Alk and a comparable amount of Ca. Mature tanks usually consume between 0.5 to 4.5 dKH of Alk per day. This is why most tanks require a supplemental Ca/Kalk dosing in addition to kalkwasser. From a pH perspective, this amount of Kalkwasser will raise pH by about 0.6 NBS. I have found that a continuous drip of Kalkwasser raises my average pH by about 0.1 NBS.

 

[arking_mark]

I’m sorry but what does NBS mean?
How did you get such a tight pH? I have a Bubble Magus Curve 7 for my 75 with a 29 gallon sump and I also run chaeto on reverse light cycle.

NBS and Total are two scales for pH measurements. The marine hobby typically uses NBS.

NBS scale or total pH scale: What's the "right" pH?

I recently learned about differences between measuring pH using typical hobby probes that use the NBS scale vs analytical measurements that use the total pH scale. Apparently (if I understand correctly) the probes we use in the hobby are affected by the high concentration of salt in the water...

www.reef2reef.com