Ph 9.7!!!!!!

[Tuan’s Reef]

I really don't understand why folks spend so much time and effort 'chasing' pH. I never have and my reef tanks always looked just fine.

Accerelated growth of corals is the goal. Just like any piece of reefing gear, anything can go wrong and cause a crash. Its on us to put in the guard rails.

 

[dadnjesse]

I see my tank uses more Alkalinity with higher PH. To me it seems I get better growth.

 

[jaime31]

@ca1ore Higher ph has so many benefits to corals. Growth and health included. It makes them so much more hardier. Since I’ve raised my ph from 7.8 to 8.0-8.2 my corals stop dying and even now with a dkh drop from 8.9 to 5.0 and a ph spoke from 8.2 to 9.8 all I’ve lost as far as corals was a wall hammer that was just recently added. Everything else shriveled up but didn’t die and are actually already making a surprising comeback. I was most excited to see my torches completely unbothered by this whole catastrophe lol

 

[ca1ore]

Understood, I just never saw much correlation (let alone causation) between coral health and pH. I just think we run the risk of overcomplicating these systems. More complexity = more points of failure. Redundancy helps but is not an assurance against disaster. Anyhow, I grew up in this hobby where equipment choices were much more limited so I'm probably just pontificating at this point

 

[gbroadbridge]

@Reefahholic @dadnjesse

Hey guys since you have experienced with this in the past what did you do about all the calcium precipitation all over the rock glass and pumps.. everything is bright white. Will it break back down as the ph drops, should I hit everything with a baster, or use a small power head to blow most of it off. Thanks

The precipitate will not dissolve at any normal tank pH

 

[bakbay]

@ca1ore Higher ph has so many benefits to corals. Growth and health included. It makes them so much more hardier. Since I’ve raised my ph from 7.8 to 8.0-8.2 my corals stop dying and even now with a dkh drop from 8.9 to 5.0 and a ph spoke from 8.2 to 9.8 all I’ve lost as far as corals was a wall hammer that was just recently added. Everything else shriveled up but didn’t die and are actually already making a surprising comeback. I was most excited to see my torches completely unbothered by this whole catastrophe lol

Sorry to hear about your devastating loss! Like others have suggested, do the WCs and bring your params back in order again. Also, recommend to manually brush those white deposits and manually remove them via filter socks. This happened to my other tank where I dumped kalk & flooded the tank with RODI water. Luckily all softies and fish survived but I lost all the SPS frags.

I'm also running a recirculating CO2 scrubber (ph was 7.8 - 8.1, now 8.1 - 8.4) and always worry about this exact overflowing scenario! I've been using the AutoAqua Smart Skimmer Security as insurance but should look into a secondary method to dump the overflow back into the tank vs sucking thru the CO2 reactor...

​

Good luck and hang in there!​

 

[jaime31]

Understood, I just never saw much correlation (let alone causation) between coral health and pH. I just think we run the risk of overcomplicating these systems. More complexity = more points of failure. Redundancy helps but is not an assurance against disaster. Anyhow, I grew up in this hobby where equipment choices were much more limited so I'm probably just pontificating at this point

Yeah it definitely adds stress and complicates things.. It all comes down to see if a person feels like it’s worth it or not.

I was fully convinced when I seen a video from Chris at aci aquaculture. He said since he started dosing kalk and keeping his ph elevated his Euphyllia went from 1 head to almost 30 heads in 12 months time..

I can find it and post it if you’d like just let me know

 

[jaime31]

Sorry to hear about your devastating loss! Like others have suggested, do the WCs and bring your params back in order again. Also, recommend to manually brush those white deposits and manually remove them via filter socks. This happened to my other tank where I dumped kalk & flooded the tank with RODI water. Luckily all softies and fish survived but I lost all the SPS frags.

I'm also running a recirculating CO2 scrubber (ph was 7.8 - 8.1, now 8.1 - 8.4) and always worry about this exact overflowing scenario! I've been using the AutoAqua Smart Skimmer Security as insurance but should look into a secondary method to dump the overflow back into the tank vs sucking thru the CO2 reactor...

​

Good luck and hang in there!​

Thank you that’s the answer I was looking for. I guess I have to get me a soft brush and get to work.

I already have my failsafe for my skimmer arriving tomorrow

32oz CO2 Scrubber Skimmate Collection Container V1

Premade 32oz clear skimmate collections container with your choice of barb size and color.

fishofhex.com

 

[Gtinnel]

Thank you that’s the answer I was looking for. I guess I have to get me a soft brush and get to work.

I already have my failsafe for my skimmer arriving tomorrow

32oz CO2 Scrubber Skimmate Collection Container V1

Premade 32oz clear skimmate collections container with your choice of barb size and color.

fishofhex.com

This will help unless there is enough water to fill this container up too. I got tired of having my skimmer overflow and make a mess so I use an external skimmate collector with a float switch to shut off my skimmer when it fills up. My co2 scrubber isn’t recirculating though.

 

[dadnjesse]

I switched to a dual reactor and use the first to collect the water.

 

[doubleshot00]

Wow that sucks but how does this happen? I have a recirculating co2 scrubber did it completely fill with water? Do you have a catch can?

 

[jaime31]

No I didn’t have a skimate collector. I’m gonna add a DIY one that I’ll make tonight just to be extra safe but Yeah it completely filled with water and was pullout out wet co2 media water out thru the air intake chamber of the skimmer. So out the skimmer collection then into the scrubber then back out the top of it and back into the skimmer and from there into the water. That along with the skimmer over flowing.

 

[ca1ore]

Yeah it definitely adds stress and complicates things.. It all comes down to see if a person feels like it’s worth it or not.

I was fully convinced when I seen a video from Chris at aci aquaculture. He said since he started dosing kalk and keeping his ph elevated his Euphyllia went from 1 head to almost 30 heads in 12 months time..

I can find it and post it if you’d like just let me know

Thank you but no need. Hobby is replete with those kinds of anecdotes. Perhaps that coral would have done the same without a pH effect. I’d been keeping SPS for almost 20 years and never chased pH.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Thank you but no need. Hobby is replete with those kinds of anecdotes. Perhaps that coral would have done the same without a pH effect. I’d been keeping SPS for almost 20 years and never chased pH.

+1

I've found pH does not make any difference to growth/coloration in my tank which swings from 7.8 to 8.2 daily.

I did try running higher pH for a while but it wasn't worth the cost/effort.
Both my local LFS tell me the same thing and they don't do anything to adjust/maintain pH.

 

[Stephen Glover]

I had a much smaller version of this happen to me last year. Now I keep my C02 reactor higher than the skimmer and my Hydros turns off the skimmer when the pH hits 8.3 to save media. Sorry this happened to you

 

[jaime31]

I had a much smaller version of this happen to me last year. Now I keep my C02 reactor higher than the skimmer and my Hydros turns off the skimmer when the pH hits 8.3 to save media. Sorry this happened to you

That’s actually very smart. Use gravity as your weapon. One way or the other the weight of the liquid is gonna force it back into the skimmer cup. But thanks fully everything is better now. I added a optical skimmer shutoff and also got myself a Neptune apex. This will help me prevent problems in the future