2 part dosing and PH

[Noobreefer84]

I have a question about PH and 2 part that may be an obvious answer.

Currently my ph is 8.15-8.2 during the day and 7.9-7.95 at night. I run a co2 scrubber and dose about 24ml of ESV Bionic over a 24hr schedule to keep up with alk/cal consumption.

My question is. As my 2 part dosing increases with alk/cal demand will my ph naturally drift up wards over time due to the increase daily dosing to maintain alk. ESV is a sodium bicarb and carb mix from my understanding so there is a small impact to ph but not as significant as kalk. I would like to get to 8.3-8.4 during the day and stay above 8 over night.

 

[fish_collector]

No, and you may not get the pH that you desire. About 8.22 is the highest I've ever seen mine, it's the pH at 6 am that is hard to elevate. It may not matter in the big picture anyways, lots of tanks run low 8s at 4pm and high 7s at sunrise.

 

[rowenaad]

0.1 is a lot if you want it to get from 7.9 to 8.0. i dont even think its possible with kalk, but i think your ph is fine as it

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My question is. As my 2 part dosing increases with alk/cal demand will my ph naturally drift up wards over time due to the increase daily dosing to maintain alk. ESV is a sodium bicarb and carb mix from my understanding so there is a small impact to ph but not as significant as kalk. I would like to get to 8.3-8.4 during the day and stay above 8 over night.

No. A sodium carbonate additive essentially balances the pH neutrally (carbonate in/carbonate out).

Normal B-ionic is carbonate only.

 

[Noobreefer84]

No. A sodium carbonate additive essentially balances the pH neutrally (carbonate in/carbonate out).

Normal B-ionic is carbonate only.

Thanks Randy for the clarification. I looked at the ingredients for the 1g mix I have and it lists. Carbonate, Sodium, Bicarbonate, Sulfate, Borate, Fluoride, Iodide, Molybdate, Vanadate, Selenate. I thought with both carb/bicarb listed it would have some impact to Ph.

Right now I run my Alk at 8 consistently, if I adjusted it to 9 - 10. Would that provide a buffer to hold the PH over 8 at night.

Or am I just over thinking PH. My tank is 90% SPS so I want to keep my PH as high as possible without "chasing" numbers. Arguably I am doing that right now. The ideal would be 8.00 as the low and 8.2-8.3 at during the photo period. Which I am not far off from. Last night into this morning, the PH hit 7.93 as the low with the lights off. I run the lights from 11am to 12am with a 4.5 hour full spectrum period from 3pm to 730pm. Rest is just blues. From 10pm to midnight is a slow ramp down.

I just don't have room to add a giant container of Kalk where my tank is without my wife asking for a divorce. Nor do I want to have to fill it multiple times a week to keep up with consumption in a smaller container.