Calcium reactor and low tank pH

[brandon0921]

I recently set up a CaRX and in doing so, my daily pH swing went from 8.0-8.3 down to 7.75-8.1. Total system volume is about 80g and SPS dominant. I have an Aquamaxx T1 with secondary chamber melting down ARM at 6.6 pH flowing around 25ml/m. The effluent dumps out into the skimmer chamber of my sump before flowing through the refugium. Off my skimmer I have a co2 scrubber running soda sorb that I just replaced with fresh media and my pH probe is a brand new double junction, just calibrated multiple times.

Looking for some advice on how to bring my pH back up to where it was before the reactor. Thanks in advance.

 

[sunken3]

+1 - I have the same issue.

 

[Subsea]

Lower your water flow rate into calcium reactor. This will increase dwell time of co2 as it dissolves more aroggonite buffer. While this may reduce the max capacity treated, the pH and alkalinity of effluent should rise. Your SPS system demand for alkalinity may well still require dosing. I consider alkalinity to be more important for stability of your system. What was alkalinity before and what is alkalinity now.


Calcium reactors have many, many benefits but for SPS dominate tank owners, lower pH is always an issue.

However, contrary to reef tank montra, pH swings are normal on wild reefs with one study on an IndoPacific reef showed a pH swing from 8.6 to 7.7

 

[brandon0921]

Lower your water flow rate into calcium reactor. This will increase dwell time of co2 as it dissolves more aroggonite buffer. While this may reduce the max capacity treated, the pH and alkalinity of effluent should rise. Your SPS system demand for alkalinity may well still require dosing. I consider alkalinity to be more important for stability of your system. What was alkalinity before and what is alkalinity now.


Calcium reactors have many, many benefits but for SPS dominate tank owners, lower pH is always an issue.

However, contrary to reef tank montra, pH swings are normal on wild reefs with one study on an IndoPacific reef showed a pH swing from 8.6 to 7.7

Thanks for the reply. I debated lowering flow and dropping CaRX pH but wasnt sure how much of a difference that would make. I also read that higher flow rate can prevent clogs in the Versa caused by the effluent. Ill try playing around with it. Like you said, the important thing is my dKH remained the same before and after starting the CaRX, 7.7 dKH steady. I will say that I did notice accelerated growth when I first installed the Co2 scrubber and got my pH up to 8.3-8.4 daily. It would be great to get back to those numbers, I did not expect this big of an impact on pH having a scrubber.

 

[Subsea]

Also consider gas exchange in system to be critical for removing excess carbon dioxide from normal respiration of photosynthetic organisms during lights out.

 

[DC Reefer]

Is your CO2 scrubber recirculating? I also run a CaRX and am able to keep my PH between 8.1-8.25 w/ house closed up and gets close to 8.4 with windows open. My CO2 scrubber recirculates and it has taken the media life from less than a week to 6+ weeks. If I recall correctly it also increased my PH a bit when I went to recirculating.

 

[X-37B]

I run a carx on my 120. Its been running for over a year now.
Ph is the same as before I fired it up, 7.9-8.2. I also run no ph probe,controller, or co2 scrubber.
I also run manmade media.
I have very good surface movement in my tank.
Sump has no baffles and also has a small powerhead for surface agitation.

 

[brandon0921]

Is your CO2 scrubber recirculating? I also run a CaRX and am able to keep my PH between 8.1-8.25 w/ house closed up and gets close to 8.4 with windows open. My CO2 scrubber recirculates and it has taken the media life from less than a week to 6+ weeks. If I recall correctly it also increased my PH a bit when I went to recirculating.

it is, right from the skimmer lid.. My pH was always excellent with the scrubber up until starting the CaRX 2-3 weeks ago. I thought it would eventually rebound but it seems to only be getting worse.

 

[DC Reefer]

Is your CO2 media getting wet? It may not turn color but if it is wet it will not be effective. On one of my tanks I run it through an empty BRS dual reactor with sponges to minimize the amount of moisture that gets into the CO2 scrubber. This has helped a ton on keeping the media effective. By the time I replace my media the I have one of the large reactor containers about half full of water.

 

[brandon0921]

I suspected it was a little too wet yesterday because ive seen it stop working before from that issue, so I swapped out the media and it wasn't saturated or clumped. I saw no difference in pH. I do feel it might be an issue with the scrubber not working. Prior to the CaRX, I had to shut down the skimmer when my pH would overshoot 8.4. Seems like ive taken too drastic of a hit to pH for adding a reactor.

I still get a rise of .05 per hour during the first 4-5 hours during the photoperiod. Seems like the final 2-3 hours is where the rise begins to curve and I start seeing .02-.03 per hour which sets me back. Then it starts to plummet once the lights are off, much lower than the 8.0-8.1 mark it used to drop too.