Can anything other than co2 cause low ph

C. Eymann · Nov 18, 2021

Herby’s reef said:
I do have several big fish. I have certainly seen plenty of tanks with more though. I don’t feed super heavy. I use hpd and mastic, so not much wast. I feed my corals often, but I would not say a crazy amount.

Whats your ORP hang at usually? biggest thing that surprises me is that 11 liters of kalk is a lot for your size of system so its suprising you are having issues with pH

Herby’s reef · Nov 18, 2021

Herby’s reef said:
I do have several big fish. I have certainly seen plenty of tanks with more though. I don’t feed super heavy. I use hpd and mastic, so not much wast. I feed my corals often, but I would not say a crazy amount.

I don’t carbon dose.

Herby’s reef · Nov 18, 2021

C. Eymann said:
Whats your ORP hang at usually? biggest thing that surprises me is that 11 liters of kalk is a lot for your size of system so its suprising you are having issues with pH

I don’t have an orp probe.
I agree, seems like ph should for sure be good.

Cory · Nov 19, 2021

Very Low or no boron could cause this problem. However, i would aerate the same water outside and test the ph first. Your co2 meter could be really off, or accurate.

C. Eymann · Nov 19, 2021

how are you dosing kalkwasser? because you should obviously try to dose the majority of it outside of the photoperiod, If using a controller like apex,, making a reverse photoperiod dosing schedule to keep pH elevated however throttled back enough not to cause alk swings
How are you adding kalkwasser? because if its just an unsealed container a ato or doser is pulling out of it can lose potency by reacting with atmospheric CO2, a sealed Nielsen reactor is a different story where water is pushed through via ato or doser / not exposed to ambiet CO2 and can be more potent as far as pH benefit is concerned.

Herby’s reef · Nov 19, 2021

C. Eymann said:
how are you dosing kalkwasser? because you should obviously try to dose the majority of it outside of the photoperiod, If using a controller like apex,, making a reverse photoperiod dosing schedule to keep pH elevated however throttled back enough not to cause alk swings
How are you adding kalkwasser? because if its just an unsealed container a ato or doser is pulling out of it can lose potency by reacting with atmospheric CO2, a sealed Nielsen reactor is a different story where water is pushed through via ato or doser / not exposed to ambiet CO2 and can be more potent as far as pH benefit is concerned.

I do dose it 24 hours at a constant rate through an avast marine kalk reactor using a versa pump. I may try increasing the dose at night compared to the day, but I’m not sure how much I can change it without causing dkh fluctuations