When my house is closed up my ph goes down and my alkalinity rises. Opposite effect when the house windows are wide open. Lower ph means slower calcification of coral skeleton in my system at least.
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Thanks for the info. Yes I know that my tank still has to go through the “ugly” phase and I’d rather get it out of the way now, way before corals. I’m moving super slowly so I can get the equipment I want. Plus moving slowly is always best with reefing.I'd recommend getting your lights and running them a few months before adding corals. I bet you will want to cry when you see how much ugly stuff starts growing everywhere. Your pH will go higher due the photosynthesis, then drop as it dies or gets eaten and turned to waste. Eventually it should end and you can be comfortable knowing your system is stable. Since you have an Apex you might want to consider planning for a CO2 scrubber with control to save media. I have seen people put electric valves so they can pull air into the skimmer from the scrubber or open port depending on pH level. I am doing something similar with an air pump pushing air through the scrubber. I have a battery backup that will run my COR-20 at low speed and the air pump in the sump in case of outage. Goal is to keep the water oxygenated. I didn't plan on a scrubber, but realized it couldn't hurt and would actually help in the event of an outage. Also it has only been a day but my pH low last night was 7.8 which is a huge improvement from the night before (7.6). It started climbing at 2am, when it would have been falling. It is 8.1 now in the evening which is about my highest ever and still climbing. I'll let it run for a while and then decide what pH low level I want it to turn on.
I have seen people put electric valves so they can pull air into the skimmer from the scrubber or open port depending on pH level.
I was looking at that one. Please let me know how it goes!My co2 scrubber from brs arrives Monday, my buddy added one on his tank and he also said that his growth tripled and levels dropped from the enhanced growth. I can’t wait aha
I was looking at that one. Please let me know how it goes!
I found with my aquarium, that was not enough to maintain my aquarium but maybe that is because I don't have enough evaporation. I have wondered if dosing kalkwasser would be enough if you could force significant evaporation.I'd consider a slow kalk drip instead. Way cheaper.
I'd consider a slow kalk drip instead. Way cheaper.
You missed the point there. This isn't an alkalinity/calcium issue - This is a "too much CO2 in the tank issue"
I found with my aquarium, that was not enough to maintain my aquarium but maybe that is because I don't have enough evaporation. I have wondered if dosing kalkwasser would be enough if you could force significant evaporation.
I know that kalk raises ph but my Alk is already at 11 and ca is 490.Didn't miss the point -- Kalkwasser significantly raises pH, and it's significantly cheaper than c02 media. Through different actions, it achieves the same goal. And costs pennies by comparison.
A lot of people who have low pH issues run Kalkwasser to help. Especially people who run calcium reactors with only a single CalRx reactor.
Thanks. For a 40g a scrubber would be manageable costwise? I have a 2-bulb t-5 fixture on the way to help with this until I get coral. I’ll let everyone know how it goes!You missed the point there. This isn't an alkalinity/calcium issue - This is a "too much CO2 in the tank issue" caused when a house/apartment is well sealed and has a decent amount of meatbags roaming about exhaling CO2. Yes, adding a scrubber to the skimmer air line will increase the PH. It does become cost-ineffective for large tanks (ehhh, guessing 120+) due to the much larger amount of air the skimmer usually uses. None of this matter though becuase you need proper lights on that tank months before you should even be researching CO2 scrubbers. The cart isn't just in front of the horse here - it's a couple blocks down the road lol.