Looking for help with keeping pH up as I move to calcium reactor. It's an SPS tank so I'm trying not to allow any huge swings in anything, so stopping all dosing to measure consumption for a full day or two isn't really an option. Been using the reef calculators to help figure out how much of supplements to swap.
Just set up and am still working on getting newly setup calcium reactor tuned. Prior to moving to the calcium reactor I had been dosing 2 part periodically through the day, and Kalk in between those doses and overnight (midnight to 6am). This was keeping my ph at a nice 8.1-8.2 average. House CO2 (have a ppm monitor near tank) is fine and only increases when we're cooking. This time of year I have windows open also and I do have a CO2 scrubber on skimmer. Have a refugium on reverse light schedule. Prior to scrubber/ kalk my ph was usually around 7.8/ 7.9 when it was a very new tank.
After going to the calcium reactor (with secondary chamber) I initially tried to continuously dose and keep the Kalk dosing at night for pH boost. Unfortunately I didn't account for the increase in alkalinity correctly and ended up with a decent upswing in alk overnight. So now I've stopped the reactor at night and allowed the Kalk to dose at night. I also tried adding Kalk into the dosing after my overnight dosing when reactor is starting up and at night after lights out before I start my overnight Kalk. The Kalk seems to be helping pH but definitely not as much as I'd like and it's a struggle to maintain 7.9 pH even during the day. Ideally I'd like to have 8.0 as minimum. The reduction in pH seems to have slowed coral uptake as well which is dropping my consumption and throwing things off also.
Not sure if stopping the calcium reactor periodically for overnight is the right call or if I should dose the Kalk continuously through the day, or dose both continuously. I can't really automate changing effluent rate or co2 throughout day other than on/ off. I am limited in my evaporation rate for dosing kalk to about a gallon a day. my pH upswing had previously been from 10am to 6pm (when lights are ramped up). Looking for suggestions on how to best coordinate my calcium reactor and kalk to help maintain pH, and keep alk swings reasonably minimal. Effluent pH i've been testing with Hanna checker at around 6.8 to 7.0 entering tank.
Additional details:
~85 gal net
alk - trying to keep around 8.2-8.4 as a target.
Ca - 420 to 450 as target
mag - currently 1420, target is around 1400
Kalk dosing with Neptune Dos and Kalk Stirrer (fed from RO top off res)
Calcium Reactor (Geo 510) w/ secondary chamber. ARM media. Current effluent ~25dkH, 10 mL/min, ~6.88 to 7.0 effluent. Chamber pH currently about 6 but I don't trust my pH probe (i calibrated with 7.0 and 10.0 as that's all i had, but 4.0 coming today to hopefully get a better cal) in chamber and with carbondose set to 10 second between bubbles and barely any output pressure (maybe like 5psi) it holds at about 5.9/ 6.0 steady for pH. If i try and set pH higher to like 6.5 the regulator just cycles more than i'd like, so trying to keep it from cycling as per best practice guidance's.
Any help and suggestions appreciated. Thanks
Just set up and am still working on getting newly setup calcium reactor tuned. Prior to moving to the calcium reactor I had been dosing 2 part periodically through the day, and Kalk in between those doses and overnight (midnight to 6am). This was keeping my ph at a nice 8.1-8.2 average. House CO2 (have a ppm monitor near tank) is fine and only increases when we're cooking. This time of year I have windows open also and I do have a CO2 scrubber on skimmer. Have a refugium on reverse light schedule. Prior to scrubber/ kalk my ph was usually around 7.8/ 7.9 when it was a very new tank.
After going to the calcium reactor (with secondary chamber) I initially tried to continuously dose and keep the Kalk dosing at night for pH boost. Unfortunately I didn't account for the increase in alkalinity correctly and ended up with a decent upswing in alk overnight. So now I've stopped the reactor at night and allowed the Kalk to dose at night. I also tried adding Kalk into the dosing after my overnight dosing when reactor is starting up and at night after lights out before I start my overnight Kalk. The Kalk seems to be helping pH but definitely not as much as I'd like and it's a struggle to maintain 7.9 pH even during the day. Ideally I'd like to have 8.0 as minimum. The reduction in pH seems to have slowed coral uptake as well which is dropping my consumption and throwing things off also.
Not sure if stopping the calcium reactor periodically for overnight is the right call or if I should dose the Kalk continuously through the day, or dose both continuously. I can't really automate changing effluent rate or co2 throughout day other than on/ off. I am limited in my evaporation rate for dosing kalk to about a gallon a day. my pH upswing had previously been from 10am to 6pm (when lights are ramped up). Looking for suggestions on how to best coordinate my calcium reactor and kalk to help maintain pH, and keep alk swings reasonably minimal. Effluent pH i've been testing with Hanna checker at around 6.8 to 7.0 entering tank.
Additional details:
~85 gal net
alk - trying to keep around 8.2-8.4 as a target.
Ca - 420 to 450 as target
mag - currently 1420, target is around 1400
Kalk dosing with Neptune Dos and Kalk Stirrer (fed from RO top off res)
Calcium Reactor (Geo 510) w/ secondary chamber. ARM media. Current effluent ~25dkH, 10 mL/min, ~6.88 to 7.0 effluent. Chamber pH currently about 6 but I don't trust my pH probe (i calibrated with 7.0 and 10.0 as that's all i had, but 4.0 coming today to hopefully get a better cal) in chamber and with carbondose set to 10 second between bubbles and barely any output pressure (maybe like 5psi) it holds at about 5.9/ 6.0 steady for pH. If i try and set pH higher to like 6.5 the regulator just cycles more than i'd like, so trying to keep it from cycling as per best practice guidance's.
Any help and suggestions appreciated. Thanks