Dosing Sodium Carbonate for Alk/pH

[SlyPuffer]

I have a newer 20 gallon tank with 2 Favia frags and 3 Zoa frags. I have noticed that since I added the frags I lose about .5 dkh a day. From the beginning I had extremely low ph due to the amount of people/animals in my house. I added a skimmer with an airline running to the outside and that brought me to a stable 8.0 ph. Yesterday I tested adding .2 tsp of sodium carbonate to ro/di and dispensed over 10 minutes and got a 1.0 increase to dkh and a .2 increase to pH.

Since Alk is the only thing being used right now should I just setup a doser for sodium carbonate to dispense a small amount every hour? Or should I have it do a majority of the daily dose during the night? Or is there a general better method?

I would like achieve a stable Alk around 9 and keep my pH above 8.1 preferably at 8.2

Thank you in advance for your info/advice!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Calcium is also being used, although you cannot readily detect the expected small demand. Use of 0.5 dKH is matched by a bit over 3 ppm of calcium.

I think the easiest thing to do is use a one part such as All For Reef.

A two part is also a fine choice.

FWIW, you won't be able to readily pick a pH, since it is largely driven by your home air. You can help it rise in various ways, but I would not focus on that when determining how to dose alk right now since this low dose won't hold pH up much.

 

[SlyPuffer]

Calcium is also being used, although you cannot readily detect the expected small demand. Use of 0.5 dKH is matched by a bit over 3 ppm of calcium.

I think the easiest thing to do is use a one part such as All For Reef.

A two part is also a fine choice.

FWIW, you won't be able to readily pick a pH, since it is largely driven by your home air. You can help it rise in various ways, but I would not focus on that when determining how to dose alk right now since this low dose won't hold pH up much.

So what I’m getting from this is I should mainly focus on calcium/alk, and when I get more growing corals the demand will rise which will in turn give me more options to increase pH?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So what I’m getting from this is I should mainly focus on calcium/alk, and when I get more growing corals the demand will rise which will in turn give me more options to increase pH?

Yes, focus on calcium and alk, and look to other ways to boost pH if that is a goal.

https://www.reefedition.com/ph-and-the-reef-aquarium/