OMG Corals
meat popsicle
Thought this would be good info to share with all of you.
I was having some serious issues with ph and alk. I couldn't get my ph above 8.0 and alk would fall from 3.5 meq/ltr to 2.0 almost everyday. Even with dosing and monitoring ph constantly. I was adding 130ml of alk solution twice daily!! and ph was still not above 8.0. Now, i know that maintaining a stable alk is important but the ph would drop to 7.6 during the night hours. I have a refugium that is run opposite the tank and it would still drop. With this drop the alk would also fall to 2.5-2.7 meq/l. All this up and down was really doing damage to my lps and some of my sps.
I was toying with the idea of running a fresh air line from outside to the tank. Either with and air pump or to the skimmer. The only problem with this is, my tank is an island so, it's difficult to run anything to an outside wall. With it being in the high 80's low 90's lately outside the attic is scorching.
The other day noticed my mummies eye chalice is starting to recede!! That's the last straw! So, i started early and went up in the attic to run a 1/2 inch line from the tank to the outside wall in the garage. The line was to attach to the skimmer air intake and run to the outside to pic up fresh air. It's about a 35' run so i was concerned with restricting the air flow. That is why the 1/2" line. I drilled throught the outside wall and protected the intake with window screening to keep bugs and dirt out. Before going to the skimmer i installed an air filter made of a piece of 1" pvc capped at both ends and drilled holes to fit the tubing tightly. I have screening inside both ends, a piece of filter sponge and about a tsp of carbon to clean the air coming in.
Here is what the filter looks like:
It then goes to the air intake on the skimmer silencer. I did this so that it can get some purged air from inside the room with the tank as it has two intakes. I just restricted the one inside.
Since doing this the ph has stayed much more stable. I woke up to a ph of 7.85 and it is steadily climbing with the light cycle. The alk hadn't changed much at all. Tested last night at 3.7 and it was 3.5 this morning.
So, if any of you are having this problem. It's a great solution and is well worth looking into.
Just wanted to share....:bigsmile:
I was having some serious issues with ph and alk. I couldn't get my ph above 8.0 and alk would fall from 3.5 meq/ltr to 2.0 almost everyday. Even with dosing and monitoring ph constantly. I was adding 130ml of alk solution twice daily!! and ph was still not above 8.0. Now, i know that maintaining a stable alk is important but the ph would drop to 7.6 during the night hours. I have a refugium that is run opposite the tank and it would still drop. With this drop the alk would also fall to 2.5-2.7 meq/l. All this up and down was really doing damage to my lps and some of my sps.
I was toying with the idea of running a fresh air line from outside to the tank. Either with and air pump or to the skimmer. The only problem with this is, my tank is an island so, it's difficult to run anything to an outside wall. With it being in the high 80's low 90's lately outside the attic is scorching.
The other day noticed my mummies eye chalice is starting to recede!! That's the last straw! So, i started early and went up in the attic to run a 1/2 inch line from the tank to the outside wall in the garage. The line was to attach to the skimmer air intake and run to the outside to pic up fresh air. It's about a 35' run so i was concerned with restricting the air flow. That is why the 1/2" line. I drilled throught the outside wall and protected the intake with window screening to keep bugs and dirt out. Before going to the skimmer i installed an air filter made of a piece of 1" pvc capped at both ends and drilled holes to fit the tubing tightly. I have screening inside both ends, a piece of filter sponge and about a tsp of carbon to clean the air coming in.
Here is what the filter looks like:
It then goes to the air intake on the skimmer silencer. I did this so that it can get some purged air from inside the room with the tank as it has two intakes. I just restricted the one inside.
Since doing this the ph has stayed much more stable. I woke up to a ph of 7.85 and it is steadily climbing with the light cycle. The alk hadn't changed much at all. Tested last night at 3.7 and it was 3.5 this morning.
So, if any of you are having this problem. It's a great solution and is well worth looking into.
Just wanted to share....:bigsmile:
