Help. Need to drastically improve ph

[starman]

This has been a frustrating struggle with ph. I've been dosing kalk continuously that helps keep up ph but it's still too low. Ph stats around 7.8 to 8. I'm trying to get keep it stable around 8.2. I put on a CO2 scrubber from fish of hex. I've got it hooked up to my skimmer for recirculation to improve my efficiency of my CO2 media but the media will prove effective for like a week and get too saturated with moisture and become useless. I then added a collection cup but even with the collection cup between media and skimmer the media still gets too much moisture. Ph I think is too low. I've opened windows in the basement added a fan but nothing really consistently helps. I've double checked readings to make sure it's accurate and it is. Is there anything I can dose or anything else that will increase ph. Im not going to use macro algea. That doesn't do anything

Hi I run a tube to my skimmer from a drilled hole outside of house and ph has always been stable from then on regards michael

 

[Reef Puncher]

I already use kalkwasser continuously. I keep my dog around 9. If I continue to dose more my alk goes too high

how much kalk are you dosing? is it the only source of alk your adding? for most people, kalk and a c02 scrubber are enough. i use them both and my ph is always around 8.3. my media lasts about 3 weeks, sometimes longer. i find that keeping it moist increases the life. i put a little water in the bottom.
see this:

"Moisture facilitates the chemical reaction between CO₂ and the absorbent.Dry media can become less reactive, reducing its ability to capture CO₂ efficiently.In aquarium setups, users have reported that drying out of the media leads to a drop in pH performance, indicating reduced CO₂ absorption "

some other things that can help, make sure your tanks flow rate is high, the more water circulation the better for ph. make sure you have at least one pump at the very surface, you want the top layer of water to be moving, the more the better. i know you said you checked the ph meter several times, but what meter are you using? sometimes it helps to calibrate to all 3 ph containers, not just 2. like do the 4.0, 7.0, and 10.0 for the most accurate calibration. i used this one. amazon ph calibration

 

[painter1982]

I think it was the extra oxygen in the water from the o3. Maybe the same effect as removing co2 to raise ph.

Oxygen added to the water has no impact on pH. pH is determined mathematically by alkalinity and CO2.

Well if o2 in water goes up and co2 comes down then what’s that???

 

[painter1982]

I think it was the extra oxygen in the water from the o3. Maybe the same effect as removing co2 to raise ph.

Oxygen added to the water has no impact on pH. pH is determined mathematically by alkalinity and CO2.

If o2 in water rises and co2 comes down then what’s that???

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Well if o2 in water goes up and co2 comes down then what’s that???

O2 going up from breakdown of ozone does not cause CO2 to change nor any change to pH.

O2 and CO2 are not some sort of opposites. Both can rise, both can fall, or they can move in opposite directions or one can move and the other not at all.

 

[JWsticks]

I fill up a brute trash can and add 6.5 grams per gallon. I then test it to see max concentration which comes out to like 12.5 oh or something. Ughh I guess I'll have to figure out a way to reduce CO2 in the basement more. My evaporation isn't that much. I'm in Colorado, in a cool basement. I've got 3 tanks down here and it's already humid which probably hurts the evaporation rate

If daytime pH is what your after, try spreading your kalk dosing during lights on instead of spreading it out 24h. In my tank, I've seen better growth maintaining high pH during lights on instead of maintaining a certain daily pH range.

 

[MnFish1]

If daytime pH is what your after, try spreading your kalk dosing during lights on instead of spreading it out 24h. In my tank, I've seen better growth maintaining high pH during lights on instead of maintaining a certain daily pH range.

I'm curious - who cares about daytime pH? I don't mean about your opinion - but merely who cares about micromanaging their tank in this manner. In theory, though - I can make the case that you're correct so I'm not attacking you - it makes sense with a higher pH during lit times as compared to dark that some corals may do better. But - I'm curious as to whether you're a victim of confirmatory bias - in other words you do something thinking it's going to be positive - and you see every positive effect.

 

[bubbgee]

I'm curious - who cares about daytime pH? I don't mean about your opinion - but merely who cares about micromanaging their tank in this manner. In theory, though - I can make the case that you're correct so I'm not attacking you - it makes sense with a higher pH during lit times as compared to dark that some corals may do better. But - I'm curious as to whether you're a victim of confirmatory bias - in other words you do something thinking it's going to be positive - and you see every positive effect.

I like keeping high pH during daytime so that the low pH I will get at nighttime will be above 8.0 or a wee bit above 7.9. The drop in pH isn't necessarily the same amount as the rise in pH. This helps raise the baseline pH at the low point of the tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm curious - who cares about daytime pH? I don't mean about your opinion - but merely who cares about micromanaging their tank in this manner. In theory, though - I can make the case that you're correct so I'm not attacking you - it makes sense with a higher pH during lit times as compared to dark that some corals may do better. But - I'm curious as to whether you're a victim of confirmatory bias - in other words you do something thinking it's going to be positive - and you see every positive effect.

It may be that the peak pH during the day when most calcification is taking place is what determines the coral growth rate.

 

[MnFish1]

I like keeping high pH during daytime so that the low pH I will get at nighttime will be above 8.0 or a wee bit above 7.9. The drop in pH isn't necessarily the same amount as the rise in pH. This helps raise the baseline pH at the low point of the tank.

Apologies - my comment was not specific - I meant more - who cares about a daytime pH - if it's in the 8.xx range. And - in fact in the daytime it's going to be the highest in most tanks in the daytime.

 

[MnFish1]

It may be that the peak pH during the day when most calcification is taking place is what determines the coral growth rate.

Thanks Randy - my post was totally unclear - Then the question becomes what's more important for the average reef tank - day or night or stability - my comment would be there is going to be a swing in our tanks - and trying to micromanage pH - day vs night is an issue - not only because alkalinity plays a role but because people may open more windows at night

 

[JWsticks]

Thanks Randy - my post was totally unclear - Then the question becomes what's more important for the average reef tank - day or night or stability - my comment would be there is going to be a swing in our tanks - and trying to micromanage pH - day vs night is an issue - not only because alkalinity plays a role but because people may open more windows at night

Thanks Randy - my post was totally unclear - Then the question becomes what's more important for the average reef tank - day or night or stability - my comment would be there is going to be a swing in our tanks - and trying to micromanage pH - day vs night is an issue - not only because alkalinity plays a role but because people may open more windows at night

I primarily focus on keeping pH elevated around 8.2 during lights on when corals are photosynthesizing to extract as much growth as possible similar to tuning a car for maximum HP and torque. The average reefer may not care for elevated pH but SPS keepers striving for explosive growth may.

Alkalinity can stabilize pH to a certain extent but to directly increase pH you'll need to reduce CO2 in the water column or increase the photosynthesis in coral or algae. Randy has also mentioned this in a prior post.

I would love to keep my night time pH elevated and this would also help with daytime ph but you will need to light a sizable refugium to achieve this. I've done this in the past but find it a lot easier to manipulate pH during the daytime via dosing of sodium hydroxide.

Opening a window will lead to a higher pH but in my environment I've only seen 0.1 increase at best and it was not consistent. Furthermore, I was capped at a starting 8.0 pH on a good day.

Think we can all agree SPS corals grow faster when pH is 8.2 or higher. From what I've seen, micromanaging pH does improve growth rates of SPS leading to increased alk/calc consumption.

Lastly, the increased in pH has enabled me to growout a tank full of SPS frags in 2 years time which was I not able to do so previously. Not saying pH was the only driving factor but it certainly helped.