Have had a Reefer 250 setup for about two months now, aiming for SPS dominant. Have my Alk, Ca, Mg stable where I want them, but having trouble getting pH over 8 and staying there. It had been around 7.7-7.8. A couple weeks ago, I setup a chaeto reactor (Poseidon Reef Systems) on a reverse photo period, and started using kalk in my ATO reservoir. Saw a definite bump from the kalk, and MAYBE a bit from the chaeto, hard to know. Put a pH plot below for the past few weeks with significant events:
#1: Add kalk to my ATO reservoir.
#2: Starting running the chaeto reactor.
#3: Family leaves on vacation.
#4: Monitoring while on vacation, I'm stoked that measures I've taken seem to be working great.
#5: We return from vacation (six of us in single family house).
#6: The "what the heck?!?" feelings kick-in as I watch the pH fall off a cliff.
I'm feeling like it's gotta be the CO2 from everyone being back in the house (warm in New England, house sealed up with AC on). Or is it? Is there something else I should be doing? Do I need to figure out how to get an air line from outside to my skimmer (don't think wife will like me drilling a hole through the wall to the outside)? Really struggling with pH, any help appreciated!
Oh, and I did harvest a big ball of chaeto from the reactor, seems to be growing great, for whatever that's worth.
#1: Add kalk to my ATO reservoir.
#2: Starting running the chaeto reactor.
#3: Family leaves on vacation.
#4: Monitoring while on vacation, I'm stoked that measures I've taken seem to be working great.
#5: We return from vacation (six of us in single family house).
#6: The "what the heck?!?" feelings kick-in as I watch the pH fall off a cliff.
I'm feeling like it's gotta be the CO2 from everyone being back in the house (warm in New England, house sealed up with AC on). Or is it? Is there something else I should be doing? Do I need to figure out how to get an air line from outside to my skimmer (don't think wife will like me drilling a hole through the wall to the outside)? Really struggling with pH, any help appreciated!
Oh, and I did harvest a big ball of chaeto from the reactor, seems to be growing great, for whatever that's worth.