how to raise my ph?

[orthokardia]

I have a 550gal system with stable params. I want to raise the ph from 7.8 to 8.4. I drip kalk, draw fresh air for the skimmer, and run the lighting on two tanks opposite. I do NOT run a ca reactor and have never tried ozone. I also run two liters of ecoback with the effluent feeding the skimmer. looking for recommendations

ph 7.8
sg 1026
kh 8
ca 430
mag 1300
po4 6ppb (hanna)
no4 0

thx,
-bart

 

[fab1971]

i opened the window next to my tank and that raised it. It's the easiest solution to low ph.

 

[orthokardia]

the tank room is in the basement and the DT is in the living rm. If I open the LR window at 95deg leslie would beat me I am already drawing fresh air from outside to feed the skimmer. thanks for the suggestion. what else?

 

[Bugg_zy]

I am having the same issue, is your tank bare bottom by chance? Following along.

 

[Tequilero]

You running Gfo? I would use 2tsp of Kalk shaken for 2 minutes with RODI 1 gallon then dumped in the top off reservoir. I was at the same pH as your set up. I have 8.2's and 8.3's across the board now.

 

[cdness]

Fresh air is the easiest way to raise PH. Now since you are already doing that, you have to look elsewhere...

If the PH is dropping at night, make sure the fuge (assuming you have one) is on a reverse light cycle. This will help release oxygen into the water. It may not be much effect though if you have the two tanks on opposite light cycles.

How is your surface agitation from your closed loop or powerheads? if the surface of the water is not agitated it is hard for the gas exchange to happen.

Are you running a tank lid? if yes, remove it for a bit and see what happens. If you have jumpers, use eggcrate or a DIY net top while the lid is off for testing.

What is the PH of the water in the KALK drip? This should be saturated and if slow enough be able to maintain your PH. Are you dripping enough water through the KALK?

Just a few ideas... Hope it helps.

 

[VegasRick]

Something else you might look into is an air exchanger. It hooks into the ac duct work and pumps in fresh air from outside. You may not be able to run it during the day during the summer, but on cooler nights you can.
And like was mentioned above kalkwasser will not only raise ph because it has a high ph but also bonds with the co2 lowering it as part of the carbonate system

 

[cdness]

I forgot to mention, you could also try a CO2 scrubber for the air inlet of the skimmer... They are expensive to run sometimes but can help when we have the houses all sealed up with AC running...

 

[orthokardia]

I drip Kalk that is super saturated from my reactor. I have strong surface agitation on all 42 square feet of surface area. I am bare bottom on all but the 300g which has a 73x32x4" araganite bed. That comment got me thinking.....would a huge fluidized reactor filled with sand help? I have a large cullagan vessle. I will also look into a CO2 scrubber.

thanks all and keep the inputs comming
bart

 

[beaslbob]

Add macro algaes.

 

[Tequilero]

I drip Kalk that is super saturated from my reactor. I have strong surface agitation on all 42 square feet of surface area. I am bare bottom on all but the 300g which has a 73x32x4" araganite bed. That comment got me thinking.....would a huge fluidized reactor filled with sand help? I have a large cullagan vessle. I will also look into a CO2 scrubber.

thanks all and keep the inputs comming
bart

BRS sells the media and airfilter for it.

 

[orthokardia]

not enough nutrients for macro.

 

[CJO]

Your air intake may not be far enough from the house for it to make much of a difference in CO2 for the air coming in. As cdness said, you could try a CO2 scrubber. It's very easy to do:
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/do-yourself-diy/57609-easy-way-increase-your-tanks-ph.html

CJ

 

[CJO]

Also, are you sure that your pH is that low? That's pretty low for not having a Ca reactor.

CJ

 

[pickupman66]

there is a CaRX in his system. my PH hovers right at 8. maybe down to 7.92 at night and then up to 8.15 in the daytime. all filtration is in the garage, tank in the house. plenty of surface agitation and air mixing in as water flows back to the sump. I have a MR2 Skimmer. I also run a CaRx but it only puts in 1 drop per second as I have a low load at this time.

I am very familiar with his setup (been to his house a few times) and from what I can tell, everything is done right. his water just wants to stay at 7.8. ive seen it raised with Kalk or other and then it come back to the 7.8. there are two displays on the system. a 300 and 185. they run at opposite light cycles.

 

[orthokardia]

actually the ca reactor has been off for a month. the fresh air intake is about 8' from the house.

 

[pickupman66]

REally???? wow. and that should be plenty far away. try this. take a cup of water from the tank and test its PH. then put an airstone in it and let it areate for a hour or two. do this down in the basement where you have the sump. if the PH goes up, then just put an airstone somewhere in the system. if this does not fix, try the same experiment outside. if this works, then you need more outside air to touch the tank.

 

[Spazdad]

I had the same issue in my 180. After 3 months of heavy dripping kalk I got it to stableize. I had it mint for 2 months until it started to go above 8.4. Now my tank has been stable at 8.7 - 8.8. Haven't dripped a drop of kalk in three months. If it were me. I would never drip that stuff again. Even with a ca reactor I have a hard time getting it below 8.4. Just my 2 cents

 

[orthokardia]

8.8 wow