How To Raise pH?

cccharliecc · Apr 10, 2018

how do you dose 2 part and kalk.....is that hard to dial in?

Nirethell · Apr 10, 2018

Most effective ways of raising PH in our reef tanks are as follows

1) If you have a properly light Refugium and the means to feed it, the refugium will alone bring your ph up. Lower the light schedule if you notice its moving the PH too high.
2) If no refugium Running a line from your skimmer Air intake to outside Air will inject the tank with a steady source of Clean air free of CO2
3) If the first two you are unable to do, the CO2 scrubber is certainly an alternative. They can be expensive to run if you have too much C02 in your household. The media degrades more if the household needs more filtering (common sense). Also you must remember to add RODI water to the bottom of the reactor of these for them to be more effective. I ran one for a little while before I switched to a better light for refugium

I would not recommend relying on Kalk or 2 part to raise the ph to the desired level.
I would also not recommend using any supplement PH increaser

Again Keep in mind the reefing community has seen success with all of these methods, including having lower PH so ultimately its completely up to you to what you desire.

In your case I would look into possibly adding some macro algae to supplement and raise the PH slightly, you are already within a decent range for PH no sense in chasing the numbers too much.

cccharliecc · Apr 10, 2018

Thank you.
I have a refugium with a Kessil H80 on it with chaeto.
I also have fresh air lines running to my skimmer.
I don't really want to go the CO2 scrubber route.

I may just see how things go for 3-6 months and monitor growth of corals. If I see decent growth then it's not really a concern. I am at a pH of 8 during the day....I just would have liked it to be around 8.2-8.3 for better coral growth.

Nirethell · Apr 10, 2018

cccharliecc said:
Thank you.
I have a refugium with a Kessil H80 on it with chaeto.
I also have fresh air lines running to my skimmer.
I don't really want to go the CO2 scrubber route.

I may just see how things go for 3-6 months and monitor growth of corals. If I see decent growth then it's not really a concern. I am at a pH of 8 during the day....I just would have liked it to be around 8.2-8.3 for better coral growth.

I have heard some mixed reviews of the growth power of the H80. I have the 380 and the thing is a beast, allowed me to pull my o2 scrubber completely. Remeber to shake the chaeto out every once in a while. I noticed my PH dipped to about 8.1 this morning, shook it out before I left for work, and now its sitting at 8.23.. sometimes the air gets caught in itself and requires our intervention if it isnt rolling around in the sump.

I had a Par38 on it before, even though it grew the chaeto it wasn't able to keep up with my PH demands. I'm wondering if you are experiencing the same with the H80..

What are your P and N testing at? I also wonder if you are feeding the refug enough.. I have had to dose about 20ml of Phosphorus every other day until I can get a autofeeder and help raise my nutrient levels.

cccharliecc · Apr 10, 2018

I actually do stir around the cheato every once in a while. My P and N's are really low...almost 0 right now still....

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 10, 2018

Nirethell said:
I would not recommend relying on Kalk or 2 part to raise the ph to the desired level.
.

Why not?

Nirethell · Apr 10, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Why not?

I only feel that if you rely solely on this method to raise your PH especially when chasing numbers, I believe it has more of a potential for issues. IE if one decides to increase dosing because of a lower ph then it may toss ALK out of parameter.

Again I am sure that people find success with this, along with everything else in the hobby it is possible to do so. I just wouldn't recommend to anyone to use this as a sole way of raising the ph to the desired level when I believe there are more effective ways of doing so.

I do have to tip my hat and will eat crow if I am wrong about this. I am sure you know far better than I what is effective and what isn't. This is just my opinion on the matter.

lbacha · Apr 10, 2018

I use my refugium to increase ph. I run a h80 24/7 and have a secondary ebay grow light I use at night when the display lights are off. Using this I was able to raise my ph from 7.9-8.0 to 8.2-8.3. I use my apex to turn the lights on or off if I et out of this range so it really keeps the ph stable. I have had to dose more nutrients as a result but I needed to dose nutrients anyways as they were always out of balance (one or the other was always at 0).

The only drawback is I produce a ton of cheato which I have to pull from the fuge so it does add to maintenance a bit. I guess changing CO2 scrubber media would be the same.

Nirethell · Apr 10, 2018

cccharliecc said:
I actually do stir around the cheato every once in a while. My P and N's are really low...almost 0 right now still....

You should try to get them up a little. Having zero in your system isn't exactly a good thing, Having some will feed the corals as well as your chaeto growth.

griff500 · Apr 10, 2018

Nirethell said:
3) If the first two you are unable to do, the CO2 scrubber is certainly an alternative. They can be expensive to run if you have too much C02 in your household. The media degrades more if the household needs more filtering (common sense). Also you must remember to add RODI water to the bottom of the reactor of these for them to be more effective.

On mine they state to absolutely not allow the media to get wet and the container has holes in the bottom to allow air to enter and pass through the media.

Nirethell · Apr 10, 2018

griff500 said:
On mine they state to absolutely not allow the media to get wet and the container has holes in the bottom to allow air to enter and pass through the media.

Yes you are not allowed to get the media wet, however you need to add a cap-full or two of RODI water to the bottom of the reactor where it isn't touching the media. This could be certain types of a media, I know the one I had from BRS needed this and I found myself adding the cap fulls more often then the media changes.

griff500 · Apr 10, 2018

Nirethell said:
Yes you are not allowed to get the media wet, however you need to add a cap-full or two of RODI water to the bottom of the reactor where it isn't touching the media. This could be certain types of a media, I know the one I had from BRS needed this and I found myself adding the cap fulls more often then the media changes.

Not on the reactor I am using and not on another one I considered - ATI do one and Fauna Marin do one and neither require water.

Nirethell · Apr 10, 2018

griff500 said:
Not on the reactor I am using and not on another one I considered - ATI do one and Fauna Marin do one and neither require water.

Awesome, then certain brands require it and others do not. Just things to note I suppose. In all honestly I believe the water in the BRS ones has to do with the color changing media? I could be wrong but I feel that's the reason they require it. I for sure do not claim to know everything, just trying to help where I can.

griff500 · Apr 10, 2018

Nirethell said:
Awesome, then certain brands require it and others do not. Just things to note I suppose. In all honestly I believe the water in the BRS ones has to do with the color changing media? I could be wrong but I feel that's the reason they require it. I for sure do not claim to know everything, just trying to help where I can.

Interesting. They all use the same media as far as I am aware and both of the ones I mentioned are colour changing - usually starting white and turning purple but sometimes the other way.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 10, 2018

cccharliecc said:
how do you dose 2 part and kalk.....is that hard to dial in?

No, it isn't hard. What are you dosing now?

cccharliecc · Apr 10, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
No, it isn't hard. What are you dosing now?

BRS 2 part - Alk and Ca and Mg

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 10, 2018

Nirethell said:
I only feel that if you rely solely on this method to raise your PH especially when chasing numbers, I believe it has more of a potential for issues. IE if one decides to increase dosing because of a lower ph then it may toss ALK out of parameter.

Again I am sure that people find success with this, along with everything else in the hobby it is possible to do so. I just wouldn't recommend to anyone to use this as a sole way of raising the ph to the desired level when I believe there are more effective ways of doing so.

I do have to tip my hat and will eat crow if I am wrong about this. I am sure you know far better than I what is effective and what isn't. This is just my opinion on the matter.

I certainly agree that one should not dose anything to attain a target pH, without making sure the dose is not boosting alkalinity too much since all pH boosting chemicals are alkalinity additives.

But since most folks need to dose alkalinity somehow, using a high pH version (hydroxide, optimally, or carbonate, not bicarbonate) is a good way to boost pH and may 'solve" many peoples "problems".

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 10, 2018

cccharliecc said:
BRS 2 part - Alk and Ca and Mg

That is a two part, and if it is carbonate for the alk part, it is helping, but swapping in hydroxide instead of the carbonate or bicarbonate will boost pH more:

Second New DIY Two Part Recipe with Higher pH Boost
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/second-new-diy-two-part-recipe-with-higher-ph-boost.357080/