How To Raise pH?

[cccharliecc]

I have a bunch of John guest fittings and tubing so I should be able to get it to work

 

[mitch91175]

I am replacing my media at the 7 day mark:

 

[cccharliecc]

So you have to replace the media every 7 days? That can get costly no?

 

[mitch91175]

So you have to replace the media every 7 days? That can get costly no?

Cost is relative really. I purchased the 5 gallon bucket and still have a lot left from my original purchase. Plus I am rotating some that I let sit in a ziplock bag here and there to maximize my usage. This method DOESN'T recharge the media, but allows you to squeeze every bit of life out of it.

Also, that is with running a single canister. On my DT running dual canisters I get a much longer period (obviously). I am more concerned with my frag tank now since I am using it as my grow out for my DT.

 

[mitch91175]

But yes, it is considered that running a CO2 scrubber can be pricey endeavor. I like the whole tinkering aspect of everything just as much as I do the tank inhabitants. If you do not want to spend the money on the media, I'd say look for another approach to get the results that you want or just leave it be and go from there. As others have mentioned, there are great systems running lower pH.

 

[mitch91175]

Also, you can extend your media life by only running it when you know your pH drops well below your desired level (at night). That will extend each canister as well. I do not do it I just let it ride. I do have one of those solenoids that will shut off the air to the unit, just haven't set it up yet.

 

[cccharliecc]

I think I’m going to try it, and see the results I get.
I just mounted the reactor so I’m going to order some media now.
I don’t mind giving it a try to see the results

 

[mitch91175]

I think I’m going to try it, and see the results I get.
I just mounted the reactor so I’m going to order some media now.
I don’t mind giving it a try to see the results

You should definitely see an increase for sure. I was told that I would see a 0.2 increase in the high/low and I definitely have (specially in my frag tank).

 

[vanpire]

I have a CARx and had issues with low Ph. Night of 7.8 and day of 8. I have a five full of Chaeto.

I bought an Avast Kalk reactor and started to dose kalk using my Apex.. Of course, I adjusted my CARx down as kalk was proving some AlK and Ca.

Ph went to 8.05 to 8.25. Kalk is cheap and I add Kalk to the reactor once every week. It works very well. Kalk might be old school but I don’t see a downside.

I did think of using a CO2 scrubber but it seemed like more cost and more work. Adding Kalk to your Kalk reactor is fast and easy.

 

[User1]

My tank finished cycling first part of March. I've been letting it run its course while I travel. Oddly enough I can't get my pH above 7.75. Day or night, no matter, low 7's up to 7.75 the way Apex sees it. Even recalibrated it. I've started to open the windows in the morning to see if I can see any difference. On my 40 breeder that uses a reefangel controller also reports pH in the 7's. Oh well.

 

[mitch91175]

I have a CARx and had issues with low Ph. Night of 7.8 and day of 8. I have a five full of Chaeto.

I bought an Avast Kalk reactor and started to dose kalk using my Apex.. Of course, I adjusted my CARx down as kalk was proving some AlK and Ca.

Ph went to 8.05 to 8.25. Kalk is cheap and I add Kalk to the reactor once every week. It works very well. Kalk might be old school but I don’t see a downside.

I did think of using a CO2 scrubber but it seemed like more cost and more work. Adding Kalk to your Kalk reactor is fast and easy.

Now I can agree with the cost part but more maintenance (not really maintenance, just empty fill, replace). Super easy to do with the BRS CO2 scrubbers. Done in like 3 minutes.

 

[Mindi]

scrubber costs pennies to make...a plastic 1 litre jar with a hole in the top for air line and a lot of small holes in the bottom to let the air in without letting the granular soda lime out. the "expensive" bit is the soda lime which was costing me 70aud a month. If you can get cheap soda lime it is the best of all the above IMHO. I found in my context it went purple after about 7-10 days

 

[cccharliecc]

Randy....For the new 2 Part you recommended I just have a couple questions.
1. Can you change out just the Alk part and still use the BRS Ca and Mg parts?
2. Which solution is cheaper long term, switching to all the parts you recommend, or your Alk part and BRS's Ca and Mg parts?
3. The big question, do you have any links on where to buy the Alk additives?....and the Ca and Mg ones if that is a cheaper solution long term.

Thank you!

 

[cccharliecc]

I just realized I asked you #1 already....sorry.

 

[mckinney0171]

I use a dual reactor setup from BRS. I use their spherazorb media and it lasts me three weeks on average. CO2 scrubbing is easy and relatively maintenance free but the media is just one more thing you will need to buy. What is your goal? If it isn’t faster coral growth I would not chase pH. My pH ran at 7.6-7.7 before I even started testing it (thank you neptune apex). Never had a problem with it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy....For the new 2 Part you recommended I just have a couple questions.
1. Can you change out just the Alk part and still use the BRS Ca and Mg parts?
2. Which solution is cheaper long term, switching to all the parts you recommend, or your Alk part and BRS's Ca and Mg parts?
3. The big question, do you have any links on where to buy the Alk additives?....and the Ca and Mg ones if that is a cheaper solution long term.

Thank you!

Cost depends on where you buy and what you buy. Using Dowflake and MAG flake from a hardware store (the original intent of the recipe is far cheaper, but can be hard to find). BRS started to carry ingredients to make my recipe. That is "their" two part.

If you want food grade hydroxide, you can get it from amazon.

If you want just the original recipe, it uses baking soda from the grocery store. Baked if you want to make it into carbonate for a pH boost. You won't be able to make it into hydroxide at home.

 

[cccharliecc]

The goal is always faster coral growth.

 

[cccharliecc]

I’m gonna go with the food grade hydroxide from amazon to replace my Alk and then keep my Ca and Mg from BRS.
Hopefully that along with the CO2 absorbent my pH will be higher.....we’ll see and I will post results.

I’m gonna do one at a time though so I can see the net results from each.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’m gonna go with the food grade hydroxide from amazon to replace my Alk and then keep my Ca and Mg from BRS.
Hopefully that along with the CO2 absorbent my pH will be higher.....we’ll see and I will post results.

I’m gonna do one at a time though so I can see the net results from each.

Sounds good.

Happy Reefing.

 

[mitch91175]

Just installed my solenoid that I have had laying around on my frag tank like the one in this BRS video:
Will see if I can get more than 7 days of use out of a canister with it installed. I just like the control aspect of what we can do with the Apex (I'm a gadget guy by heart ;Happy)