Just did my First DKH test and....

[DanP-SD]

On the counterpoint, however, a skimmer can also lower pH when put into a high CO2 environment.

Fair point. Once you get it running you’ll know soon enough. If it lowers ph, time to get better air exchange in the room housing the tank.

As to the refugium, if it were my tank I’d wait. You may not need it. They are helpful to mitigate overnight ph swings. But once you stabilize dkh and get the skimmer running, you may or may not see that as a need. Fuges can also help export nutrients. You may find that useful but if you have to compromise your filtration to do it, maybe not worth it. There are hang on refugiums and algae scrubbers that will do the same without using much of your AIO space.

I wouldn’t rush into too many things at once. For now, I’d focus on stabilizing dkh and getting a skimmer going and then assess where you are.

 

[tbrown]

I made a batch of salt water yesterday, at 1.024-1.025, DKH reading came back at 15.2!

I use Ocean Reef Crystals they are known to have high DKH, a reading of my display was 10.9, that's a pretty big difference. I know my corals aren't consuming that much.

I wonder if maybe smaller water changes is the play here to minimize swings.

Are you using RODI? I use Reef Crystals and, even when using high alkalinity tap water I never saw alkalinity above 13... When mixing with RODI, mine typically mixes at around 9.5-10 I believe.

One thing to consider with Reef Crystals (and really any salt mix) the bucket can "settle out" so it's a good idea to shake/roll the salt bag/bucket/box to remix before scooping.

 

[mimi117]

@tbrown Yes, Reef crystals and ro/di, tds is 0 from the tap.

Noted about the mixing the salt, I'll do that next time and see if there is any difference in alkalinity.

I saw the regular instant ocean comes in at a dkh of 11, I tested earlier @ 10.9 and my acans have never looked as puffy as they do right now, could just be that they finally settled after shipment (about 10 days ago) or could be the tank parameters.

 

[mimi117]

@DanP-SD Yea, I think for now, I'll wait on the fuge, that would probably be the LAST thing I'd add to the tank.
I'll check DKH tomorrow at same time and see where I am at and go from there.

I am getting a film of green/brown algae growing on the rocks but (only) where the light makes contact with the rocks, the bi-color blenny I have is picking at it all day which is cool to observe, it gives my base rock and tank some color which is nice, but I don't want it getting out of control.

I may take a toothbrush dipped in hydrogen peroxide tomorrow and take the rocks out and hit it for a few mins. I am still up in the air about it, I like the color in the tank, makes it looks natural, plus I know my bi-color is grazing between feedings.

I dipped my zoanthids yesterday in h202, straight 3% for about 1-2 mins, they are all closed up, and they have this thin grey like film hanging from the tissue almost looks like they "shed" their outer layer, they aren't melting, and it might just be dead algae, but its flapping around the polyps and I am sure its irritating them, I'll take them out tomorrow to see if I can scrub that off and put them back, that h202 dip completely decimated all that algae and the frag plus they are on are completely white now, shows how nasty they were before.

 

[rishma]

I also set my tank up with a doser (chihiros) and I have my kalkwasser mix all set up (1/2 tsp) per gallon to start with.

The downside to mixing 1/2 tsp per gallon is it’s harder to know how much alkalinity you are adding with your dose. There are online calculators that can tell you, so hopefully you are using one of those.

I always mix a saturated batch so that each volume is a consistent and predictable alkalinity and calcium addition. I also don’t have to mix a new batch as often so that’s a win.

I’ve been using kalkwasser for 30 years, but it’s only modestly effective at boosting pH. But I still dose a night because it helps a little.

 

[mimi117]

Thanks Rishma, yea looks like It's going to be a science project for me, just a lot of documentation and watching the tank.

 

[mimi117]

I am not sure the exact dosage I will use, again I am mainly dosing to increase my ph values at the moment since I don't have a lot of corals using up the alk in the tank, i'll still monitor my alk for the next 6 days and report back on this thread with my findings, then after I'll start my dosing regimen, I have been at 7.7-7.8 since the start of the tank, so I am ok with slowly boosting it to 8.3 over the next few weeks.

 

[rishma]

I am not sure the exact dosage I will use, again I am mainly dosing to increase my ph values at the moment since I don't have a lot of corals using up the alk in the tank, i'll still monitor my alk for the next 6 days and report back on this thread with my findings, then after I'll start my dosing regimen, I have been at 7.7-7.8 since the start of the tank, so I am ok with slowly boosting it to 8.3 over the next few weeks.

I think Randy tried to explain previously, but just to be clear, you won’t get to a pH of 8.3 from 7.8 using kalkwasser unless you dose a huge volume of it daily. The consequences will be a very high alkalinity dose which you don’t want.

Experimenting is fine, just keep a close eye on your alkalinity. Good luck.

 

[mimi117]

Shouldn't the 12.2 ph average up my 7.8?

Right now there is no additive going into the tank to raise ph, it's only a 20g, maybe a few ML's a day won't increase PH the way I want, but the only way to find out is to test in small amounts, it's either that or I just buffer my salt water and ro mixes with a ph buffer before they go into the tank.

I don't have a alk problem right now so maybe that is the better option which such a small water volume tank?

 

[Danjoethepirate]

Shouldn't the 12.2 ph average up my 7.8?

R...

Any ph buffer you use will raise th Alk as well. You might be chasing your tail on this one.

 

[rishma]

Shouldn't the 12.2 ph average up my 7.8?

Right now there is no additive going into the tank to raise ph, it's only a 20g, maybe a few ML's a day won't increase PH the way I want, but the only way to find out is to test in small amounts, it's either that or I just buffer my salt water and ro mixes with a ph buffer before they go into the tank.

I don't have a alk problem right now so maybe that is the better option which such a small water volume tank?

Yes, 12.2 pH Kalk will raise pH, but it’s going to be a really small impact unless the volume you add is pretty significant. A few ml will not even be noticeable. My tank is about the same size and I add 200ml saturated kalkwasser and the pH impact is noticeable but maybe only +0.1 pH over night.

There are no pH buffers that won’t also impact alkalinity. So I don’t suggest using any of those.

There are things you can do to raise pH, like aeration with outdoor air to combat the CO2 in the house that is likely pushing your pH lower.

That said, of all the things to focus on, pH probably shouldn’t be high on your list yet. Alkalinity is much more important to control than pH and you’ve just started monitoring that. If you are not monitoring phosphate and nitrate, I’d look there first before worrying about pH. You mentioned dosing vinegar in your first post…need to know your phosphate and nitrate before starting down that road.

pH is tricky to control and has less of an impact on tank health than many other parameters. I kept successful reefs for decades without monitoring pH closely. My current tank was a couple years old before I decided to tackle controlling my pH.

 

[mimi117]

Yea, I just purchased my protein skimmer earlier, will be here in a few days, and I'll check what my house c02 levels are, I am sure that's contributing to it, I don't want to run a c02 scrubber since you got to change that stuff out every 2 weeks, just not economical, like you said, I would rather have steady alk levels at this point.

I was 10.9 earlier this morning, I'll test tomorrow same time and see where I am at.

Thanks for all the feedback yall!

 

[Justdrew]

On the counterpoint, however, a skimmer can also lower pH when put into a high CO2 environment.

That's what it does in my house. I turn mine off at night to raise the pH.

 

[rishma]

I was 10.9 earlier this morning, I'll test tomorrow same time and see where I am at.

do you have corals? If your alkalinity consumption is low it may take a week to reliably measure the trend. When I am dialing in my alkalinity dose I tend to test every other day or every 3rd day and wait to have 3 measurements to determine the trend. Testing more often is fine, but test kits have some inaccuracy and small changes can be hard to detect.

 

[rishma]

That's what it does in my house. I turn mine off at night to raise the pH.

First I have heard of anyone doing that for pH. Interesting!

 

[mimi117]

Yes I have a few small corals in the tank, some zoanthids and a few acan frags, nothing major.

For now I will still test everyday because I have OCD :)

 

[mimi117]

I want to start adding corals to my tank but I want to make sure I can keep parameters stable to some degree, I want as little intervention from me as possible, I had a tank YEARS ago a 24 gallon all in one, I ran carbon and purigen, no auto top off, did it manually every single day, and had a plastic refractometer, that tank THRIVED.

Now, I have Carbon, Phosguard, Mechanical Filtration Rocks in the back chamber, a heater that keeps the tank steady 77 degrees, a doser (kalkwasser + white vinegar soon), auto top off, reef roids, prime, stability, recover & restore from brightwell, protein skimmer, seachem reef plus, ai prime, hygger nano wave maker.

I am a lot more prepared this time around, before I only tested nitrates, now I can test my dkh, phosphates, I still need to buy a Hanna nitrate tester, API test kit showing around 20 ppm but I have nitrites in my water so it could be way off.

 

[rishma]

I don’t know what most of those products are :)

Why do you think you have nitrites? 20ppm nitrate is fine. What is your phosphate?

 

[mimi117]

I am not sure what my phosphate is, I just ordered my phosphate test kit, should be here in the next few days.

I tested my DKH just now, came out to around 11.5, I am not sure if I should take the dkh color changing from blue to purple as the sign, or waiting for it to change pink, it takes more of the solution to change it to pink, yesterday it changed pink at 3.0 left in the syringe, today it turned pink at 2.7, which is 11.5 dkh - prob messed up the test, going to retest now and do some research.

 

[mimi117]

Just re-tested definitely messed it up before, I am at 10.5 dkh (.32) left in the syringe. so .4 decrease since yesterday, I'll keep testing.