kalwalser help for high ph

[KÜRŞAT]

Hello, my tank consumes 0.7 dkh per day. I am currently using AFR. I add 28mL daily. My tank is 160 liters. I want to raise the pH. Currently pH is stable at 8 with co2 scrubber. I want to increase this to 8.3. If I put Kalwalser on the ATO will it have any impact? 2-3 liters of water evaporate per day.

 

[bobnicaragua]

Yeah, it should give you a little PH bump, but you’ll need to reduce your all for reef dosage.

It’s best to dose a set amount of kalk, usually just under your evaporation rate, and have a small ATO to make up the difference.

 

[dakoop]

Be careful dosing kalk with an ATO. If it sticks on for some reason you can nuke your tank. I learned that the hard way

 

[bobnicaragua]

I use a versa to continuously dose saturated kalk out of a 10 gal reservoir. My ATO is only a 3 gal reservoir.

 

[I never finish anythi]

In all honesty if you have a pH stable at 8 I wouldn't bother chasing .3

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

An alk dose of 0.7 dKH per day will not give a very big pH boost by using hydroxide, but I’d still do it.

 

[KÜRŞAT]

An alk dose of 0.7 dKH per day will not give a very big pH boost by using hydroxide, but I’d still do it.

Can't I raise the pH, which is fixed at 8.0, to 8.2 and 8.3 with Kalkwalser? I cannot do the drip method ecotech versa pump is not sold in my country (Türkiye)
What would you recommend instead?

 

[KÜRŞAT]

I use a versa to continuously dose saturated kalk out of a 10 gal reservoir. My ATO is only a 3 gal reservoir.

What do you dose with?

 

[bobnicaragua]

What do you dose with?

I used to dose kalk with a water lifter air pump on a timer.

My current ATO is just an Avast air pump on a timer with a float switch.

 

[nereefpat]

Can't I raise the pH, which is fixed at 8.0, to 8.2 and 8.3 with Kalkwalser? I cannot do the drip method ecotech versa pump is not sold in my country (Türkiye)
What would you recommend instead?

It will raise some, but not from 8 to 8.3.

I think the numbers I've seen are that 1.4 dKH increase will increase pH by 0.07. Maybe the CO2 scrubber will throw that off a bit, I'm not sure.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Can't I raise the pH, which is fixed at 8.0, to 8.2 and 8.3 with Kalkwalser? I cannot do the drip method ecotech versa pump is not sold in my country (Türkiye)
What would you recommend instead?

That's like asking if I can drive from Istanbul to Antalya using gasoline.
The answer is certainly yes, but it requires enough gas. 0.7 dKH a day is not that much gas. Some, but not necessarily enough.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I think the numbers I've seen are that 1.4 dKH increase will increase pH by 0.07. Maybe the CO2 scrubber will throw that off a bit, I'm not sure.

0.7 pH units when dosed all at once, and then the pH heads back toward the starting point.

The rise is much less if it is spread out and the tank is pulling in CO2 all the time.

 

[Cycleguy0623]

If you can’t get a Versa there are other continue duty options. Kamor is one of the other popular continue pumps. I dose 3383 liters of saturated Kalk daily and then supplement with two part for fine adjustment.

Honestly untill my take ran to a point where it needed more alk per day than my evaporation I was only using Kalk. Even with that ammount going into a 120 gal system I only see a .2 rise in ph. Dripping it slow all day gives me a stable PH at 8.1 on the low side, before Kalk I was running 7.9. My ph moves up through out the day due to the photo period and caps out at 8.33 currently with this method and my coral load.

 

[KÜRŞAT]

If you can’t get a Versa there are other continue duty options. Kamor is one of the other popular continue pumps. I dose 3383 liters of saturated Kalk daily and then supplement with two part for fine adjustment.

Honestly untill my take ran to a point where it needed more alk per day than my evaporation I was only using Kalk. Even with that ammount going into a 120 gal system I only see a .2 rise in ph. Dripping it slow all day gives me a stable PH at 8.1 on the low side, before Kalk I was running 7.9. My ph moves up through out the day due to the photo period and caps out at 8.33 currently with this method and my coral load.

Which model would you recommend for this job?

 

[piranhaman00]

I’m dosing 0.5dkh per day and got a 0.15 ph raise which I find substantial

 

[Cycleguy0623]

Kamoer FX-STP

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’m dosing 0.5dkh per day and got a 0.15 ph raise which I find substantial

Of course the extent depends on aeration, but that change implies little additional CO2 brought in after the rise since that’s about the expected rise from an all at once addition.

 

[KÜRŞAT]

Of course the extent depends on aeration, but that change implies little additional CO2 brought in after the rise since that’s about the expected rise from an all at once addition.

Another question that comes to my mind is: If I switch to a balling system instead of all for reef, will the pH increase a little more? Will all for reef reduce the pH since it has carbon dosage?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Another question that comes to my mind is: If I switch to a balling system instead of all for reef, will the pH increase a little more? Will all for reef reduce the pH since it has carbon dosage?

If you use sodium hydroxide for the alk part, that gives a quite substantial pH boost. Using sodium carbonate gives half that boost. Using sodium bicarbonate gives no boost and is like AFR. The actual TM Balling alk part is mostly bicarbonate.