JonEB
Active Member
My story and how I finally reached 8.3PH! Also please let me know, have you achieved 8.3PH? And how did you get there?
Ok so for those interested in PH from a “layman’s reef” I’m only a barely second year reef hobbyist with a 50gal tank/sump system living in western Colorado. My tank has suffered from 7.9 PH for most of that time. I ran a canister filter under my 40gallon thinking I didn’t need a sump coming from the fresh water tank world when I was in high school. (I ran a 90gallon freshwater tank from 1995-2005.)
My reef is mixed with LPS (zoas, acans, etc, and a few rfn), some basic SPS (monticap- anacropora- pectinia)
Ive tried a small hang on the back Chaeto sump running at night- multiple airstones running on timers- increased fresh air into the room with ventilation and outside air, changed to dosing pumps with higher ph boosting effects- even the dreaded buffer. I know buffers are useless. I still couldn’t keep the PH above 8.
Hours and hours of YouTube later… I decided to save up for a sump system. And not just any sump system. As many of you know a simple sump is not a guaranteed PH solution alone. For some maybe but in my case I knew it wouldn’t have the boost I needed to get from 7.9 to 8.3. I wanted to go all in. So I purchased a 24x30 acrylic sump with the bells and whistles. Here’s what is in it:
Two bags of porous media, an automatic Klir fleece roller, 2 small Sicce circ pumps, a AquaVitro Div 125 skimmer, a DC 1000 lift pump, a small Fluval pump from the old tank connected to a BRS carbon/gfo reactor, a BRS CO2 scrubbing media reactor recirculated through the skimmer with a Dewalt water separator ahead of the media reactor for moisture issues, (P.S. one fill of the media has lasted me for 2months and hasn’t even begun to wear out) an ATO from Tunze, and two Kamoer dosing pumps for Alk/Calc dosing. I even tossed in an auto feeder for better nutrient control and kept my HOTB Chaeto sump.
Finally after that small fortune and a couple months to break in and dial the system I woke up this morning to 8.3PH on the nose (after calibrating the Hanna checker first of course). For the past couple months the PH has been 8.2-8.26. And the coral have exploded. Now having finally reached 8.3PH at 8am in the morning non the less I can say I am satisfied with the time and money invested! I no longer have nightmares of a PH drop or spikes in the system with a pretty self sustaining an simple mostly automated system.
needless to say I’m still not satisfied with the current tank control systems available. I Have a background in controls and automation systems. I did get a moment of excitement at the Reef Stock in Denver this month when I saw a competitor raise the bar with their app controls. Very exciting stuff and can’t wait to see if it can be reliable in the hobby. For the time being I rely on individual control and timers so if one process fails I don’t have a complete system crash.
anyway that’s my PH journey and I’d be interested to here your stories!
happy reefing!
Jon
Ok so for those interested in PH from a “layman’s reef” I’m only a barely second year reef hobbyist with a 50gal tank/sump system living in western Colorado. My tank has suffered from 7.9 PH for most of that time. I ran a canister filter under my 40gallon thinking I didn’t need a sump coming from the fresh water tank world when I was in high school. (I ran a 90gallon freshwater tank from 1995-2005.)
My reef is mixed with LPS (zoas, acans, etc, and a few rfn), some basic SPS (monticap- anacropora- pectinia)
Ive tried a small hang on the back Chaeto sump running at night- multiple airstones running on timers- increased fresh air into the room with ventilation and outside air, changed to dosing pumps with higher ph boosting effects- even the dreaded buffer. I know buffers are useless. I still couldn’t keep the PH above 8.
Hours and hours of YouTube later… I decided to save up for a sump system. And not just any sump system. As many of you know a simple sump is not a guaranteed PH solution alone. For some maybe but in my case I knew it wouldn’t have the boost I needed to get from 7.9 to 8.3. I wanted to go all in. So I purchased a 24x30 acrylic sump with the bells and whistles. Here’s what is in it:
Two bags of porous media, an automatic Klir fleece roller, 2 small Sicce circ pumps, a AquaVitro Div 125 skimmer, a DC 1000 lift pump, a small Fluval pump from the old tank connected to a BRS carbon/gfo reactor, a BRS CO2 scrubbing media reactor recirculated through the skimmer with a Dewalt water separator ahead of the media reactor for moisture issues, (P.S. one fill of the media has lasted me for 2months and hasn’t even begun to wear out) an ATO from Tunze, and two Kamoer dosing pumps for Alk/Calc dosing. I even tossed in an auto feeder for better nutrient control and kept my HOTB Chaeto sump.
Finally after that small fortune and a couple months to break in and dial the system I woke up this morning to 8.3PH on the nose (after calibrating the Hanna checker first of course). For the past couple months the PH has been 8.2-8.26. And the coral have exploded. Now having finally reached 8.3PH at 8am in the morning non the less I can say I am satisfied with the time and money invested! I no longer have nightmares of a PH drop or spikes in the system with a pretty self sustaining an simple mostly automated system.
needless to say I’m still not satisfied with the current tank control systems available. I Have a background in controls and automation systems. I did get a moment of excitement at the Reef Stock in Denver this month when I saw a competitor raise the bar with their app controls. Very exciting stuff and can’t wait to see if it can be reliable in the hobby. For the time being I rely on individual control and timers so if one process fails I don’t have a complete system crash.
anyway that’s my PH journey and I’d be interested to here your stories!
happy reefing!
Jon
