PH and CO2 levels

[ShepherdReefer]

I have been researching PH levels in the reef aquarium. Most articles are asking how to raise the PH within the system or need help with my low PH. Some suggestions are running the skimmer airline to the outside for fresh air or open windows, other suggest CO2 scrubber, and even others say if you have a PH level of 8.0-8.1...leave it alone.

If the CO2 or carbon dioxide is high in the home, do we as reefers have testers to test the levels in the home or some other way to monitor these levels?

If the CO2 is a concern, what should the levels be in the home to keep the PH between 8.2-8.4?

Just some thoughts. Lots to learn. Like comments, if you can.

 

[taricha]

If the CO2 or carbon dioxide is high in the home, do we as reefers have testers to test the levels in the home or some other way to monitor these levels?

There are CO2 meters for air that would work for this purpose.

If the CO2 is a concern, what should the levels be in the home to keep the PH between 8.2-8.4?

If dKH = 10, then to keep the pH 8.2+ you'd need a CO2 level of 619ppm or below.

Check this table generated by @josephxsxn to answer these Qs... (Select the "NBS" units at the bottom tab of the table.) It'll show you what the CO2 level in equilibrium with the water is for a dKH/pH combo.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/co2sys-marine-tank-table-for-ph-dkh-co2.786401/

 

[josephxsxn]

If your tank is in 8.0-8.1 I would leave it alone.

Say your running near saltwater 7 DKH and PH of 8 you can gain +0.1 PH by going to 9 DKH hypothetically based on the tables (I have anecdotally seen this.) The effect drops off though for example if your PH is 8, and DKH is 7, you can go to 8.3 PH by increasing to a DKH of 12.. I dont recommend a DKH of 12 by the way.


Checking out the build thread you have it seems its about a year old tank as of writing this and are also running cheato. As your display grows in thicker (in corals ) the photo period will imho push up beyond a PH of 8.1 due to the organisms consuming the available co2. You can run the cheato at night to offset the display photo period consumption low. Another option could be a longer display photo period, and I have anecdotally seen increasing the total PAR of the photoperiod can have the same impacts.

If the CO2 or carbon dioxide is high in the home, do we as reefers have testers to test the levels in the home or some other way to monitor these levels?

I have not bought the tester yet in the thread for the tables but plan to. If you want to contribute your readings I think that would be awesome. But again I think your tank is PH is fine.

 

[ShepherdReefer]

For our tank, the PH is around 8.2 with dKh at 8.5 performing 10% water change every week. I was just thinking about the CO2 levels in our homes because of others who are running PH levels lower than 8.2. Just stuff to learn about.

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Thanks for the article.