Ph dump Bacto balance

[bkwonnn]

pH is a balance between CO2 and alkalinity. Calcium plays no direct role.

if you know any two of alk, pH or CO2 in the water, you can calculate the third.

AFR, like bicarbonate, gives a small tendency to add CO2, lowering pH a tiny bit.

Using carbonate as an alk source raises pH because it consumes CO2 when added.

Using hydroxide (as in kalkwasser) has an even bigger pH boost, consuming about twice as much CO2 when added.

But all of these effects are temporary until the tank pulls in or releases CO2 to the air.

Is there any additive you suggest that boost ph like kalkwasser, but that does not require the volume of kalkwasser to be added to the tank? I run a 25g nano, and allready have the ato container. Don’t really fancy another container, and a dosing pump running that stuff al the time.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is there any additive you suggest that boost ph like kalkwasser, but that does not require the volume of kalkwasser to be added to the tank? I run a 25g nano, and allready have the ato container. Don’t really fancy another container, and a dosing pump running that stuff al the time.

Sure, sodium hydroxide, which I have a variety of two part recipes using it.

Second New DIY Two Part Recipe with Higher pH Boost

In a previous thread, I posted a true two part DIY recipe: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-diy-two-part-recipes-with-higher-ph-boost.344500/ But some folks may want to just swap the new ingredient into my 2/3 part recipe (as used by BRS, for example). Here's the original recipe link...

reef2reef.com

Randy Recommended DIY Two Part Recipes

There are a whole lot of different DIY recipes around now, and I thought I lay out the differences and my recommendations. In all cases, food grade, USP (pharma) grade, or Analytical Reagent/ACS grades are all good choices for materials. Lower or ungraded materials may be fine, but its more...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I use .31ml of bacto balance and ph drops at night to 8.0 and day time hits 8.17-8.20 but phosphate reads zero which makes me nervous. I hear wet kits don't read the phosphate in bacto balance?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I use .31ml of bacto balance and ph drops at night to 8.0 and day time hits 8.17-8.20 but phosphate reads zero which makes me nervous. I hear wet kits don't read the phosphate in bacto balance?

It doesn’t read organic forms that may be present until they are metabolized by bacteria or something else.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

It doesn’t read organic forms that may be present until they are metabolized by bacteria or something else.

So your saying once it's been metabolized and enough has been in the system then you'll get a readable detection?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So your saying once it's been metabolized and enough has been in the system then you'll get a readable detection?

TM does not say what exactly comprises the inorganic and organic nutrients it says are ingredients. Organophosphates such as DNA or phospholipids are only detectable by a phosphate kit if some process breaks the phosphate off the organic, and if the phosphates is outside of the organism.

It’s not a simple answer.

I’d personally want to see more phosphate by test than 0.02 ppm or less.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

TM does not say what exactly comprises the inorganic and organic nutrients it says are ingredients. Organophosphates such as DNA or phospholipids are only detectable by a phosphate kit if some process breaks the phosphate off the organic, and if the phosphates is outside of the organism.

It’s not a simple answer.

I’d personally want to see more phosphate by test than 0.02 ppm or less.

Thank you sir, I'm still waiting for an answer from TM about this. I'm still adding the .31ml of balance and about 2.5 ml of neophos as a safety precaution to not bottom out the p and end up with the nastys like Dino's. But as I speak the corals look great and happy so I guess I'm doing something right

 

[crabgrass]

Maybe a dumb question, but why are you dosing bacto balance? What are the Nitrates at? Is there a happier balance of lowering the dose and increasing your P a little bit?

 

[bkwonnn]

I dose Bacto balance for Nutrient export. My nitrate was rising and rising, and weekly water changes did help enough.

But since I’ve been dosing BB, my fosfate plummited to 0.01, and nitrate has been steady around 40. Not a good balance I think.

I dose the smallest amount of BB possible, 0.2 ML per day.

I think I will stop dosing BB and all for reef for now. Just to get that ph in check.

At the moment my house is getting renovated and I live in a small container house. The heating and cooling is via a heat pump. The house has poor ventilation. Leaving a window open has .25 ph effect.

I was wondering. Would the heat pump extract oxygen (or the other way around) that would negatively impact the PH?