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Ok. Have you tried everything you have found on improving PH? Scrubbers, outside air into your skimmer, bigger refugium, and so on. First I want to say those do work. But a lot of times they do not. If you are one of those hobbyists that have gone down this road trying to figure out why your ph is not higher. Then this info about my experience may aid you.
I will start with this. DO YOUR RESEARCH. One needs to understand ph and what causes lower or higher levels. There is a lot of excellent articles here in this forum that will aid you. And remember this is not an “ it will work” BECAUSE not all tanks are created equal. So enough with the disclaimers. Hahahahaha let's get to my story. OHHH feel free to correct anything I may have gotten wrong in this write-up so that I can revise it. I’m typing from the hip here. If you are not interested in my journey then feel free to jump to the end.
I have a 185TG 3.5year old mixed reef that has had a ph level of 7.8-7.9 for a good long while. Some say that’s fine, and they are correct. The ph ranges that are acceptable in this hobby are 7.8-8.3 I believe. A lot of good-looking tanks with what I (IMO) call low ph. But for me; well I was fascinated by trying to create a natural seawater environment which is a ph range of 8.2-8.3. You see I am a number chaser, plain and simple and proud of it; one learns a lot by deep diving into things a.k.a number chasing.
Several months ago I decided to chase the dragon (numbers) I mean why is my ph so low? I wanted to know why. So after several threads and hours of research. I took the following actions. I’m not going to explain each action below, your research will explain them in better detail than me
Why do I have CO2 IN MY WATER? So back to the research I went to, but this time I wanted to know about CO2. What I learned was that I need to either remove it from the tank or use the CO2 in the water. This is where I discovered kalkwasser……. EASY!!!!! This is not the savior of this document.
Kalkwasser is a high ph base substance that a lot of people dose to their tanks. One of its many benefits is to use CO2 that is in your water. So in my mind; if I can’t remove CO2, I'm going to use it up. SO
Started dosing kalkwasser… MANNNNNNN you really need to research this
I have seen an improvement with this stuff. And I am still doseing it and dialing it in, to the proper levels. what’s the proper level you ask? That is tank-dependent and not an easy answer.
At this point in time (about 2 months’ worth of work) I stepped back and accepted the small bump in ph as a win. I went from a 7.8 -7.9 to a 7.9 -8.0? I mean I got burned out chasing this ph dragon.
Fast forward to three days ago. I was ready again to start chasing the dragon. Knowing about what did not work, pushed to me take a deeper dive into CO2.. Co2 comes from three main places.
My fish room is a converted laundry room. it's 8 x 8 ft with an ac vent, it’s in the center of my home, so there are no windows, air circulation is poor since it is humid in there and it's hot. Not sweaty hot but not cool like the living room. I mean I can tell a temp change just by stepping into the room from the hallway. This pointed me to wonder how to get more airflow in here since all the fans I used prior never made a difference.
I had an idea back in the beginning of this journey which led me to briefly visit HVAC forums. but quickly got overwhelmed with the idea of improving air quality by pulling fresh air into my home somehow and just dropped the idea. This idea was to install a fan of some kind above my tank to blow/pull outside air onto the top of my DT.
I have had great help from people when I brought this idea back up and some not so helpful people. It’s amazing to me why some believe an idea is overkill and will remind it of that. No it's not. But others are and did support it with good advice. Nevertheless, I moved forward. With the help of supporters, we concluded that instead of installing a fan to blow outside air into my fish room I should pull air out of my fish room, thus pulling in air to said room. We came to this conclusion based on possible negative impacts to my HVAC unit positive & negative pressures and so on etc.
So yesterday I installed a large 150 cfm bathroom exhaust fan in my 124 sq ft area (wait) 124 sq feet? But you said it was a 8 x 8’ fish room? Well, you must walk thru my fish room to get to the new laundry room, these were the terms my wife made me agree to. “You want a fish room I want a larger pantry,” she said. Anyway, both rooms are not vented and stuffy. She loves her new pantry.
This fan has been running for almost 24 hours, BUT after a few hours of running the room was much cooler and less humid by1000%. So much we feel the difference. It feels like a normal room should. That was a wonderful surprise I mean; why did my stand-up fans not have the same effect, that this exhaust fan has had? I’m curious.
My max ph over the past 7 days has been 8.07 (apex) and that is recorded at approx. 6 pm. Today I hit 8.1 at noon and it's been running for less than 24 hrs. never the less; I am liking what I am seeing here as it pertains to my ph and I may not need to pull outside air into my home. So, there you have it. I installed an exhaust fan in my fish room and my ph is showing a much better boost than all other methods I tried.
So, in closing, I want to thank everyone who provided great advice on this vent project. There are too many to name. so, if you’re having a ph. problem and you too, have tried almost everything, look to your air quality/airflow. You may just find a solution. I am still curious about 3 things, however.
I will start with this. DO YOUR RESEARCH. One needs to understand ph and what causes lower or higher levels. There is a lot of excellent articles here in this forum that will aid you. And remember this is not an “ it will work” BECAUSE not all tanks are created equal. So enough with the disclaimers. Hahahahaha let's get to my story. OHHH feel free to correct anything I may have gotten wrong in this write-up so that I can revise it. I’m typing from the hip here. If you are not interested in my journey then feel free to jump to the end.
I have a 185TG 3.5year old mixed reef that has had a ph level of 7.8-7.9 for a good long while. Some say that’s fine, and they are correct. The ph ranges that are acceptable in this hobby are 7.8-8.3 I believe. A lot of good-looking tanks with what I (IMO) call low ph. But for me; well I was fascinated by trying to create a natural seawater environment which is a ph range of 8.2-8.3. You see I am a number chaser, plain and simple and proud of it; one learns a lot by deep diving into things a.k.a number chasing.
Several months ago I decided to chase the dragon (numbers) I mean why is my ph so low? I wanted to know why. So after several threads and hours of research. I took the following actions. I’m not going to explain each action below, your research will explain them in better detail than me
- I performed the outside and inside aeration test on my tank water. The result was I have a CO2 problem. However: Both tests produced a higher ph. WHATTTTT!!!! both tests? So inside air was low in CO2? INTERESTING!!!!! SO I
- Installed a DIY co2 scrubber. I like making things first. It's an engineer thing.
- Installed said scrubber in a recirculating and non-recirculating manner. This DIY project was a failure it was too big.
- Bought a used reactor from a hobbyist and installed it in a recirculating and non-recirculating manner.
- Installed a whisper air pump using inside air to the scrubber to force more inside air into my tank.
- install outside air to my skimmer. Again, no help.
- I installed air stones to my sump, no help. my orp however bumped up really well.
- I added wavemakers to the sump and redirected my DT wavemakers to improve surface agitation.
- I added plants to the room.
- I ran a small fan above my dt blowing across the water.
- I ran a large fan from the hallway into my fish room.
- Installed a ceiling fan in the fish room.
- I opened doors and windows for hours on end when I could with the fans.
Why do I have CO2 IN MY WATER? So back to the research I went to, but this time I wanted to know about CO2. What I learned was that I need to either remove it from the tank or use the CO2 in the water. This is where I discovered kalkwasser……. EASY!!!!! This is not the savior of this document.
Kalkwasser is a high ph base substance that a lot of people dose to their tanks. One of its many benefits is to use CO2 that is in your water. So in my mind; if I can’t remove CO2, I'm going to use it up. SO
Started dosing kalkwasser… MANNNNNNN you really need to research this
I have seen an improvement with this stuff. And I am still doseing it and dialing it in, to the proper levels. what’s the proper level you ask? That is tank-dependent and not an easy answer.
At this point in time (about 2 months’ worth of work) I stepped back and accepted the small bump in ph as a win. I went from a 7.8 -7.9 to a 7.9 -8.0? I mean I got burned out chasing this ph dragon.
Fast forward to three days ago. I was ready again to start chasing the dragon. Knowing about what did not work, pushed to me take a deeper dive into CO2.. Co2 comes from three main places.
- Co2 from running a ca reactor. I do not have one.
- Coral respiration. I can do nothing about that. Its nature.
- Air quality in the home. That I can control.
My fish room is a converted laundry room. it's 8 x 8 ft with an ac vent, it’s in the center of my home, so there are no windows, air circulation is poor since it is humid in there and it's hot. Not sweaty hot but not cool like the living room. I mean I can tell a temp change just by stepping into the room from the hallway. This pointed me to wonder how to get more airflow in here since all the fans I used prior never made a difference.
I had an idea back in the beginning of this journey which led me to briefly visit HVAC forums. but quickly got overwhelmed with the idea of improving air quality by pulling fresh air into my home somehow and just dropped the idea. This idea was to install a fan of some kind above my tank to blow/pull outside air onto the top of my DT.
I have had great help from people when I brought this idea back up and some not so helpful people. It’s amazing to me why some believe an idea is overkill and will remind it of that. No it's not. But others are and did support it with good advice. Nevertheless, I moved forward. With the help of supporters, we concluded that instead of installing a fan to blow outside air into my fish room I should pull air out of my fish room, thus pulling in air to said room. We came to this conclusion based on possible negative impacts to my HVAC unit positive & negative pressures and so on etc.
So yesterday I installed a large 150 cfm bathroom exhaust fan in my 124 sq ft area (wait) 124 sq feet? But you said it was a 8 x 8’ fish room? Well, you must walk thru my fish room to get to the new laundry room, these were the terms my wife made me agree to. “You want a fish room I want a larger pantry,” she said. Anyway, both rooms are not vented and stuffy. She loves her new pantry.
This fan has been running for almost 24 hours, BUT after a few hours of running the room was much cooler and less humid by1000%. So much we feel the difference. It feels like a normal room should. That was a wonderful surprise I mean; why did my stand-up fans not have the same effect, that this exhaust fan has had? I’m curious.
My max ph over the past 7 days has been 8.07 (apex) and that is recorded at approx. 6 pm. Today I hit 8.1 at noon and it's been running for less than 24 hrs. never the less; I am liking what I am seeing here as it pertains to my ph and I may not need to pull outside air into my home. So, there you have it. I installed an exhaust fan in my fish room and my ph is showing a much better boost than all other methods I tried.
So, in closing, I want to thank everyone who provided great advice on this vent project. There are too many to name. so, if you’re having a ph. problem and you too, have tried almost everything, look to your air quality/airflow. You may just find a solution. I am still curious about 3 things, however.
- Why did my stand-up fans not help? The exhaust fan pulls air into my room from the house just like the fans did. this is odd.
- Why did exhausting the air from the fish room improve my ph?
- Is this an improvement in air quality or airflow in my fish room?
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