PH stays low 7.7 tried several things …
- Thread starter JAWSIII
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Most likely your low pH is due to higher CO2 levels in your house. However, you should confirm this with cup aeration tests (next to tank and outside).
If your next to tank aeration test shows higher pH then you need more aeration in the tank.
If outside aeration test shows higher pH, then you have several options.
Note that running a skimmer using your higher CO2 air will very efficiently drive your pH down to what it would naturally be in your home.
You should also suspect your pH readings. These may be inaccurate. Most meters even calibrated are +/- 0.1.
I found that Kalkwasser plus a CO2 scrubber skimmer took me from 7.8ish to 8.3ish. However, I used an oversized skimmer to do this.
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If your next to tank aeration test shows higher pH then you need more aeration in the tank.
If outside aeration test shows higher pH, then you have several options.
Note that running a skimmer using your higher CO2 air will very efficiently drive your pH down to what it would naturally be in your home.
You should also suspect your pH readings. These may be inaccurate. Most meters even calibrated are +/- 0.1.
I found that Kalkwasser plus a CO2 scrubber skimmer took me from 7.8ish to 8.3ish. However, I used an oversized skimmer to do this.
Tuning a Skimmer / CO2 Scrubber for pH Control
On my reefing journey, I found Kalkwasse + Skimmer + CO2 Scrubber to be very effective for bringing my pH from 7.8 - 7.9 to 8.26 - 8.36. I guess most people would just leave it at that. However, I wanted to be more efficient with the CO2 scrubbing material so I wanted to implement a...
www.reef2reef.com
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Answered in the other thread, Copied here:
The pH rise is reasonable, but my concern is the rise in alkalinity. if it keeps up, alkalinity would soon be too high. You may need to adjust the amount of kalkwasser added to stabilize the alk, then see what benefit that had on pH.
Two things to note for Kalkwasser drip:
1. It should be tuned based on your Alk consumption. Otherwise it will swing your Alk fast and eventually too high.
2. You can't drip more than your evaporation rate or it will impact salinity.
Also note that as you increase pH your Alk demand will go up due to abiotic and quicker uptake from your livestock.
I found a chicken and egg problem for my very young tank. To get Alk demand up I needed higher pH. To get higher pH I needed higher Alk demand.
Chicken/egg problem for Alk/Ca/PH?
I transitioned off a 7+ year old tank and I'm 3 months into my new tank and have been struggling with getting my dosing regiment in. I started with 7ish Alk and a PH between 7.8 and 7.9. I use Brightwell Neomarine salt and have higher CO2 in the house. I decided to go Kalkwasser to get the PH...
www.reef2reef.com
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