PH suppression

Panicked Reefer

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What besides CO2 suppresses PH? I'm at my wits end. I am dosing Kalk during DT lights off. Ran the skimmer line out. Placed 2 air stones with a pump outside. Running a larger fuge when my DT lights are off. Lowered my surface agitation. All this helped but very little. Had the windows closed for the past 2 days. This trashed my PH. The first day there was no increase during my DT lights on. A PH increase of .2 during my DT lights off presumably due to the Kalk and the fuge. It then dropped .2 when the DT lights came back on. Today I placed the first air stone in and got it to hold. I put another in and got it to increase by .1. I have gave up and open the door to let some air in. What can be decreasing my PH besides CO2 ? What else can I do? I have to have the the windows and doors up just to get it above 7.8 it wants to stay in the low 7.6s with out the door open. That's not going to be an option for too much longer and Im concerned with what to do to mitigate the cold months. My house is about 2700 sq/ft and there are 3 adults 2 children. I feel that if my CO2 was so high that its the sole culprit of this low PH there would be health issues associated with that so that has me concerned. I am not able to get a CO2 monitor at this time. While it is clear that CO2 is definitely a contributing factor I feel like there is something else also responsible for these numbers. Even with my windows open, dosing 2500ml of kalk, and running the fuge the best I can get is 8.2 and that takes several days to get to it. Any help would be great appreciated.
 
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Panicked Reefer

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I'm considering it but if CO2 is the sole culprit and it's causing this much havoc I'm worried I'll blow through the media.
 
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No I'm sorry it makes sense to me but it's confusing to read. I would 100% be happy with 8.0 let alone 8.2. Windows closed, skimmer line outside, kalk at lights out, and running the fuge yields me 7.6-7.8 at best. I believe it would go lower if I don't break down and open the house up. It even has got to the point where it drops during the "day" and only increases when I am actively doesing kalk "over night"
 
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It's a 75DT, approximately 25g sump, 15g fuge with chaeto, 15g criptic zone. 2 xr15s blue running AB+ @ 38% for 12hrs and 4 blulb T5s 2 blue plus 2 actinic for 7hrs in the middle. 2 Lowes led grow bulbs over my fuge for 12hrs. Alk is 8.5-9, cal is 440-450, mag is 1400 per trident. NO3 .2-1.0ppm PO4 .04ppm per Hannah
2 clowns, foxface, starry blenny, tomini tang, scopas, bangi cardinal, orchid dotty back, melanurus wrasse. About a dozen small corals.
 
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Pico bam

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How are you making your kalk that's alot of kalk is it fully saturated? Should be 1.5-2 teaspoons per gallon
 
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How are you making your kalk that's alot of kalk is it fully saturated? Should be 1.5-2 teaspoons per gallon
2 teaspoons of Mrs Wages per gallon. It's about 3/4 of my evaporation and my alk is fairly stable. No calcium reactor. Also forgot to mention I have 2 xr15s blue running AB+ @ 38% for 12hrs and 4 blulb T5s 2 blue plus 2 actinic for 7hrs in the middle. 2 Lowes led grow bulbs over my fuge for 12hrs.
 

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2 teaspoons of Mrs Wages per gallon. It's about 3/4 of my evaporation and my alk is fairly stable. No calcium reactor. Also forgot to mention I have 2 xr15s blue running AB+ @ 38% for 12hrs and 4 blulb T5s 2 blue plus 2 actinic for 7hrs in the middle. 2 Lowes led grow bulbs over my fuge for 12hrs.
How are you measuring ph?
 
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Panicked Reefer

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This is my windows open, kalk when the dt lights are out, fuge going, fresh air to skimmer. Screenshot_20221030_220235_APEX Fusion.jpg



This is my windows closed for the most part. The increase on the end is me opening my windows. All other forms of PH from prior still in place as well as 2 air stones coming from a pump out side. Screenshot_20221030_220405_APEX Fusion.jpg
 

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Kalk did nothing for my ph. My ph was always at 7.8. After switching to Red Sea alk every time it doses my ph climbs fast then i run a recirculating co2 scrubber. 8.15 at night and 8.45 during the day.

You can see when my scrubbers media started to run out.

3BDF2B74-2B4E-4873-82D3-37A291E7F3DD.jpeg
 

Pico bam

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Could be you got some bad lime. it's supposed to be in a air tight bag/container I got a used bag of brs kalk when I first started dosing it and it was weak.
 
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Panicked Reefer

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Possibly. I keep it sealed in a zip lock and seeing an increase to PH. It's when the windows are closed and the kalk is not actively dosing that I am seeing the decrease in PH. When I started to dose kalk I would have an increase in PH when the DT lights were on and at night when the kalk woukd dose the valley didn't dip as much. Now, with the windows closed my PH drops during the "day" and then I regain a small amount of PH during the "night" as it's actively dosing being I've had the windows closed for a few days. I've fixed it today by reopening my windows. My concern is for when I have to keep them shut.
 

Pico bam

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I'm trying to think of what else it could be but I'm stumped. Ph is a big part of success in this hobby. You do regular water changes? Im trying to think of what would make the water acidic. You run a skimmer? Air transfer is a big part of venting out hydrogen. What do you dose besides kalk? Maybe alot of nopox would kick down ph.
 
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Panicked Reefer

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20% water change 1x a month. Yeah I have a reef octo 110SSS with a fresh air line. I dose 2500ml kalk, 20ml of NO3, 60ml of live phyto daily. Once in a blue I put in 20ml of chaeto grow. I don't recall the last time I out that in. That's all I can think of. I was dosing MB7 and Monster 460 when I was fighting dinos but it's been several months since I stopped that. I did carbon dose but stopped that when I added the remote fuge as it ate up all my nutrients on its own.
 

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Does the room have really stagnant air? I put a fan in my fish room and it helped a little didn't do a hole lot but if it's super muggy i think that could effect ph.
 
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Panicked Reefer

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I wouldn't think so. It's in my utility room. There's a side door that's used often and my air handler is in a room off that room.
 

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