pH Thoughts

[ddrueckh]

I see many threads talking about issues with low pH. Posted solutions are to add outside air or a CO2 scrubber. What about extending the tanks photoperiod? We can easily see how the pH rises when the lights are on. I wonder how many people who have low pH only have a 6-8 hour photoperiod. Another thing to do is to add a refugium with a reverse light cycle so the pH doesn’t drop as much at night. You can see my pH trend below from employing these methods. I added a refugium and extended my photoperiod an hour.

 

[ddrueckh]

One more observation is that I can see lower calcium and alkalinity consumption when my pH is lower. I assume this means my vitals are not growing as fast. I do think that having a higher pH leads to faster coral growth. I see this trend in my Trident graphs.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Reverse lit refugium can help (I see little reason to not reverse light them). Extending photo periods may or may not help, but neither is always sufficient in many cases with tight homes.