Raising ph in nano using AFR

[jonone]

I don’t know if inundated that thread but I ended up with an Alita-15 air pump and a 2”x6” air stone. The pump is so strong have a tee with a valve to bleed some off.

Key message - its a massive amount of air to achieve the result I’m getting.

Do you run it 24/7 or are you stopping it at points in your light cycle ?

 

[rishma]

Do you run it 24/7 or are you stopping it at points in your light cycle ?

i shut it off from 1PM to 4 PM, but the only reason I do that is to allow the airstone to re-saturate with water. The reason you soak airstones before use is they don’t bubble correctly why dried out. I am pushing so much air through it it dries out in a couple days and doesn’t bubble correctly. If I turn it off each day it works consistently. I don’t see much difference in pH trend by shutting it off during the peak of photoperiod because it seems photosynthesis is dominating the CO2 in the water at that point.

I think the pushback you are getting on the value of boosting your pH is worth considering. I enjoyed the process because it’s a hobby and I find the whole indoor CO2 impact on pH pretty interesting. My tank would likely but just as successful had I not gone down the pH rabbit hole.

As I noted above, do the outdoor aeration test before investing time or money.

 

[Poseidon03]

Yep points I’ve thought about
I’m just about to add digis and acros

There's a huge difference between a green slimer and a speciosa. Personally, I wouldn't mix kalk and all for reef due to trace elements. The point of dosing all for reef is simplicity and not having to worry about traces as much.

The external air is a good idea, but also needs a tank on an exterior wall or some way to get exterior air. If you live in a cold environment, you have to worry about temperature. If you live in an area where they spray for pests, you have to worry about that. It can also cause an increased risk in your venturi becoming clogged if you plumb it to your skimmer. Your skimmer can also go nuts if there is something outside you're drawing in. All things to plan for of course. We got Murphy's Law against us, lol.

 

[bubbgee]

I’m looking for the simplest solution and for me a air pump if it works is simpler and neater then kalk in my ato and fans on my tank

Alright.

I did try a similar solution but I didn't drill holes in my wall, I ran the air pump (with two outlets) through a CO2 scrubber each with it's own air stone and have had success. The downside is that the media is largely dependent on the amount of CO2 in the room. Getting a CO2 monitor helped me figure this part out. Eventually, it was more cost effective for me to run a kalk reactor to keep my pH. My pH now rides from 7.8 to 8.3 along with hydroxide dosing.

 

[Poseidon03]

i shut it off from 1PM to 4 PM, but the only reason I do that is to allow the airstone to re-saturate with water. The reason you soak airstones before use is they don’t bubble correctly why dried out. I am pushing so much air through it it dries out in a couple days and doesn’t bubble correctly. If I turn it off each day it works consistently. I don’t see much difference in pH trend by shutting it off during the peak of photoperiod because it seems photosynthesis is dominating the CO2 in the water at that point.

I think the pushback you are getting on the value of boosting your pH is worth considering. I enjoyed the process because it’s a hobby and I find the whole indoor CO2 impact on pH pretty interesting. My tank would likely but just as successful had I not gone down the pH rabbit hole.

As I noted above, do the outdoor aeration test before investing time or money.

The main concern I have is recommending implementing it consistently on a newer tank with limited sps experience. Elevated pH does not impact soft corals like it does sps.

If implemented correctly, with the proper safeguards, an elevated pH can have exponential gains on sps. It can help fill out large systems months quicker and since it is exponential, you get more juice for the squeeze.

In a smaller tank, I feel there are other items to focus your energy on for long term success.

 

[rishma]

The main concern I have is recommending implementing it consistently on a newer tank with limited sps experience. Elevated pH does not impact soft corals like it does sps.

If implemented correctly, with the proper safeguards, an elevated pH can have exponential gains on sps. It can help fill out large systems months quicker and since it is exponential, you get more juice for the squeeze.

In a smaller tank, I feel there are other items to focus your energy on for long term success.

Well put.

I suppose you could lower pH after tank grows in

 

[areefer01]

Quoting cliches season 2025 episode 106

It is a great episode. I highly recommend episode 107 which airs Thursday the 17th and entitled oddly enough, is the juice worth the squeeze.

 

[Poseidon03]

It is a great episode. I highly recommend episode 107 which airs Thursday the 17th and entitled oddly enough, is the juice worth the squeeze.

And from the show: Daily Life of an Engineer... All about that business case and opportunity costs, lol.


......... And overthinking (as I edit this comment)

 

[rishma]

And from the show: Daily Life of an Engineer... All about that business case and opportunity costs, lol.


......... And overthinking (as I edit this comment)

I resemble that remark

 

[Poseidon03]

Do you run it 24/7 or are you stopping it at points in your light cycle ?

To get it back on track tho...

Ultimately, you should look at what best fits what you want out of your tank. This is a hobby, and you will continue to learn, grow and adapt with each tank.

Air quality is a very powerful tool for a reef. I've personally crashed a tank due to just putting pool chlorine that came in plastic bags in the same room as the tank overnight. You could smell the chlorine in the air the next day, and the tank took a nose dive.

If you decide to run outside air into the tank, and there is risk from some sort of aerosolized contaminate from the outdoors, I'd definitely run the air through some sort of container with carbon before entering the tank. This will remove most contaminates.

I live by a school and have little to no notice of when they spray for stuff. Due to seeing how quickly air contaminates can negatively impact the tank, I personally decided to not chase bringing in air directly to my tank. I do crack windows from time to time, which does positively impact my pH.

 

[jonone]

To get it back on track tho...

Ultimately, you should look at what best fits what you want out of your tank. This is a hobby, and you will continue to learn, grow and adapt with each tank.

Air quality is a very powerful tool for a reef. I've personally crashed a tank due to just putting pool chlorine that came in plastic bags in the same room as the tank overnight. You could smell the chlorine in the air the next day, and the tank took a nose dive.

If you decide to run outside air into the tank, and there is risk from some sort of aerosolized contaminate from the outdoors, I'd definitely run the air through some sort of container with carbon before entering the tank. This will remove most contaminates.

I live by a school and have little to no notice of when they spray for stuff. Due to seeing how quickly air contaminates can negatively impact the tank, I personally decided to not chase bringing in air directly to my tank. I do crack windows from time to time, which does positively impact my pH.

I take your points and there valid, it’s all about situation
For me it could work, I live in the uk, so it’s not overly cold and they don’t spray in my area so those points don’t overly worry me. But noted and I agree you wouldn’t want to force contaminated air into the tank.
I also don’t really want to mix kalk and AFR if possible as I want the simplicity of AFR and really the tank is just ticking along nicely.
As for corals it’s been a mix of sps and LPs from day one
Mainly Plating and encrusting monti, chalice and leptosaris kind of stuff
Only recently have I added zoa there is no other softs
And starting to add different types acros now ( see how they fair )
My tank is on an out side wall and adding an air pump in my situation is fairly easy.
I may try it to see.
As for ph I guess you could look at it two ways, my tank is doing ok and I guess growing at a slightly slower pace which may actually be advantageous for a nano
Or
You could argue I’m not matching natural sea water ph so the conditions are not optimal ?
I mean if growth is stunted that suggests conditions are not optimal no ? What else does a coral have to strive for in life apart from growing and reproducing ?
Also I guess there’s a difference between striving for normal ph and elevated ph,
I guess im striving for “ normal “

 

[jonone]

Thought I’d up date here also

I swapped out my AFR to reef zelements ph plus two part
I also installed a alita sa 6 air pump which is in a cupboard drawing in fresh air outside
The sa version has a pull inlet and a blow outlet so recommend a sa version for this.

I’m only dosing about 4.5ml of ph plus spread out over the 24hr so I doubt it’s attributing much
But I run the air 247 also

My ph has risen to a morning ph of 8.2 before lights on and 8.4 by the end of day lights off

NICE

Shout out to @rishma and @Poseidon03 for the pm help

 

[Hairyteeth]

Im
Happy to see all the nanos with airstones in the first chamber, I felt nutty doing that but it has worked for years