[o2manyfish]

Hey SPS guys,

I am having a pH problem and wanted to look for others ideas to resolving it.

I added a Calcium Reactor to my tank last year, and after it was dialed in the pH got up to 8.3 to 8.4 and stayed there. No topoff used at the time.

dkh at the time was 11-12

About two months ago the pH started falling off to 7.9 and sometimes 7.8. I got moving on building my Nilsen Kalk reactor and got it going hoping topping off with Kalk would help maintain the pH.

No changes.

I then built my outdoor propagation system and added over 600 gallons to my tank. The pH now stabilized out at 8.0

After 6 weeks now the pH is still 7.9 to 8.0. One of the ironies is that my system pH actually drops during the day.

I have a refugium that is reverse lit. The refugium is 22g and I would say is about 70% solid algae. The majority of algae is Chaeto.

So last week I mixed up a batch of Kalk and poured it into the system (over about 2 hours). The pH went up to 8.2, by morning it dropped to 8.0 again.

Over the last few weeks the dKH fell from 12 to 8. I cranked up the Calcium reactor rate (effluent and CO2) since I have been adding SPS corals at a pretty large rate (Over 200 large frags and about 10 new colonies).

So a friend told me to add Baking Soda to the system. We put in almost 2 pounds of baking soda, and yet the pH never budged. We tested the Baking Soda mix and discovered it had a pH of 7.6. But the Baking soda kicked up the DKH to 13.

So last night we tried heavy dosing the Kalk again to kick up the pH. The pH never budged but ended up with a Calcium Snowstorm throughout all 850gallons of the system.

The Snow quickly faded away today. And alas the pH is now at 7.9.

Any ideas as to what could be holding my pH down. When the pH gets over 8.2 the polyps just come shooting out of my corals.

The reason I am so eager to get the pH up is that I am getting some color fading in my corals. Corals that have maintained good color in the tank for awhile.

Tank Parameters:
Display Tank 125h
+ 2 80g prop tanks
+ Sumps System of 500+gallons
2 Refugiums (Total 30 gal)
10 Mangrove Shoots

Salinity 1.024 to 1.026
Temp 77
Ammon - 0
Nitri / Nitra - 0
Calcium 450+
ORP 365

Calicum Reactor effluent 6.46 (Rate is faster than a drip)
Kalk Reactor Effluent 12.76 (Top off of about 3gallons a day )

Thank you for your knowledge and experience.

Dave

[FunkieReefJunkie]

I checked out your webpage looking for someother clues... your setup is sweet ! The only thing I can think of asking you about are your magnesium levels. You may be fighting an uphill battle as long as the mag is low... I think this may be why you've seen the prescipitation or the snowing effect.

[o2manyfish]

I have not been adding Magnesium.

The only additives that I add are Lugols Iodine, and DT's, as well as some other types of phyto foods.

So I need to get get a Magnesium test kit ?

Which is the easiest test kit to use. My learning curve with the test kits is not great.

Thank you for the Kudos on my system. I am not sure where you are in Calif. But give a shout if you want to visit.

Dave

[kevinpo]

Dave,
Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) will not do much to raise your PH but will increase alkalinity. Sodium carbonate (washing soda) will raise your PH. Be careful with it as it is powerful.

HTH,
Kevin

[Minh Nguyen]

You need to check your alkalinity and check your pH meter.
Sometime the pH meter can be wrong. Over the years that I keep reef tank, the only time I measure pH is to check to get my Ca reactor pH to drop to below 6.8. If you Chemistry of you tank is in line, the pH will follow. pH meters are notorously inaccurate. I would not put much stock in it if your tank is doing well.
Also, over time, organic acid produced from you animals will tend to use up your alkalinity. Check you alkalinity and replace it as it come down and your pH will follow.
Good luck.

[o2manyfish]

Minh,

Thanks for the heads up. I have a Milwaukee with a new probe that has been recently calibrated, which measure in front of the pump intake.

I also have a Milwaukee, with a new probe, calibrated as well, which I can measure from any of the locations.

Both units are reading the same.

What I did forget to mention is that I run 500 mg/hr of ozone into the skimmer.

Dave

[FunkieReefJunkie]

Yes! A fellow Californian! I'm north of San Francisco. Easy... I don't know if there are easy mag tests , but I do like salifert. Accurate and reasonably priced. Kalk is great. It's my choice for ca because it is economical, but it can drop your buffering capacity as has been well pointed out. Something other than kalk (sodium bicarb- mostly what Kents is made of or something more like: [hint hint ]Seachems reef buffer) has to buffer alkalinity which in turn impacts your pH. This is why I test alk and not pH. But overuse of kalk can drop your mag, this and the use of mangroves which utilize it. All three, alk, ca, and mag correlate with one another. If one is out of balance the rest are effected... kind of a yin yang thing The chemistry behind it is a bit too complicated for the likes of me. I've seen it explained by different people using different analogies and my eyes always glaze over! I'm hoping one of the speakers at the upcoming IMAC will explain it in a manner that doesn't induce coma. Five more days and I'm off to Chicago to get educated and have a little fun!

[turtlespd]

Dave,

You nut!!!!! how are things besides the mahem..eh anyways.

If you ph is low i would try to get some more agitaion in your system, even a small power head pointed upward where you get a slight break will show great results..why do i know this because i have time tested it and works for me. I also think that your calcium reactor is way to small for your system..btw how big is your reactor..i dont remember you posting anything about it so i suspect is is pretty average..most people who do have 500+ systems must run two reactors just to keep up witht he system. Since you did just add some more sps im pretty sure that is why your alk is droping..well hth see ya sat

Paul