I have read enormous amounts of info on this topic and still struggle with my 120 reef. I have been trying to dial in my calcium reactor for over almost two months now. My CA holds at 420. I have a Ph probe monitor that turns my CO2 bubbles on when the PH in the calcium reactor goes above 6.8. The PH in my tank is holding at 8.1 - 8.2. My alkalinity is always spiking. My coral does not do well with a alk of 8- 10. My coral seems to thrive around 11-12. The alkalinity continues to want to spike up to 14-15. I do a water change to bring it back down, and in two days it is back up. I read that to increase the alk., you simply slow the effluent going through the reactor. To decrease, you would increase the effluent. I currently have the effluent coming out as a solid just before it turns into a drip. I have measured the effluent coming out and it reads 18. I have also been told that the effluent should be two to three times what you want in the tank. This isn't working for me and I need to keep this from fluctuating. It's having a major impact on my corals. If someone understands this very well, please assist me in stabilizing this in my tank. Thanks.
Dialing in Alkalinity?
- Thread starter Zeus2
- Start date
What I found was the easiest was to set your alk were you want it to start via kalk or an other alk supplument. Once you do that set your efflent rate to ~40 ml per min. Turn off the pH controller. They are great but can make tuning in a reactor a pain.
Set a bubble rat of 60 bubble per min to start. Take alk reading each day and log them. While leaving the effluent rate the same.... adjust the CO2 rate (increase the increase alk... lower to lower alk). Once you hold you alk of three day in a row you should be set.
If you want you can add you pH control back on line. This might take a few weeks as you want to make adjustment slowly. Good luck!
Set a bubble rat of 60 bubble per min to start. Take alk reading each day and log them. While leaving the effluent rate the same.... adjust the CO2 rate (increase the increase alk... lower to lower alk). Once you hold you alk of three day in a row you should be set.
If you want you can add you pH control back on line. This might take a few weeks as you want to make adjustment slowly. Good luck!
