For those with pH monitors, what time is pH lowest?

[Myka]

Working on a little project...

I don't have a pH monitor, and don't feel like getting up at night every hour to check for myself so maybe you guys can help me out?

How many hours after lights out is the lowest point the pH dips to every night?

If you are doing something to prevent the dip (such as running refugium lights at night or dripping kalk at night), please mention this.

My point? I want to drip some kalk at night to hopefully keep pH 0.1 higher at night, but I can't drip much kalk, so I have to time it just right. I'm bored, so I'm experimenting... :hmm4:

 

[jda]

Early AM just before the sun starts to come up.

You could miss "the ultimate" window by many hours and still get the same impact. The CO2 that you drove off with the kalk won't come back instantly.

Seriously, don't sweat the PH. Forget that it exists. Just make sure that your alk is stable and reef on.

 

[reefmutt]

Mindy, as long as lights are out, the corals are producing co2. If you have no reverse daylight refugium, the point of lowest ph will be just before the lights go on and the corals start producing oxygen, again.
Perhaps, if you run a dawn and dusk lighting schedule (and again without a reverse daylight fuge), Ph may peak at the end of your peak lighting period and dip slightly during the dusk period, but the point of lowest ph is at the end of the dark period.. this is my understanding, at any rate.
I run my Kw from 10:30 pm to 10:00 am. This overlaps my dark period by a few hours. The amount of KW I use is probably not having a dramatic impact on ph, though.. I think it does stabilize it somewhat, however...
my ph pen usually gives me a reading around 8-8.1 most of the time..

 

[animan]

The ph in my tank is minimum around 12pm, right before lights on. My photoperiod is from 12:30pm - 9pm. Doing nothing to bolster ph at night, as I dose bailing 24x7.

Having a controller like Apex makes it quite convenient to monitor ph... no need to wake up in the middle of the night

 

[WLachnit]

yup...just before the lights come on.

 

[macdaddynick1]

The ph is the lowest right before your lights come on, and your tank begins the photosynthesis. If you want to dose kalk start and hour after your lights turn off and dose every hour . That way your ph curve shifts up and stays more stable. I personally don't disregard the ph, and chasing the ph might not be such a bad idea when your tank dips below 7.8 at night.

 

[Optionman]

Agree. PH lowest just prior to lights ramping up. Here's an apex graph.


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[Myka]

Ok thanks guys! I've seen Apex graphs where the pH started to rise before the lights came on, so I was curious to see if anyone else was experiencing this. Also, some tanks it hits bottom and stays at that plateau for some hours. I just want to hit the CO2 before it hits the rock bottom. Easier to prevent than to correct!

Seriously, don't sweat the PH. Forget that it exists. Just make sure that your alk is stable and reef on.

I've been reefing since '93, I get bored now and then. :wildone: I give everyone else your same advice though.

 

[Optionman]

Ok thanks guys! I've seen Apex graphs where the pH started to rise before the lights came on, so I was curious to see if anyone else was experiencing this. Also, some tanks it hits bottom and stays at that plateau for some hours. I just want to hit the CO2 before it hits the rock bottom. Easier to prevent than to correct!

BTW, my apex graph looks that way and i have my ca reactor dripping at constant rate 24/7. just wanted all info out there



I've been reefing since '93, I get bored now and then. :wildone: I give everyone else your same advice though.

 

[jda]

It will be safer to run a line for some outside air to the skimmer rather than dabble with something as serious as kalk. If you are going to go for it, then go all the way.

If you are going to go with kalk, then get some Muratic Acid to have on hand and know how to use the calculator if/when you dose too much kalk.

 

[2una]

I've got every trick i know about working on ph except kalk or refugium
8x80W T5 -
2 tubes - 08H00 to 20H00
ALL tubes - 09H00-18H00

You can see while running on 2 tubes its not got much of an effect.

 

[ChrisRD]

I know it's not always an option, but plumbing the skimmer intake to outside air (as jda mentioned above) can be a great option for stabilizing pH IME...especially in newer, energy-tight homes.

I have a RK lite monitoring a 65 gallon tank in our dining room and pH was swinging from 7.7ish to 8.2ish depending on whether or not we had windows opened or closed. I used some extra 1/4" polyethylene RO tubing I had lying around to extend the skimmer intake up into the attic and out near the roof soffit vents. Same tank now stays solidly in the 8.1ish to 8.2ish range regardless of windows being opened/closed...no other changes to the setup.

I guess another option if you can't plumb the fresh air intake line would be the soda lime CO2 scrubber thing on the skimmer intake...no experience with that...don't know how cost effective it is either...

If you're going to do the kalk topoff thing at night with a dosing pump I would spread it out with small increments throughout the night starting a couple of hours after lights out and stopping about an hour before lights on. I've done this on past tanks where I was topping off all evap with kalk and trying not to drive the pH too high. Seemed to help, although I never continuously monitored those tanks.

 

[ChrisRD]

...and to respond to the original post...my experience is the same as others above with the continuous pH monitoring...always lowest right before lights-on in the AM.

 

[Scythanith]

Midnight to 3am. My TM Part B starts dosing at 4am and 8 am.

 

[Myka]

Thanks for the continued input guys.

I have a CO2 scrubber on the skimmer already.

There is no "problem" here to fix, I'm just trying to experiment with pushing the pH extra high. Just experimenting.

Oh, and yes I have Muriatic Acid on hand, and probably twice as many chems as most reefers. I have a plethora of experimental options. Hehehehe...

 

[Geeray]

I thought I remember reading on here recently that higher PH improves calcification? If it's true then wouldn't keeping it higher improve growth?

 

[Myka]

I thought I remember reading on here recently that higher PH improves calcification? If it's true then wouldn't keeping it higher improve growth?

...and you have ferreted out the root of my experimentation.