Low Ph

[Dave Stewart]

Anyone else struggle to keep Ph up? I have to add buffer to my sump every day. This morning it was at 7.68 which is a typical morning read. I do have a calcium reactor than contributes to lowering the Ph but I'm sure many others use them too. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[75pxatr]

drip kalk with your top off water and no probs with PH.

Also try adding oxygen to your water and then re check ph

 

[Dave Stewart]

Thanks for the reply. Do have something in your topoff tank to keep the kalk in suspension?

 

[75pxatr]

I purchased a Kalk reactor with a maxi jet 600 to stir the kalk. It was a joke because I had to replace impellers - not the right pump. I re plumed it with a mag drive 3.

You could easily make a kalk reactor out of 4" PVC and an old pump to mix it. I set the pump on a timer to come on 4x per day for 5 mins. I'm sure there are plenty of DIY plans online.

 

[75pxatr]

One more piece of advice from experience - Over Dosing Kalk is a quick way of nuking your entire tank!. I purchased a reefkeeper 2 controller and the dosing pump is set to shut off at PH 8.5. I learned the hard way.

 

[75pxatr]

Just thought of this, I have a denitrator that I made using the DIY concept that I described above. It would work great for a Kalk mixer. Only prob is that I used a maxi jet 600 and the top would need to be resealed. It yours free if you want it.

I still would have a plan for auto shut off of your dosing system before you add it to your tank. Another cheap method of limiting the Kalk is to only have a small amount set up to be employed so that it can not overdose. Kalk is cheap but your tank I would imagine is not.

 

[Esquare]

I struggle with low ph as well. If your house has a high co2 level, try running a vent from outside to the skimmer air intake to compensate. Also, make sure your major parameters are in line, cal, alk and mag. These all play a part in ph, especially the alk. If you go the kalk reactor route (a must do IMHO) you may need to increase the evaporation to get enough kalk into the system.

I am currently doing all of the above with fans overt the sump to increase evaporation.

 

[Dave Stewart]

Thanks Eddie. I suspect CO2 is my issue. My sump is sitting right next to the furnace. I know that a couple Reefkeeping Tank of the Month articles stated their pH ranges were 7.7 - 7.9. (Jan 09, for one). Your right about keeping remaining parameters in check. Thanks again.

 

[75pxatr]

you can test your theory about co2. Get an airstone and place in a small container of your water and retest PH after a heavy dose of oxygenation. If the PH rises at least part of your problem is CO2.

Have you calibrated your PH meter? The probe that came with my new Reefkeeper was way off and I had to send it back.

 

[Dave Stewart]

All good info. Amazing what we gotta do to duplicate what God makes happen.

 

[Burgman]

Hi,

I had the same problems & went back to dosing ESV. A lot less gear to maintain(CO2 tank, pumps,Kalc dispenser,ect.). Plus my ph is much more stable now.

Dave

 

[Kingpin616]

give this a read. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php. I was very interested how he advocates not using a reactor as the fallout in the container acts as a purifier while lessining the likely hood of "nuke". Let me say I do not have experience with kalk but was considering starting to shortly. Do research! When it comes to ph, every tank is different and many tanks are "nuked" to correct something that was never harmful to begin with.

 

[Dave Stewart]

Dave
I used to do the ESV dosing & everything was stable. Then I thought I'd go 'high tech' with a reactor.
I saw a pic of your automated ESV dosing system. Very nice.
This hobby is a money pit...

 

[Kingpin616]

I'm with dave on the ESV low tech approach and money pit<---why I was researching to begin with.

Brian