PH Question (Kalkwasser)

[Trueno22]

I started dosing Kalk for like 5 minutes and checked my PH it was at 8.6 so I stopped added some vinegar let it go for an hour and the PH dropped to 7.9 - 8.0 can't really tell these color coded this are too vague.

so I started my kalk drip again just set it to a drip of 1 drip every sec and a half and now it is back up to 8.4 or purple on the color code. Do I have to worry this thing will sky rocket overnight?

 

[dugg]

You really need a PH monitor to be dripping kalk, but you won't really need to worry about it at night. The PH naturaly drops at night, so it's mostly a day time issue.

I personally gave up on dripping kalk due to the build up you get in your pumps. I just dose home made 2 part daily. I dose about 50ml every day of each in my 90g.

 

[cham]

If your alkalinity is in check then PH is only an indication of the level of C02 in your tank. The more C02 the lower the PH (thus how a Ca reactor works, there by dissolving media once PH gets low enough).


You can fight it with every chemical in the book but you'll end up chasing your tail. Getting fresh air into your tank water is the only way to keep your PH up.

FWIW, I've seen some amazing tanks that hover in the 7.8 range regularly. Keeping your PH, alk & calcium stable is more importiant overall than PH IMHO.