Raising PH w/o raising ALK...

[PhilipOSU]

I had been trying to pull up my PH by dosing/topping off with Kalk and was able to keep it in the 8.1 area, but that slowly pushed my ALK up to 13DKH. So I obviously cut that out. My PH is currently reading at 7.85 and haven't checked the ALK for about a week, but haven't done anything to the tank that would bring it up (I'm at work now of I would check it).

I know that increasing the oxygenation of the water will accomplish this so I tried a week ago to run a couple of airstones in sump but that has had little to no effect. I have heard running the airline to the skimmer to pull exterior air helps a little bit, but I am not sure that I will be able to accomplish this. If I am able to it will be a pretty long run which I am afraid will impact the skimmer’s performance negatively. Any ideas??

Thanks,
Phil

 

[serpentman]

I battle the same issues. You're low pH is most likely due to excessive buildup of ambient CO2 in your house. This is a common issue when houses are closed up for extended periods of time such as winter or summer. Unfortunately, airstones will do no good as they are just drawing more air with higher CO2 concentrations into the tank.

I ran my skimmer intake outside which has helped bring my pH up by 0.1-0.2. I ran oversized pipe to ensure the resistance of the pipe didn't starve the skimmer of air. Although higher pH is desired, 7.8 isn't necessarily critical.

 

[PhilipOSU]

Serpentman that is a great point about the airstones. I totally didn't think of that. Obviously in a perfect world I'd like to be holding in the 8.1-8.15 range. Modding the skimmer air input to get an extra .2 doesn't seem very worth while in my case as it would be a pretty involved mod with my sump being in the basement

 

[Tswifty]

...or just get more corals so your demand increases. :lol:

 

[PhilipOSU]

Well I am working on that . The frag pack that I have been so excited about arrives tomorrow morning!!

 

[markviiisvt4]

I took an old marineland power head put a mj1200 impeller in it and ran some RO line from it to the outside. I dont' even get a ph swing at night anymore.

 

[Esquare]

I ran 4" vent pipe to my skimmer's air intake (about 40 or more feet) with no negative impact on the skimmers performance. It was easy to do since the sump is in the basement. Just in case, I put a inline fan in the pipe but do not need to run it.

 

[DiscoReefRover]

I agree with swifty pack that tank with corals and your problem should subside!!!!!