pH help ANYONE PLEASE!!!!!!!

[skeeter1]

i HAVE A 150 GAL REEF TANK WITH 40 GAL SUMP, PM BULLETT 2 SKIMMER, PM CALC REACTOR. HERE'S THE CONCERN - MY pH IS CONSISTANTLY RUNNING BETWEEN 7.95 & 8.15. I HAVE RESERCHED QUITE ABIT AND CAN'T COME UP WITH A REASON MY pH IS LOW. THE CO2 HAS NEVER CAME ON IN MY REACTOR-THOUGHT IS WAS THERE WHEN THE pH GOT TOO HIGH - RIGHT??? WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO BRING MY pH TO THE CORRECT LEVELS , OR SHOULD I EVEN BE WORRYING ABOUT IT????? ALL LIVESTOCK SEEM TO BE RELATIVELY HAPPY IF YOU HAVE ADVISE ---PLEASE SHARE

 

[DK]

For many years, I let my corals dictate my intervention with the tank. If the PH is really to low or the salinity is too high or the strontium levels are too low or the iodine levels are not where they should be, you will get feedback from the animals.

Having said that, I do occassionally check to see what the values are.

My ovservation, based on your question, is that your calcium reactor is not running correctly or not set up properly. Please consult the manufacturer ro retail outlet you obtained it from and fix that.

Also consider the source of your PH reading. Is it a probe that gives you a continuous reading? Is it properly calibrated?. Are you using a test kit - with recent product?

 

[DEADFISH1]

hAVE USED PH BUFFER?
bUFFER SHOULD STABLIZE YOUR ph, OTHERWISE i HAVE NO CLUE...

 

[reefhope]

I personally would not be too concerned about a PH of ~8......more importantly how do the animals look and do you experience significant PH swings?

I don't know much about calc reactors so I can't offer input about that. If you really want to raise the PH you could try a power form buffer (like seachem buffer) which has helped my levels in the past.

 

[danmhippo]

If your observation of livestocks are correct, actual PH readings are not that much of an important issue as of now. Just make sure they do not take a dip below 7.8

Alkalinity and calcium readings are interconnecting with PH readings. What is your Alk and Ca?

[ July 26, 2001: Message edited by: danmhippo ]

 

[danmhippo]

You also said:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

<STRONG>THE CO2 HAS NEVER CAME ON IN MY REACTOR-THOUGHT IS WAS THERE WHEN THE pH GOT TOO HIGH - RIGHT??? </STRONG>

What exactly do you mean by it? Was CO2 on all the time? How many CO2 bubbles per minute did you administer into your Calcium reactor? What is the flow rate of your reactor? And What is the ph of the effluent? How do you know that CO2 "HAS NEVER CAME ON" in your reactor???

 

[jdeets]

skeeter--a couple of observations.

First, a pH of 7.95-8.15 is just fine. It's not low. It *could* be higher but those levels are perfectly acceptable.

What are your Ca and alk levels? If they are fine and in balance, then you're tank is fine.

Someone mentioned putting in buffer to elevate pH. Buffer won't necessarily elevate pH, but it will raise your alk. If your alk is already OK, and is balanced with your Ca level, then don't add buffer as it will only raise your pH temporarily (for a few hours max) and will only create a biomineral imbalance.

If you're overly concerned about the pH (IMO, it's fine), then if you feel the need to raise it, drip kalk at night to stabilize it. Kalk will definitely raise your pH AND it's a balanced supplement that won't throw your biomineral balance off.

Let us know your alk and Ca levels and I'll give you more specific recommendations.

HTH

 

[fishpoo]

try a week without the reactor and see if your ph comes up. if so blame the CO2.
i couldn't get rid of brown slime until i turned off the CO2. ph was alway 8.0 and night(early morn) 7.8. now 8.4 steady.

 

[myreef]

Water movement also plays a role in pH. If you have high flow, your pH should be a little higher. Good lighting will also help elevate pH during the day. Of course it will drop when the lights go out. What are your effluent readings of pH on your reactor?

As Jdeets said 7.95-8.15 is perfectly fine. As you said, your animals look good....don't chase numbers and react to how your system is doing overall.

 

[KenH]

I'll add one more thing. I have a PM Bullet 2 and PM CR622 reactor on my tank. My pH was running even lower than yours (7.7 night, 8.0 day). My corals really weren't too thrilled with the lower pH. I added a second stage to my reactor and it did not have much affect on my tank pH even though my effluent did increase from 6.6 to 6.8.

I did the CO2 test of putting an airstone in a glass of tank water and watched my pH go from around 7.9 to 8.2, so I knew I was on the right track and excess CO2 from the reactor was the problem. I added a bubble wand across my sump where my reactor effluent was dripping in and my pH went up significantly (around .2 increase). Didn't make a lot of sense to me since my Bullet 2 certainly is processing a lot more air than this little bubble wand, but it sure worked for me. You might give that a shot, although as everyone has stated, your current pH isn't too bad. My pH is currently running about 8.05 night and 8.3 daytime.

-- Ken

 

[jdeets]

My understanding is that the typical way a controller is used with a Ca rxr is to control the pH of the effluent. For example, you could catch the effluent in a cup that overflowed into the system. The controller would monitor the effluent pH and keep it at 6.8 or wherever you keep yours.

Bear in mind that when you first start using a Ca rxr, your pH is going to drop some. However, as the biomineral components of your system stabilize, the pH should stabilize as well. However, that doesn't always happen.

In my case, I put a Ca rxr on my old system and the pH started down and the only way I could keep it up was with kalk. I had no overflows and a crappy skimmer, and no macroalgae in the system. I'm using the same Ca rxr on a new 180 gallon system and my pH has stabilized about where yours is now. The new system has a much better skimmer, as well as overflows, refugium and lots of macro. Also upgraded to MH lighting which helps increase photosynthetic activity for more O2 production.

I guess what I'm saying is that your pH sounds fine, those numbers are acceptable and not uncommon when using a Ca rxr. Just continue to monitor it and if it continues to downtrend, then we'll consider possible solutions. Otherwise, if it's stabilized at your current levels, then don't worry about it.

 

[skeeter1]

Talked to the guys at precision Marine last night, here's where i'm heading. I hooked my calc reactor up to tne Aquacontroller I purchased(in order not to have to continousky monitor co2 in reactor) Aquacontroller instructions read that it(Aquacontroller) has a preprogrammed setting to turn co2 solinoid on if pH exceeds 8.4 and turn solinoid off at any reading below that. I ASSUMED that the co2 should not be running in my reactor unless pH exceeded 8.4. Precision Marine esentially told me to throw out the Controller and maintain a bubble count (varies with effluent) in the reactor. Solinoid on regulator was there to be plugged into a wall outlet and the soliniod shuts off in times of power outage, they said not to use the reactor in conjunction with controller
(WHAT"S THE USE FOR A CONTROLLER???)

That's where i'm at right now - no controller and manually controlling reactor.
ISN'T IT A GREAT TECHNICAL WORLD WE LIVE IN

 

[myreef]

That is how I run my reactor and how I recommend people run theirs. To me the solenoid is a safety feature for a power outage nothing more. If you are monitoring your CA reactor using the controller based off of preset values, you are depriving your tank of something. If you shut the tank off, because the pH is lower than 8.4 then you are starving the tank of CA, ALK, Strontium, Magnesium, etc, etc. If you have your effluent line above the water line in your sump, then excess CO2 going back to the tank should be negligible. It will dissipate in the atmosphere before it hits thew ater. I use my controller for the lights, chiller/heater, wavemaker, moonlights, etc, etc, but not to control my reactor. Try it how PM suggested to run it and let it run for a while before you determine if it works correctly or not.If anything, you could have the controller turn the CO2 off if the pH falls below 7.95 or so. PH in the 8.4 range is at the upper limit for most people. Most people have a range of 8.0-8.3 or so. Good luck...HTH