SPS tank ph 8.6 ahhhhhhhhhhhh
- Thread starter jumpincactus
- Start date
That's a bit higher than ideal but not a big problem IME. Don't do anything drastic - changing pH rapidly is generally not a good thing. It will fall naturally if you stop the dosing for a bit.
Try reducing the amount of kalkwasser you drip or use a less than saturated solution. You can also drip at times when pH is normally at a low point such - like first thing in the morning.
Personally, I like to use a pump on a timer to dose it periodically throughout the night. This helps counteract the normal falling of pH at night and gives me less pH swing in a 24 hour period.
HTH
Try reducing the amount of kalkwasser you drip or use a less than saturated solution. You can also drip at times when pH is normally at a low point such - like first thing in the morning.
Personally, I like to use a pump on a timer to dose it periodically throughout the night. This helps counteract the normal falling of pH at night and gives me less pH swing in a 24 hour period.
HTH
Wow thanx for the input Chris. I was really freaked out. I had just brought a frag of a blue tort and a montipora capricornus home after work.
The thing is my buddy told me I could dose 24/7 and also Randy Farley doses all day and night. I have found this kalk dosing to be a real PITA. Valve keeps clogging and so on. I guess I will have to break down and get a calc reactor. I am on someones advice going to do a 15% water change tonight. Do you think this is a bad thing to do in an attempt to drop the Ph some???
On a side note I want to give kudos to the hobby in general. The various websites with hobbyist who really care and try to help out. Plus I met this dude in my town on another reef site and we met today and he was the person I got my frags from. Did not charge me a dime for them either. Beautiful peices I might add. To show the the kindness of fellow hobbyist he even offered to come over and help me dial in a calc reactor for the fun of it. I was and shared with him I was rather leery of my doing it alone as I have never set one up.
He is rather seasoned and will do it for free. Really cool dude. He has a 300 in his restaruant and he does all his own maintenece. He drips kalk along with a geo clac reactor running 4 ea 400 watt MH with 4 blue actinics. The acropora in the tank are some of the nicest I have ver seen all his SPS are the size of basketballs with hundreds of branches. The man definatly knows his stuff.
The thing is my buddy told me I could dose 24/7 and also Randy Farley doses all day and night. I have found this kalk dosing to be a real PITA. Valve keeps clogging and so on. I guess I will have to break down and get a calc reactor. I am on someones advice going to do a 15% water change tonight. Do you think this is a bad thing to do in an attempt to drop the Ph some???
On a side note I want to give kudos to the hobby in general. The various websites with hobbyist who really care and try to help out. Plus I met this dude in my town on another reef site and we met today and he was the person I got my frags from. Did not charge me a dime for them either. Beautiful peices I might add. To show the the kindness of fellow hobbyist he even offered to come over and help me dial in a calc reactor for the fun of it. I was and shared with him I was rather leery of my doing it alone as I have never set one up.
He is rather seasoned and will do it for free. Really cool dude. He has a 300 in his restaruant and he does all his own maintenece. He drips kalk along with a geo clac reactor running 4 ea 400 watt MH with 4 blue actinics. The acropora in the tank are some of the nicest I have ver seen all his SPS are the size of basketballs with hundreds of branches. The man definatly knows his stuff.
Personally I would just leave things alone for a bit - the pH will fall quickly without the kalkwasser additions. Once it's back in a normal range you can resume dosing - just use less (or a less saturated solution) this time. Make sure the system is getting plenty of gas exchange (ie. lots of circulation, protein skimmer, well ventilated canopy, etc.) as that will help keep pH levels more stable.
As for dosing kalkwasser at night vs. 24/7 - either way works - it's basically a preference thing. Since I automate kalkwasser dosing with a pump and timer, it's no extra effort for me to dose only at night. I only mentioned it because you were having pH problems and dosing in this fashion does help to minimize the pH swing IME.
If you can't keep up with Ca/Alk demands with the kalkwasser alone a Ca reactor is a nice option. Do yourself a favor and don't skimp on the CO2 needle valve. Using a cheap/unreliable one will make dialing the reactor in and keeping it where it needs to be a pain in the butt. Using a Ca reactor by itself you may eventually encounter the opposite problem - low pH. In this case it's not uncommon to use both kalkwasser + the Ca reactor as they tend to compliment each other and counteract the pH effects of one another.
I can certainly agree that there are lots of nice folks in this hobby who are always willing to help out fellow hobbyists. It's great that you've found an experienced local reefer who's willing to show you the ropes with the reactor. Good luck with it.
As for dosing kalkwasser at night vs. 24/7 - either way works - it's basically a preference thing. Since I automate kalkwasser dosing with a pump and timer, it's no extra effort for me to dose only at night. I only mentioned it because you were having pH problems and dosing in this fashion does help to minimize the pH swing IME.
If you can't keep up with Ca/Alk demands with the kalkwasser alone a Ca reactor is a nice option. Do yourself a favor and don't skimp on the CO2 needle valve. Using a cheap/unreliable one will make dialing the reactor in and keeping it where it needs to be a pain in the butt. Using a Ca reactor by itself you may eventually encounter the opposite problem - low pH. In this case it's not uncommon to use both kalkwasser + the Ca reactor as they tend to compliment each other and counteract the pH effects of one another.
I can certainly agree that there are lots of nice folks in this hobby who are always willing to help out fellow hobbyists. It's great that you've found an experienced local reefer who's willing to show you the ropes with the reactor. Good luck with it.
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