Whats more important for SPS calcium or PH?

[tynman]

Ok all you SPS addicts (like me) I really need to know if PH is that important for the sps? What does it do for them? Cause I know they need the calcium to live and grow. Here is my story or problem..
I have a 76 gal half circle tank LED lighting etss sump buddy 40 skimmer and a 10 or 20 gal sump. I use rodi water fresh and to make saltwater, I use reef crystals salt, I use kalwkasser by brightwell in my fresh water. I have 2 vortek 20's for flow in the tank and a mag 12 for my return, I dose 2 part a&b brightwell and 8.3 2 times a week. I also run a nitrate reducer which pumps out calcium into the tank after filtering it. I add mag and laguna iodine once a week. My tank was completely closed on top with the glass I just made a section open with egg crate thinking that would help with my PH. Now with the numbers my salt is about 34 ppt my cal was 300 and my PH was reading 7.95 on a hanna meter. I am trying the aquavitro 8.4 to bring my PH up thinking this might help with my colors in the sps but the cal is dropping. My tank normally runs cal 400 to 410 and my PH 7.7 to 7.8 everything is growing but the colors arent as I think they should be. So back to my first question do I leave it at 7.8 and cal 400 or keep dosing 8.4 and add cal to see what happens. How do I get to the happy medium that all the sps are happy and growing and coloring up and I dont hurt my fish either...Thanks in advanced..

 

[blueink]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php...

 

[batt600]

First what is you dkh that has to be low if your having problem with you ph and what is your mag. Your mag might be low to .

 

[tynman]

Well what is dkh and how do you test for it? the mag runs about 1100 to 1300 I dose once a week to keep it up.

 

[tynman]

ok its usually at 8 or 9 dkh but today with the lights off the PH is reading 7.81 KH in DKH is over 16 which means the Alk in meg is over 5.71. It might be from all the adding of the aquavitro 8.3 the last 3 days to get the PH to 8.3. I did a water change yesterday of 20 gal. That PH was low too so I added 8.3 to it too. So now what.. Im thinking to add cal once the lights come on.....

 

[Dre]

First of all it's normal for pH to drop to the low 7's when the lights go off and to the high 8's later in the day cycle so i hope you're not trying to raise it when the lights are off.

 

[tynman]

No its 7.80 to 7.95 with the lights on and running for a at least 4 hours at full power.

 

[tynman]

I just tested the mag and it was 1050 on the salifet test kit.. I added mag as recommended on the kent bottle to raise it.. I think it will take a few days to get it to 1350...

 

[Wes]

In my opinion pH isn't a big deal unless something is seriously wrong.

I don't even check pH because I don't use a calcium reactor or kalk.

I dose 2-part and measure ca, alk, and mg regularly but I never bother with pH.
Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[reefman]

i use ph (via ph monitor) as an indicator to warn me if my par (ca,alk,mg,no3,etc...) is getting out of the norm.
i like to keep my ph above 7.9 (nite)- 8.3(day)
anything off that range, i would need to test.

 

[back to it]

IME, years ago i had the same problem minus the lowish pH. I was chasing the Ca and alk and could not balance them. I then stopped with the additives other than kalk for top off. I started doing 15% water changes every 5 days to get things back in order. it is difficult to maintain high Ca levels with elevated alkalinity combined with lowish Mg. another way to hep your pH is to put a bubbler somewhere in your sump, this can help exchange excess CO2 and elevate your ph. ps/keeping your Mg up goes a long way when banlancing Ca,Alk,pH
Curt

 

[tynman]

Im going to try changing salts. Its my next step cause my mag is up to 1410 taday my cal is on its way up at 365 and my alk came down to 10.6 which Ill be happy at 9 or 10. But the PH is still 7.70 to 7.80 its just seems to want to give me a problem and not go up... So Im hoping the salt will help me with that.. Im using reef crystials now and Im getting brightwell neo-marien new salt on tuesday. so in about a 150 gals Ill start to use it LOL..

 

[Fragmented]

I would do some research before using the brightwells salt, it's had some mixed reviews. For raising your levels try the " Reef Chemistry Calcultor " http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html. It will tell you exactly what volumes you need to add to get your levels in line

Tony

 

[adamt]

Im going to try changing salts. Its my next step cause my mag is up to 1410 taday my cal is on its way up at 365 and my alk came down to 10.6 which Ill be happy at 9 or 10. But the PH is still 7.70 to 7.80 its just seems to want to give me a problem and not go up... So Im hoping the salt will help me with that.. Im using reef crystials now and Im getting brightwell neo-marien new salt on tuesday. so in about a 150 gals Ill start to use it LOL..

your chemistry is pretty screwed up man... 365 calc is way too low, alk is kinda high, and your ph is way to low for a daytime high. If you want to buy a salt to correct your imbalances buy the esv four part. I have an issue with tropic marin mixing to 7.8 with ro water but I just add a little marine buffer to compensate.

def use reef calculator to get your levels right.