How do you keep your ph up?

[washowi]

Never test for it at all..Don't care what it is.....I dose 2 part solution once a week just because..the tank is what it is.....all alive and growing....you will drive yourself crazy trying to keep the tank in the perfect parameters...

in fact. my 2 nanos I don't dose anything..I do water changes once a month at best.....

 

[derek_s]

Ha, thanks for the advice. I'm with you Brandon, as it drives me crazy not knowing what is going on in the water. I have changed one of the return outputs to agitate the water surface more. I want to see if this improves gas exchange, and possibly ph. I have to pee all the time now because the tank sounds like dribbling water. I'm still trying to figure out the relation of carbonate and bicarb on ph, but it is a lot to ingest. I'm wondering if magnesium is on root, but I don't want to add magnesium sulfide, as it has a 5 to 1 ratio (?) with sulfur, which is...yep...acidic. Given that every mg of mag I add will add 5 of sulfur, I'm looking for a better solution.

My kalk I am slowly dosing with a medical pump 24/7. Even though at first it seemed to bring PH up during the day, and slightly lower at night, it has now evened out to 7.8, day and night.

 

[derek_s]

Update:

I decided instead of using my SMS 122 for ph reading, I'd try seachem's PH test. It gave me a slighty higher reading. So here are the new results:

<u>Pre WC:
</u>PH - 8.1, dKh - 11.2, cal - 360

THen I did a 50% WC this morning. I decided to start over, in a sence and see what happens. If I could've, I'd done a 90% WC.

<u>After WC
</u>PH - 8.1, dKh - 8.4, cal 380

Then I dosed some magnesium, calcium, and alk booster (carb and bicarb mix)

Then, let it mix for a few hours:

<u>Later that day...
</u>PH - 8.1, dKh - 10, Cal - 420
Also checked Magnesium with seachem, and it was reading 1100ish

Starting to look better. I hate to make somewhat sudden changes, but I was actually using a new product, so I wasnt sure how much they would affect the readings. From here on out I'm gonna reduce the dosing until I hit closer to what I want.

 

[acroholic]

From the reading I have done, a slightly lower pH is not that big a deal if your KH, Ca and Mg levels are within parameters. I got my introduction from the Randy Holmes Farley series available on RC.

I'm sure that venting CO2 from your house would help. This is also mentioned in the series, but practically speaking hard to do, particularly from a security standpoint. My alarm system doesn't work with the doors open!
Dave

 

[derek_s]

Yeah, I always have the door open when I'm home, especially this time of the year. I'm not sue if it is helping or not. Yet

 

[sprayin70]

Here is another thing I have noticed with aquariums. If you have a big enough skimmer it helps with gas air exchange.

 

[derek_s]

Good point. I actually had wondered before if that was true. No one ever says it, but makin all those bubbles has to help, right? Too bad the solana limits skimmer options. I have no idea what my actual water co2 and o2 levels are, though.

 

[sprayin70]

Do you have good surface water agitation? If not put a powerhead facing up blasting the surface for a few days and see if it helps. I have tried this in a previous tank and it worked. It only takes 3 maybe 4 hours to vent your house of co2. Just open all the windows and turn on all fans if you have any.

 

[derek_s]

Yeah I have a lot of agitation. One return nozzle is directly hitting the surface, and my K1 is helping it out too.

How long would it take to see a difference if the agitation was going to make a big difference? A few hours? Days? Weeks?

 

[sprayin70]

Maybe a day or so. If it doesn't help then scratch it off the list. LOL.

 

[derek_s]

Ah yeah. It's been a week or two now...

 

[sprayin70]

Honestly I have had both low ph 7.6-7.8 in my old SPS setup and 8.0-8.1 in my current SPS setup. My corals have always grown with great polyp extension. I would chill back and watch your corals. Sometime we get to concerned with certain things. Watch your animals if they seem happy and have growth tips then things are generally ok. Good luck!

 

[derek_s]

Isnt it weired how it varies? Anyways, so am I safe to add the calcium reactor? It may bring me down even further to something around 7.5 at night.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

How are you measuring your pH? This is one of the big reasons I personally dont get caught up in numbers.

 

[fishfiend]

Just a real quick thing for my own information: How often do you perform a water change and how much do you take out? Have you ever used a pH supplement in the past and for how long?

Sorry just getting into an experiment and it seemed interesting to me

 

[derek_s]

Currently, I measure with a SMS 122, Seachem, and API test kits. All are reasonable close to one another in results (currently 7.9, 8.1,8.1). Ben about 2 months since the SMS was slope calibrated.

 

[derek_s]

I do WCs weekly at 15 percent. Im the past I tried seachem Marine buffer, then found out about borate... It has been a couple months since I used it last. I dont currently use any direct ph supplements other than kalkwasser.