So just how important is the PH at 8.3?

eagle9252 · Aug 9, 2012

I have tried and tried to raise mine. All other parms are good but I just can’t get the PH past 8.0. My alkalinity is climbing because of me adding the 8.3 buffer. 

I have been told by several people not to worry about it and some say they never check theirs. I have to buffer the new SW mix anyway. It will measure higer as I dose for the tank instead of the mix because the tank is at 8.0 When I was dosing for the SW mix only the tank would drop to around 7.8

jef4y · Aug 9, 2012

Determining the cause of your low pH may be the first step...

Did you see this?

snowmansnow · Aug 9, 2012

agreee with Frey...

PH is something that alerts you when something is amiss ....

B

eagle9252 · Aug 9, 2012

yes I did and Air gas is like 130.00 for the case. ebay is 80.00. I'm still waiting on another vendor to give me a quote but it does not LQQK good.

raz0945 · Aug 9, 2012

I have been fighting PH for years! At our last meeting Jef4y gave a talk on soda lime and how to make a DIY Co2 reactor(info on the ARC site). I bought the 5 gal bucket of soda lime at AirGas Duluth and Hal DIY it on the weekend. WOW in 5 hours my 125g went from 7.79ph to 8.18ph and has been stable. Now that it is stable I will go just a little higher on my buffer and bring my ALK to 10dKH. I will be adding these little reactors to all of my tanks, I can't tell you how'any hours I have spent worrying about PH. On another note, I have never known that my low PH has hurt any of my corals or fish, I just worried that it would! :yay: Holley

AirGas is $75 for the 5 gal bucket!

eagle9252 · Aug 9, 2012

did you get the same price or cheaper. they sell it 3 ways. and the bags was the cheapest that the quoted me

raz0945 · Aug 9, 2012

Eagle. How much is in a case? how much does it weigh? A bucket is 37 pounds. You can pick up at AirGas, Duluth and no shipping. Holley

eagle9252;787226 wrote: yes I did and Air gas is like 130.00 for the case. ebay is 80.00. I'm still waiting on another vendor to give me a quote but it does not LQQK good.

jef4y · Aug 9, 2012

Get the 5 gallon bucket. Regardless of the price, get the bucket. Once you open a bag and expose it to air it will start pulling in the CO2 and start using itself up.

A bucket on my 60 cube lasts me over a year.

Edit:

Raz0945;787227 wrote: I have been fighting PH for years! At our last meeting Jef4y gave a talk on soda lime and how to make a DIY Co2 reactor(info on the ARC site). I bought the 5 gal bucket of soda lime at AirGas Duluth and Hal DIY it on the weekend. WOW in 5 hours my 125g went from 7.79ph to 8.18ph and has been stable. Now that it is stable I will go just a little higher on my buffer and bring my ALK to 10dKH. I will be adding these little reactors to all of my tanks, I can't tell you how'any hours I have spent worrying about PH. On another note, I have never known that my low PH has hurt any of my corals or fish, I just worried that it would! :yay: Holley

AirGas is $75 for the 5 gal bucket!

Awesome!!! Glad to hear that it helped you!! I knew it would!

mustangcaleb · Aug 9, 2012

ive been watching my ph as well and trying to get it closer to 8.3. ive been using kalk in my ato for a few days and my ph is slowly coming up. the highest it has gotten during with the light on was around 8.16, then drops to 8.02ish during dark hours. but according to my apex, my ph has during dark hours has been coming up about .03 per day. once this 5g ato bucket is empty, ill try 6 teaspoons of kalk instead of 5 in the next 5g

Edit: eagle i split a bucket with you to see how much it helps us before buying a whole bucket yourself, if youd like...

rdnelson · Aug 9, 2012

Mine has always been 8. It would concern me me more if the Alk was not in line. But, based on the talk by Jack Kent at the last meeting, I am not overly concerned. If you get your CA, Alk and Mag to acceptable levels and they are consistant, I don't believe a PH of 8 is a drastic thing. Yes I would like it higher but right now it will have to do. I have lots of other things to spend my money on right now. LOL (Why is it that you have to feed kids anyway????)

eagle9252 · Aug 9, 2012

Raz0945;787227 wrote:

AirGas is $75 for the 5 gal bucket!

can you send me more info? either here or pm. i would need part number and a number where it was bought, please. i just called them again and got the same quted price but he did drop it to 75.00 after the fact but then added a 16.00 hazmat fee. I then called another location and the gave me to another location and said more or less the same thing unless i had more info thats all they can do.

where i work we have an account with them.

eagle9252 · Aug 9, 2012

MustangCaleb;787236 wrote:

Edit: eagle i split a bucket with you to see how much it helps us before buying a whole bucket yourself, if youd like...

sure, it would have to be next week though. I should have a better info by then. but just talked to the salesman for our location and he was testy... to say the least.

jef4y · Aug 9, 2012

Whatever they're looking up is wrong. This is not hazmat.

http://airgas.com/browse/productDetail.aspx?Category=450&product=MOP120020-00">http://airgas.com/browse/productDetail.aspx?Category=450&product=MOP120020-00</a>

here's their info & part number.

raz0945 · Aug 9, 2012

It took me several phone calls and the only person that was helpful was Nicky, the phone # is 770-381-1640 AirGas Duluth, the product # is MOP120020-00, It was $70.50+tax $4.23=$74.73. I pd with cc and they shipped from Tx was there the next day. it is medical grade. Hope this helps! Holley

kzoo · Aug 9, 2012

Any pics of the DIY reactor?

sewer urchin · Aug 9, 2012

Kzoo...
click on the link in post #2. JeF4y posted a build after his presentation to the club. It is pretty cool. BRS has one for sale, but his is simpler, easier and cheaper then theirs.

kzoo · Aug 9, 2012

Ok thanks missed that, if any one wants to sell some of the soda lime I would like to try this.

eagle9252 · Aug 9, 2012

Okies here is the skinny.

The current price… oh my what a saga…

The local Airgas to me is 75.00 plus hazmat fee with taxes is 90.98. this means no driving for me. :^)

The Duluth location is a DC not a store so they can do things differently. This kinda ticked my location off.

The in DC picked up price in 63.11 before tax. If it is shipped ups charges a 45.00 hazmat fee on top of freight charges and LTL freight would be 85.00. 

So shipping from Duluth is out of the question. 

Now here is the deal. If several people want to get together and split it, I’m fine with that. This way we could try it before we spent more money. Roughly 17.00 per person if split 4 ways plus gas. We would need to have someone close by to pick it up and meet everyone and divide it up. 

Who wants to go in together and I guess to keep with the rules we would need to continue this part of the conversation in another thread as an unofficial group buy. I would not mind in starting the group buy unless if someone else wanted too. or I could just split with MustangCaleb

kzoo · Aug 9, 2012

I would be in, I live near duluth also.

mustangcaleb · Aug 9, 2012

im in, but im in marietta, right at 75/285, and if no one else wants in, ill take half of it(2 shares)

So just how important is the PH at 8.3?

Active Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Member

Active Member

Active Member

Active Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Active Member

Active Member

Member

Similar threads