Added 2 teaspoons finger to Kalk reactor

[WVReefJunkie]

What to expect, 220 gallon mixed reef? Wanting to lower high nitrates, 100 ppm. Vinegar

 

[WVReefJunkie]

What to expect, 220 gallon mixed reef? Wanting to lower high nitrates, 100 ppm. Vinegar

Mods please change finger to vinegar

 

[WWIII]

It took me around 4 months dosing vinegar in my 200 gallon tank to lower nitrates from 40ppm to 2ppm. I also did 20% waterchanges every 2 weeks. Carbon dosing takes time, I slowly dosed more and more vinegar, then tapered down to none. I haven't dosed vinegar for around 6 months, but nitrates remain low, between 2ppm and 4ppm

 

[WVReefJunkie]

Ok, thanks.

 

[WWIII]

Ok, thanks.

You're welcome. I will try to find my dosing schedule, I started out pretty low around 20ml per day, went up to around 160ml per day at the highest. You should see it start to come down in a couple/few months, if you are keeping an eye on nutrients added (food) and keeping up with regular maintenance (water changes,etc.).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Two teaspoons of vinegar to a 220 won't have a big effect unless you add it every day.

 

[WVReefJunkie]

I am trying to keep my dkh at eight, but I am having problems keeping it there. It drops to 7.784 daily and my ph is low 7.95-8.04. I don't think I am putting enough Kalk in the reactor. I tested the water coming from the reactor, it has a ph of 11.7 and dkh of 9.79. I was talking to my lfs and he recommended to add 2 tsp of vinegar to reactor to make it more soluble, but couldn't explain why the ph is low. I have tested my nitrates with a salifert test kit, they read 100 ppm. I have had some chalices die back, I think the reason for that is the dkh has been dipping in the 7 range. I added more Kalk to the reactor and added two tsp of vinegar, I think I am going to up my dkh to nine over the course of the week.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I am trying to keep my dkh at eight, but I am having problems keeping it there. It drops to 7.784 daily and my ph is low 7.95-8.04. I don't think I am putting enough Kalk in the reactor. I tested the water coming from the reactor, it has a ph of 11.7 and dkh of 9.79. I was talking to my lfs and he recommended to add 2 tsp of vinegar to reactor to make it more soluble, but couldn't explain why the ph is low. I have tested my nitrates with a salifert test kit, they read 100 ppm. I have had some chalices die back, I think the reason for that is the dkh has been dipping in the 7 range. I added more Kalk to the reactor and added two tsp of vinegar, I think I am going to up my dkh to nine over the course of the week.

How are you measuring carbonate alkalinity? It is rare for a test kit to give results with thousandths-place precision. It's even more rare for a hobby-grade test kit to be accurate at those levels. A daily alkalinity drop from 8.0 to 7.8 dKh is not that much at all. Some reefers see a 0.5 - 1.0 dKh drop daily. You simply need to dose to compensate for the usage.

Additionally, a pH of 8 is not low at all. Many reefs are successful at this pH range. That's not to say there aren't benefits to having it higher, but there's no reason a pH of 8.0 will limit your success. The only long-term way to affect pH in a reef tank is to control CO2 in the aquarium. If you wanted to implement a CO2 scrubber of some sort, you could. Just know that a pH of 8.0 will likely not affect your reefkeeping success.

 

[WVReefJunkie]

Hanna Alkalinty Checker.

 

[WVReefJunkie]

Who makes a good c02 scrubber, I checked the c02 with a air pump and a glass of tank water. With outside air only seen a slight increase of ph.

 

[WWIII]

How much kalk are you putting in the reactor per gallon? A dkh of 9.79 seems pretty low coming straight from the kalk reactor

Also, your ph is really pretty good. Many run successful tanks lower than that. How old is the tank? I would try to lower nitrates, then stabilize alkalinity before worrying about ph

 

[WVReefJunkie]

Tank is three years old. I put the reactor on the tank a week ago and added 2/3 cup of pickling lime. It was about halfway up on the stir blades in the reactor before I added more about three hours ago. Here is a pic of the reactor for now, I am also using my apex to stir 15 minutes every hour.

 

[WVReefJunkie]

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I am trying to keep my dkh at eight, but I am having problems keeping it there. It drops to 7.784 daily and my ph is low 7.95-8.04. I don't think I am putting enough Kalk in the reactor. I tested the water coming from the reactor, it has a ph of 11.7 and dkh of 9.79. I was talking to my lfs and he recommended to add 2 tsp of vinegar to reactor to make it more soluble, but couldn't explain why the ph is low. I have tested my nitrates with a salifert test kit, they read 100 ppm. I have had some chalices die back, I think the reason for that is the dkh has been dipping in the 7 range. I added more Kalk to the reactor and added two tsp of vinegar, I think I am going to up my dkh to nine over the course of the week.

The LFS guy doesn't quite understand correctly. Vinegar might help dissolve more, but might not. You are not at saturation in either case, so it is a mixing or lack of undissolved calcium hydroxide issue. In fact, you are hardly dissolving anything if the alkalinity of the reactor effluent is only 9.8 dKH. Saturated limewater is well over 100 dKH, even without vinegar.

You are using fresh water, right? Not salt water in it?

 

[WVReefJunkie]

RO/DI