Alkalinity supplements and effects on PH

[blazedmasta]

I'm dosing BRS alk and wanted to know if other supplements raises PH more or less than others. I've notice my ph is not going above 7.7 during the day while dosing alk at night. I only dose 6ml of alk daily to stay at 8.2 dkh. Calcium is around 430 ppm. I have an airline from skimmer to outside and a powerhead pointed towards the top for surface agitation and a small refugium that's on a opposite lighting scheduled then tank. I wanted to get PH up just a tad bit more

 

[Flippers4pups]

If your alkalinity, calcium and magnesium stays in check, I wouldn't worry about the PH. you might try adding kalkwasser in a ATO. It can help with PH a little.

 

[Keiffer the reefer]

As little dosing as you require, kalk in your ato may allow you to turn off your dosing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The three basic things that folks add to raise alkalinity have different effects. All are temporary. The effects vary based a lot on the starting alkalintity and pH. Lower pH and lower alkalinity lead to a bigger absolute effect.

Adding bicarbonate has a small pH lowering effect (about 0.05 pH units per 1.4 dKH (0.5 meq/L) added).
Adding carbonate has a substantial pH raising effect (about 0.35 pH units per 1.4 dKH added). This is what you use from BRS.
Adding hydroxide 9as im limewater/kalkwasser) has a big pH raising effect (about 0.7 pH units per 1.4 dKH added).

This has more:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: The Relationship Between Alkalinity And pH ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/5/chemistry

 

[blazedmasta]

The three basic things that folks add to raise alkalinity have different effects. All are temporary. The effects vary based a lot on the starting alkalintity and pH. Lower pH and lower alkalinity lead to a bigger absolute effect.

Adding bicarbonate has a small pH lowering effect (about 0.05 pH units per 1.4 dKH (0.5 meq/L) added).
Adding carbonate has a substantial pH raising effect (about 0.35 pH units per 1.4 dKH added). This is what you use from BRS.
Adding hydroxide 9as im limewater/kalkwasser) has a big pH raising effect (about 0.7 pH units per 1.4 dKH added).

This has more:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: The Relationship Between Alkalinity And pH ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/5/chemistry

I tried kalk+2 in my ato and had a hard time keeping alk at 8.2 to 8.5. Over all water volume is 41 gallons. How much would be a good starting point to add to a 5 gallon ato reservoir? Thanks Randy for the help. I've read alot of your work.[emoji41]

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

When was the last time you calibrated your pH probe? To me, something doesn't add up. I would think your pH should be higher than 7.7 if your carbonate alkalinity is 8.2 dKh and you run your skimmer's airline outdoors. It may not be 8.3, but it should be a lot better than 7.7.

Unless your tank is still cycling, or you have incredibly abnormally high CO2 levels in your home.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I tried kalk+2 in my ato and had a hard time keeping alk at 8.2 to 8.5. Over all water volume is 41 gallons. How much would be a good starting point to add to a 5 gallon ato reservoir? Thanks Randy for the help. I've read alot of your work.[emoji41]

Ignore the +2 since it isn't useful, but in terms of limewater, you can up the solids until you get to about 2 teaspoons per gallon of fresh water, where it caps out in solubility.

 

[blazedmasta]

When was the last time you calibrated your pH probe? To me, something doesn't add up. I would think your pH should be higher than 7.7 if your carbonate alkalinity is 8.2 dKh and you run your skimmer's airline outdoors. It may not be 8.3, but it should be a lot better than 7.7.

Unless your tank is still cycling, or you have incredibly abnormally high CO2 levels in your home.

I use seneye+ and salifert both test the same.

 

[blazedmasta]

Ignore the +2 since it isn't useful, but in terms of limewater, you can up the solids until you get to about 2 teaspoons per gallon of fresh water, where it caps out in solubility.

But what would be a good starting point? 1/4 teaspoon per gallon?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What amount did you try that wasn't enough to maintain alk?

 

[blazedmasta]

What amount did you try that wasn't enough to maintain alk?

If im not mistaking about half teaspoon
Per gallon but I wasn't as concerned about keeping it low then I am now. I switch to a doser for better control.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It is fine to start low. Depending on evaporation, saturated limewater can sustain a mixed reef, but not usually a full SPS tank.

 

[animatedcorals]

The three basic things that folks add to raise alkalinity have different effects. All are temporary. The effects vary based a lot on the starting alkalintity and pH. Lower pH and lower alkalinity lead to a bigger absolute effect.

Adding bicarbonate has a small pH lowering effect (about 0.05 pH units per 1.4 dKH (0.5 meq/L) added).
Adding carbonate has a substantial pH raising effect (about 0.35 pH units per 1.4 dKH added). This is what you use from BRS.
Adding hydroxide 9as im limewater/kalkwasser) has a big pH raising effect (about 0.7 pH units per 1.4 dKH added).

This has more:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: The Relationship Between Alkalinity And pH ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/5/chemistry

So can you use kalkswasser instead of soda ash when dosing for alkalinity? Let’s say I normally dose about 40ml of soda ash daily to bring my 7.4 reading to 8.4 will dosing kalkswasser instead of soda ash be better because of the slight increase in ph? How long does the ph increase last normally and how long and how much will it start declining? I noticed my ph was at 7.5 and Alk was at 7.4 I dosed and raised my Alk over the day to 8.4 and ph is now 8.0 how long until ph starts dropping again? Thanks!

 

[DWill]

About a year ago I couldn't get the pH above 7.5 to 7.7. I wanted 8.3ish.

I switched to BRS Soda Ash. I was able to raise the pH to easily to 8.3 and maintain it there. The problem that came up was that as my Alk requirement increased I had to increase the dose of Soda Ash. After a month or so the pH started to drift up to 8.35+

I'm sure what I did to solve that issue is an overly complicated solution and maybe even not the “correct” solution. But you can see from the picture my tank is doing well and its very stable.

This is what I did. I set up a additional losing pump with BRS Sodium Bicarbonate I put both the Soda Ash and the Bicarb pumps on virtual outlets. I set the pH limit to 8.3 on the Soda Ash pump. At 8.3 this pump turn off. it stays off as long as the Bicarb pump is on.

When the Soda Ash pump goes off this pump turns on and runs it's dosing schedule. It stays on until the pH drops below 8.3. When it turns off the other pump comes back on.

So far, though complicated, this has worked for we'll over a year. The pH average is about 8.25 and my Alk averages about 8.4ish. My goal for Alk is around 8.5.

 

[animatedcorals]

About a year ago I couldn't get the pH above 7.5 to 7.7. I wanted 8.3ish.

I switched to BRS Soda Ash. I was able to raise the pH to easily to 8.3 and maintain it there. The problem that came up was that as my Alk requirement increased I had to increase the dose of Soda Ash. After a month or so the pH started to drift up to 8.35+

I'm sure what I did to solve that issue is an overly complicated solution and maybe even not the “correct” solution. But you can see from the picture my tank is doing well and its very stable.

This is what I did. I set up a additional losing pump with BRS Sodium Bicarbonate I put both the Soda Ash and the Bicarb pumps on virtual outlets. I set the pH limit to 8.3 on the Soda Ash pump. At 8.3 this pump turn off. it stays off as long as the Bicarb pump is on.

When the Soda Ash pump goes off this pump turns on and runs it's dosing schedule. It stays on until the pH drops below 8.3. When it turns off the other pump comes back on.

So far, though complicated, this has worked for we'll over a year. The pH average is about 8.25 and my Alk averages about 8.4ish. My goal for Alk is around 8.5.

So you have a controller/monitor hooked up right? I don’t have a controller or monitor so I just manually test daily. Is there anyway to hook up a ph monitor/solenoid/dosing pump so it turns on and off when ph drops or raises? Thanks..awesome reef

 

[DWill]

So you have a controller/monitor hooked up right? I don’t have a controller or monitor so I just manually test daily. Is there anyway to hook up a ph monitor/solenoid/dosing pump so it turns on and off when ph drops or raises? Thanks..awesome reef

You could get a Hydros X2 and a couple of Hydros does pumps. That would be a relatively inexpensive solution.