Cons of topping off with high PH RO

[Alex's Nano Reef]

Basically i got a low PH problem and the way i been dealing with it is feeding the skimmer air from outside aswell as topping off with pretty high PH water around 9-10 PH the way im getting the PH so high is by sprinkling some marine buffer by SeaChem into the RO. Now I'm worried about any side effects involving the chemistry for example having lower calcium levels or ALK levels. Just want to be smart about this.

 

[Jekyl]

Where is your Ph at now?

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

Where is your Ph at now?

Im steady at 8.1 right now if i unhook the airline it will drop to 7.8-7.6 within a hour or two.

 

[Jekyl]

Im steady at 8.1 right now if i unhook the airline it will drop to 7.8-7.6 within a hour or two.

8.1 is fine.

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

8.1 is fine.

8.1 is what im able to maintain during the day topping off with that high PH RO and running the skimmer airline outside. reason im asking is because my calcium is at 375 and seems oddly low due to the fact i just did about a 20% water change and i wanted to know if that High PH RO might have anything to do with it.

 

[Spare time]

Basically i got a low PH problem and the way i been dealing with it is feeding the skimmer air from outside aswell as topping off with pretty high PH water around 9-10 PH the way im getting the PH so high is by sprinkling some marine buffer by SeaChem into the RO. Now I'm worried about any side effects involving the chemistry for example having lower calcium levels or ALK levels. Just want to be smart about this.

The issue with buffers is that they raise alk so you need to watch that. My rodi water reads similar to yours for pH and I don't find any issues.

 

[Jekyl]

8.1 is what im able to maintain during the day topping off with that high PH RO and running the skimmer airline outside. reason im asking is because my calcium is at 375 and seems oddly low due to the fact i just did about a 20% water change and i wanted to know if that High PH RO might have anything to do with it.

@Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[Spare time]

What are you using to measure pH?

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

The issue with buffers is that they raise alk so you need to watch that. My rodi water reads similar to yours for pH and I don't find any issues.

Alk is a steady 9.1

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

What are you using to measure pH?

Hanna checker thats been properly stored and calibrated.

 

[Spare time]

Hanna checker thats been properly stored and calibrated.

What do you currently dose in the tank? Do you have a sump (if not, what size is the tank)?

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

What do you currently dose in the tank? Do you have a sump (if not, what size is the tank)?

No Dosing 20g NUVO Running ceramic bioballs a few things of chemipure blue. about a month and a half old tank.

 

[mdb_talon]

No Dosing 20g NUVO Running ceramic bioballs a few things of chemipure blue. about a month and a half old tank.

In reality you are dowing via the buffer in your topoff. Personally i would stop putting the buffer in the topoff and instead use Randys high PH 2-part recipe. Or use kalk in topoff. Either option should give u a bigger PH boost relative to the alkalinity added

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

In reality you are dowing via the buffer in your topoff. Personally i would stop putting the buffer in the topoff and instead use Randys high PH 2-part recipe. Or use kalk in topoff. Either option should give u a bigger PH boost relative to the alkalinity added

So at this point im going to start topping off without the buffer but besides that and a water change or the 2 park hw can i bring my calcium up solely calcium tho. all my other params are perfect.

 

[mdb_talon]

So at this point im going to start topping off without the buffer but besides that and a water change or the 2 park hw can i bring my calcium up solely calcium tho. all my other params are perfect.

I would suggest starting dosing some sort of 2-part. If your alk is perfect(after having been dosing a buffer) then i would suggest it is only perfect because of the dosing. So i would personally suggest getting both alk and calc to dose. Dose the calc independently until you get it where you want(you have been dosing alk but not calc so it makes sense it is currently low). Then dose alk/calc equally. There are 2-part solutions you can make yourself(search here for Randy 2 part recipes) or you can buy commercial premade solutions.

Because the amount of calc in water is much more it often is harder to see a daily decline in our hobby test kits, but usually a tank will use roughly equal amounts of both.

The key thing to figure out is how much of each you need to dose and how frequently(ie manual once a day, use a doser and spread many doses through the day, weekly, etc). Testing to see the daily/weekly drop in alk will help you figure out about how much and how frequently you need to dose.

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

I would suggest starting dosing some sort of 2-part. If your alk is perfect(after having been dosing a buffer) then i would suggest it is only perfect because of the dosing. So i would personally suggest getting both alk and calc to dose. Dose the calc independently until you get it where you want(you have been dosing alk but not calc so it makes sense it is currently low). Then dose alk/calc equally. There are 2-part solutions you can make yourself(search here for Randy 2 part recipes) or you can buy commercial premade solutions.

Because the amount of calc in water is much more it often is harder to see a daily decline in our hobby test kits, but usually a tank will use roughly equal amounts of both.

The key thing to figure out is how much of each you need to dose and how frequently(ie manual once a day, use a doser and spread many doses through the day, weekly, etc). Testing to see the daily/weekly drop in alk will help you figure out about how much and how frequently you need to dose.

Gonna go look into some 2 part right now