Help with low pH but good Alkalinity

[whybenormal]

Check co2 in your home. if its high, you'll almost never get your PH up. Kalk dosing reverse lighting schedule will help.

I will look into a co2 meter. But we are running in a lot of outside air, as well as having the doors open a lot (thanks to our dogs) and our home isn't really a tightly sealed home (built in 70s)
I have a reverse lighting schedule going for the last month already.
I wondered about Kalk- will that raise my alkalinity? It is already at a good level.

 

[14 foot reef]

I will look into a co2 meter. But we are running in a lot of outside air, as well as having the doors open a lot (thanks to our dogs) and our home isn't really a tightly sealed home (built in 70s)
I have a reverse lighting schedule going for the last month already.
I wondered about Kalk- will that raise my alkalinity? It is already at a good level.

To be clear, my suggestion was to dose Kalk opposite of lights on schedule. Starting to Dose Kalk this way will raise your alk temporarily until coral growth starts to accelerate and the PH rises to a level of 8.3-8.4 ph, at that point with the elevated growth your Alk will then drop. It takes about three to 4 months though before the alk begins to drop.

 

[whybenormal]

To be clear, my suggestion was to dose Kalk opposite of lights on schedule. Starting to Dose Kalk this way will raise your alk temporarily until coral growth starts to accelerate and the PH rises to a level of 8.3-8.4 ph, at that point with the elevated growth your Alk will then drop. It takes about three to 4 months though before the alk begins to drop.

As I've never dosed kalk before, I need to go read about it, I have no idea how to do it.
My alk now stays between 9.5-10.5, so I've not wanted to do anything that would push it higher than it should be.
I'm sure there is a beginner article around here somewhere.
Right now I'm trying to fix this so I don't lose any more corals. Two of my clove polyps have died already.

 

[14 foot reef]

As I've never dosed kalk before, I need to go read about it, I have no idea how to do it.
My alk now stays between 9.5-10.5, so I've not wanted to do anything that would push it higher than it should be.
I'm sure there is a beginner article around here somewhere.
Right now I'm trying to fix this so I don't lose any more corals. Two of my clove polyps have died already.

Start with home CO2 first, I would guess this is where your issue is with an ALK between 9.5-10.5.
Amazon for a table top CO2 meter. I bet when you test your home air with family and pets is above 1000 consistantly. Get it down to 500, you will see a huge difference.
The one I use

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[arking_mark]

Post in thread 'If you pH is less than 7.8, your pH meter is probably wrong' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i...h-meter-is-probably-wrong.862633/post-9413530

 

[trainbob]

If you decide to dose kalk add to your top off water

 

[Uncle99]

PH will depress after lights out as photosynthesis stops.
I doubt your issues are related to a low PH.
I have not payed attention to this parameter in years.
Had so many numbers from so many tests and meters, I had no idea what it was.
Never caused any problem ever.
If you really want to increase and stabilize PH, run a lighted fuge opposite schedule,then 8.3-8.4 stays solid.

 

[arking_mark]

Aquarium pH Distilled

I just wanted to share my understanding of reef pH which is mostly based on: Low pH: Causes and Cures by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com Many would agree that reef tanks can be successful with pH between 7.8 – 8.5 NBS and daily swings as great as 0.5 NBS. Natural pH levels in our ocean...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[whybenormal]

I think I've come upon a possible reason for my pH problem, but it seems very strange.
I bought Red Sea Salt (switching over from Reef Crystals slowly) and mixed 9 gallons with water from our RODI unit. Since Red Sea is supposed to mix up at 8.1-8.3 I thought this would be a good move.
After mixing and bring up to 77degress, I tested the ph and it still read 7.1 - as it did before adding the salt.
Salinity was perfect 1.026.
My husband did a few tests, he mixed some with tap water, same results.
Bottled water, started 6.9, after mixing with salt 8.1
Distilled water, started at 8.1, after salt 8.4.

Obviously the problem is with our water supply. We are on a community well.
What about our water would keep the pH from going up?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

We are addressing this in the other thread, but unless the ro/di was well above 0 ppm tds, I suspect test error.

 

[pledosophy]

If you decide to dose kalk add to your top off water

This trend has fallen out of fashion the last ten years or so. To many people's evaporation is inconsistent and kalk is pretty hard on most top off pumps.

Dosing kalk through a dosing pump, where it can be metered tends to be recommended more often now. If you have a pH and can turn that dosing pump off if the pH exceeds a set amount, say 8.5, then that is even better.

For my own tank I have begun dosing kalk with a dosing pump and kick the dosing pump on and off via the pH, which effectively has led to the dosing pump only being on from 10pm to 9am.

 

[whybenormal]

I updated some water test results in the other thread, so I won't repeat them here.
But, I did a 10 gallon water change using water from the LFS and Red Sea Salt, and now I'm showing my pH to be 8-8.1
I'll take it.

 

[14 foot reef]

You may want to ask the MODS to kill this thread and concentrate on the other one. or Vise-versa.
The forum will appreciate only one thread to advise and help from. I'm glad you are narrowing down your problems though. Good Luck !!!

 

[njreefkeeper]

My tanks are in my basement near my heater. The heater is obviously always pulling in oxygen from the air in an already co2 laden environment. Even with an airline outside to the skimmer and dripping kalk for all evaporated water, I struggle to reach 8.15 at peak day. A tank upstairs in my living area is always 8.2-8.35. Both are on the same light schedule, same feedings and same parameters. The one with the higher ph simply has much less issues. Lower ph is definitely something to try and address however you can. I’m in the process of looking into an air exchanger for the basement.

Look at it this way…if I lost power and wasn’t home to get the generator running fast enough, it’s not rocket science to figure out which tank I’d worry about most. Definitely chase ph. IMO it’s one of the most important parameters we monitor. If you have low ph and have an alkalinty swing, there’s issues. When I have high ph and there’s a swing I’ve never noticed the tank slip a beat.