Low ph in 3 week old tank.

[Reef_prop88]

Update on my pH situation I recalibrated the probe and low and behold I'm at 8.44 solid. I'm thinking a monthly calibration process is in order for the remainder of my reefing career

Also I gave carbon dosing some vodka a shot. Cleaned the tank up fast and didn't seem to have an adverse effect even after my buddy took care of my tank for a few days while I was away and he gave it a drink every day. 1ml per 10g so it was way over doing it. That being said I think 1ml a day is more where it should be (charts research ECT) and perhaps rotating between vodka vinegar and sugar since in my readings there is a debate about which bacteria do what and use what. Feed them all! Closer to real life the better no?

That's awesome you got your ph up above 8.4 lol. That's right about where mine lingers between 8.4-8.5. I'd be interested in hearing about where you end up with the carbon dosing. I have mine dialed back to .9ml nopox (carbon source) 1x daily on my 30 gallon and I still have to dose nitrates and phosphates occasionally. I'm gonna dial it down to .8ml daily on monday and see what happens from there.

 

[CourtNjoeZreef]

That's awesome you got your ph up above 8.4 lol. That's right about where mine lingers between 8.4-8.5. I'd be interested in hearing about where you end up with the carbon dosing. I have mine dialed back to .9ml nopox (carbon source) 1x daily on my 30 gallon and I still have to dose nitrates and phosphates occasionally. I'm gonna dial it down to .8ml daily on monday and see what happens from there.

Something I did notice is my nitrates are at 1 all the time I have not seen more then 1 on my nyos kit. My phosphate after the vodka overload was .11 so I dropped in a bag of gfo for 12 hrs and brought that back down in the .0-.4 range. I'm interested to see if the little bit of carbon dosing will keep the aquarium sparkling clean without shooting something way out of whack.

Also the CO2 reactor has not turned blue yet and it's been a month so I don't think it was my issue. I'm thinking it was the probe out of calibration making me worry for no reason. That being said the peace of mind is worth the whatever I paid for it!

 

[Mbritt]

Bet you see between 8.3 and 8.4 within a day. Plan on changing it out weekly possibly and if ph starts dropping check if the water dried up. That icecap media will turn purple on you when its getting used up also.

I saw a raise initially, but the issue with the recirculating scrubber is I think it gets too much moisture in the chamber. Do you think that affects how much PH raise you get? Every other day I take it out of recirculating mode to dry up the chamber a little as I am told you don't want the media to have too much moisture. My tank went well into the 8.3 range the first week. I am only now on week 3 seeing any color change on the media. I'm running the same generic BRS Co2 Scrubber. Also I have an all in one Innovative marine 60 gallon and a Tunze skimmer. With all of these skimmers I think the bigger the skimmer is the more air it can pull in and pass through the media. With a smaller skimmer I don't think you get nearly as much air through the reactor.

 

[Reef_prop88]

I saw a raise initially, but the issue with the recirculating scrubber is I think it gets too much moisture in the chamber. Do you think that affects how much PH raise you get? Every other day I take it out of recirculating mode to dry up the chamber a little as I am told you don't want the media to have too much moisture. My tank went well into the 8.3 range the first week. I am only now on week 3 seeing any color change on the media. I'm running the same generic BRS Co2 Scrubber. Also I have an all in one Innovative marine 60 gallon and a Tunze skimmer. With all of these skimmers I think the bigger the skimmer is the more air it can pull in and pass through the media. With a smaller skimmer I don't think you get nearly as much air through the reactor.

I don’t recirculate it. I add about a Tbsp or 2 of water every 3 days to my brs scrubber and it stays pretty consistent . Im also running a little bit oversized skimmer and think you’re right about it having a bigger Im-act on the ph. I run a reef octo classic 1000 hob on a 29 gallon.