Ph problems with calcium reactor

[Ripnlips82]

I'm having ph problems. Not chasing it but worried that it's getting a bit too low at night. It barely gets above 7.8 during the day even with an outside airline and a window open. Last night it got down to 7.6. If I do not dose or manually supplement with soda ash or seachem balance then the controller turns off co2 because the tank ph has dropped below 7.8. Even setting it to turn off the kamoer dosing pump it continues to drop beyond 7.8

I am running an older mrc-cr2 calcium reactor, reborn, carbon doser regulator and kamoer peristaltic pump. Both apex probes are brand new and calibrated. I have a neptune DOS and jebao doser that are not in use currently.

Im thinking about a kalk reactor but I'm not sure if I have the evaporation rate to support kalk for just ph purposes.

Little info on my tank
Planet aquarium rimless 120
Sro5000 skimmer
2 Radion gen4 pro with 2xt5 supplement
2mp40s
Tunze ato
40w UV
Mixed lps and probably around 30 or more sps frags and a few large monti colonies.

 

[X-37B]

A properly tuned carx will not affect the ph level in your tank.
You are most likely using to much co2.
I do not use apex or a ph meter to control my carx in my 120.
My ph runs 7.9-night 8.1- day same as before I setup the carx.
Do you know the dkh comming out of your reactor?
I set bubble rate and effluent rate to achieve a dkh of 20-25 on my system.
I use manmade media and I did check effuent ph and it was 6.7.
My co2 stays on 24/7.
I know alot of people run ph probes in the reactor and sump. However, the above method is the simplest way to setup and maintain a carx imo.

 

[billwill]

A worthwhile question is what was it before using calcium reactor, and is it causing a problem in your tank. Sometimes the trouble with too much information is that it’s not always useful information. If you have a refugium, run reverse lighting schedule. If not, maybe a kalk reactor is a decent idea, though adds complexity to your method. I’m confident you have enough evaporation on a 120g. And I’m also confident that doing nothing will have fine results as well.

 

[ScottB]

Once you have made it through @90's reefer checklist, a couple more items:

a) check for CO2 leaks at bottle, regulator and reactor. Soapy water or any other method. Leaks are not good for anybody.
b) Personally, not a fan of pH probes from APEX. They drive me nuts sometimes. Seem fine for a while and then not. I don't understand how/why they can shift but mine have. Confirm with separate test kit.
c) All else fails, BRS CO2 scrubber run to skimmer with recirculate setup. Added a steady .2 for me.

A low of 7.8 I could sleep straight through no problem. Something else is going on to be hitting 7.6 IMO.

Wishing you luck and a good night's sleep every night.

 

[jda]

You are likely wasting co2 and it is entering your tank and dissolving in there. If you have a really good tune on your reactor, your tank pH should barely move, if at all.

It is nearly impossible to get a good tune using pH probes since they dump/stop too much and the co2 waste during the dump gets into the tank.

If you want to learn how to tune the thing without using a pH probe and get it really efficient, then we can help with that, but it is a paradigm shift that not everybody is into.

You likely have some nice days coming up this early spring, so take the opportunity to open some windows, get some fans going and exchange all of the air in your home (basement too)... this will do wonders with pH.