pH Question

creefer · Jan 28, 2013

Currently, I'm running an Avast Marine K-1 Kalk reactor to supplement Ca and Alk primarily due to the benefit of being able to keep my pH at or just above 8.0. It's been working well. However, due to space constraints and accessibility, the manner in which I need to replenish the kalk is a bit of a pita. I had originally planned on dosing 2 part for these needs, but the benefit of the reactor with respect to pH was difficult to overcome. I'm curious about how one could keep the pH at or above 8.0 when dosing 2 part. Typically, on my old tank where I did not run kalk, pH was always around 7.3-7.5 using the same salt mix (ESV) as I am now.

So, the thoughts are, as tank demand increases, keep the kalk reactor on line and not change the volume of added kalk powder and supplement with 2-part to keep my Alk and Ca in line so I can keep the pH up. Anyone have any other ideas? Should I do this or take the reactor off line and do something different? What's everyone else doing?

Tank is mixed with the only softies being some sweet rics. Otherwise, it's all stony heading toward SPS dominant.

Davinci · Jan 28, 2013

I would suggest always underdoing with any sort of reactor or dosing pump. That way you can fine tune the water chemistry with either 2 part or any manual dosing. I would say keep it but its stil better to keep ph at a higher number like 8.3. I have seem PH affect corals greatly and do really well at higher Ph.

Downbeach · Jan 28, 2013

I have a mixed reef, predominantly SPS. I use kalk in my top off @ 2 tsp. per gallon, and two part to keep up with my systems demand. My pH this time of year is running between 8.0 and 8.1, due to higher levels of CO2 in the house with the windows and doors closed in this cold weather.

creefer · Jan 28, 2013

Right now I'm running 8.2-8.3 during the day, slightly lower during the evening. I've seen a drop in alk over a 3 day period and want to better control it. Been thinking about a doser in lieu of manual dosing but manual will do for now. Thanks for the responses.

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Davinci · Jan 28, 2013

yeah and the depletion of alk in a system stays pretty constant so its all about setting up a reggiment. It will change over time as new coral gets added, corla grows, etc. but with constant testing you can stay on top of everything. once your reef gets more sps dominated and the cost to maintain calcium and alk gets pretty pricey, then it might be more financially practical to get a reactor to supplement the bulk of the calcium and alk with you fine tuning it with manual dosing.

creefer · Jan 28, 2013

Yeah.....I had a big alk swing that took out a few nice SPS colonies. Then found AEFW...took care of that I think. Now I'm focusing on stability. Things were going great until the big swing. I think for now I'll keep the Kalk reactor going and supplement with 2 part manually since I've already calculated consumption. It's an easy issue to solve at this point, but as the system grows, this too will change. I'm likely going to get a tripple doser sometime this year so I can automate the 2 part supplement. I'm also going to put the ATO on a timer with the RKL so most of the top off occurs later in the day / evening so I can better control the inevitable evening pH swing. I think this will help greatly. I really don't want to set up a Ca reactor on this system. Maybe when I upgrade, which is planned for 2 years from now, but even then I don't want to do so unless it's absolutely necessary.