Raising PH with Limewater

[Cory]

My tank needs about 400ml's daily to keep parameters. It was just beyond reasonable to keep with that amount both for my sanity of having to make it and dollar wise.

Wow i really cant say what to use here. Bigger and more skimming might help, but youll need something with tons of air intake like a beckett skimmer or something with tons of air draw. But first id check your co2 in the basement with a tester to be safe.

 

[Huskymaniac]

Wow i really cant say what to use here. Bigger and more skimming might help, but youll need something with tons of air intake like a beckett skimmer or something with tons of air draw. But first id check your co2 in the basement with a tester to be safe.

I just ordered a co2 meter so will see what is going on. Will be here Wednesday and I will report the results.

 

[Huskymaniac]

Wow i really cant say what to use here. Bigger and more skimming might help, but youll need something with tons of air intake like a beckett skimmer or something with tons of air draw. But first id check your co2 in the basement with a tester to be safe.

Was looking at something like this that puts out 3 times the output of what I have now.

SM257 Monzter DC Internal Protein Skimmer

BRS Recommended for tanks up to: Heavy Bioload (Most Common) - 225 gallons Medium Bioload - 300gallons Light Bioload - 400 gallons The Skimz SM257 DC Internal Protein Skimmer gives you high performance skimming at a great value. Adjustable QuietPro QPS9.0 pump is housed within the skimmer body...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

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[Miller535]

I don't think the issue is co2 in the room. I think the problem is co2 from the cal reactor. Theoretically a larger skimmer would push more 02 into the tank and if paired with a scrubber should boost that even more. Atleast I think.

Test your theory with an air stone then. That way you're not spending hundreds of dollars on something that may or may not work.

 

[Miller535]

Randy in one of his articles even had a method of testing it with just a air pump and a glass of tank water. Can't remeber exactly how though

 

[Huskymaniac]

Test your theory with an air stone then. That way you're not spending hundreds of dollars on something that may or may not work.

Wouldn't the airstone just blow off some extra co2. The skimmer would be injecting and saturating the tank with o2?

 

[Miller535]

Found the article, towards the bottom he had a easy "airation test".

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/

 

[Miller535]

Wouldn't the airstone just blow off some extra co2. The skimmer would be injecting and saturating the tank with o2?

No, he describes your problem in his aricle

 

[Huskymaniac]

Found the article, towards the bottom he had a easy "airation test".

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/

Doing that test would just tell their is co2 in the water. There definitly is for the ph to drop like that but that test wouldn't tell me if its comming from the reactor or the air.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Doing that test would just tell their is co2 in the water. There definitly is for the ph to drop like that but that test wouldn't tell me if its comming from the reactor or the air.

You do the test with indoor and outdoor air.

That tells you what you need to know: if more aeration alone helps,oor if you need lower CO2 air (say, from outside or from a scrubber).

A bigger skimmer alone will most often be no help.

 

[Huskymaniac]

You do the test with indoor and outdoor air.

That tells you what you need to know: if more aeration alone helps,oor if you need lower CO2 air (say, from outside or from a scrubber).

A bigger skimmer alone will most often be no help.

I'll do that now and report back in a bit.

 

[Miller535]

Doing that test would just tell their is co2 in the water. There definitly is for the ph to drop like that but that test wouldn't tell me if its comming from the reactor or the air.

It wouldn't tell you if it was coming from the reactor or the air, but a few comments up you were sure it was coming from the reactor. That's why I was suggesting randy's test. Because it would confirm the excess co2 and would show you if more o2 would help

 

[Huskymaniac]

It wouldn't tell you if it was coming from the reactor or the air, but a few comments up you were sure it was coming from the reactor. That's why I was suggesting randy's test. Because it would confirm the excess co2 and would show you if more o2 would help

Randy's idea will work. Aerate water in the same room as tank and do the same outside. If the results are the same it's from the reactor. If they go up higher outside than inside its co2 in the air.

 

[Huskymaniac]

@Randy Holmes-Farley just finished the aeration test inside next to the tank. PH went up to 8.2 from 7.7. Do I even need to do the outside test? Now how do I fix this? Oversize the skimmer pulling in more o2? Right now according to my trident my alk is in the mid 8's and calcium is a little over 500. Should I add something like redsea alk to increase the alkalinty to 10 or so? Can I add alk portion of the 2 part without adding cal and not having calcium bottom out?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

@Randy Holmes-Farley just finished the aeration test inside next to the tank. PH went up to 8.2 from 7.7. Do I even need to do the outside test? Now how do I fix this? Oversize the skimmer pulling in more o2? Right now according to my trident my alk is in the mid 8's and calcium is a little over 500. Should I add something like redsea alk to increase the alkalinty to 10 or so? Can I add alk portion of the 2 part without adding cal and not having calcium bottom out?

No need to do the outside test to know that more aeration somehow will raise the pH. I would not add alk just to raise the pH as that will mostly be a temporary fix.

Have a sump? Is it covered? Maybe drop an airstone in it, or open it.

 

[Huskymaniac]

No need to do the outside test to know that more aeration somehow will raise the pH. I would not add alk just to raise the pH as that will mostly be a temporary fix.

Have a sump? Is it covered? Maybe drop an airstone in it, or open it.

It's open. I will drop an airstone in there and report back.

 

[Cory]

If co2 from the reactor is the problem, maybe have the exit go through a skimmer chamber somehow to offgas it first.

 

[Huskymaniac]

If co2 from the reactor is the problem, maybe have the exit go through a skimmer chamber somehow to offgas it first.

So I was able to get the PH up to 7.79 overnight. I took the lid off the protein skimmer and ran the reactor effluent tube down the skimmer cup into the chamber. Not sure if it will prevent my skimmer from skimming though.

 

[Cory]

So I was able to get the PH up to 7.79 overnight. I took the lid off the protein skimmer and ran the reactor effluent tube down the skimmer cup into the chamber. Not sure if it will prevent my skimmer from skimming though.

Wow thats better. You could drill a hole in the lid or make a 3d printed lid if you know how or someone who can. Or buy abother later on.

I wonder with a bigger skimmer with more airflow you might be able to solve this problem like this?

 

[Huskymaniac]

Wow thats better. You could drill a hole in the lid or make a 3d printed lid if you know how or someone who can. Or buy abother later on.

I wonder with a bigger skimmer with more airflow you might be able to solve this problem like this?

I think it may. I guess the more I can de-gas the effluent the higher the PH will be. A larger skimmer with higher output technically would be pulling in more air and more turnover. I am curious to see if the this is the best improvement I can get or if it will get better over a few days.