Raising ph?

Fishfinder · Oct 8, 2017

I know there are a couple ways to do this. I know there's kalk, running a refugium, and CO2 scrubber. Any other options?

Ocelaris · Oct 8, 2017

Fresh air works too, similar to the co2 scrubber. When I have the windows open in the basement I get a full half point pH higher. That's not a permanent solution, but higher alkalinity is usually the cheapest besides kalkwasser.

Fishfinder · Oct 8, 2017

Leaving windows open isn't an option for me. Way too hot outside. I wish I could do that

DSC reef · Oct 8, 2017

What does your ph average now and what test are you using to measure?

moiy24 · Oct 8, 2017

Refugium and run your skimmer line outside, also surface agitation can help

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 9, 2017

Fishfinder said:
I know there are a couple ways to do this. I know there's kalk, running a refugium, and CO2 scrubber. Any other options?

Not many more. I discuss pH solutions here:

pH And The Reef Aquarium
http://www.reefedition.com/ph-and-the-reef-aquarium/

DSmithZ28 · Oct 9, 2017

My PH was at 7.7-7.8 then I added Kalk and it went up to 8.0-8.1. Then I added gfo and carbon reactors and it went to 8.3-8.4. I didn't think gfo would raise ph but that's all I did different. I guess I zapped the nutrients and raised it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 9, 2017

DSmithZ28 said:
My PH was at 7.7-7.8 then I added Kalk and it went up to 8.0-8.1. Then I added gfo and carbon reactors and it went to 8.3-8.4. I didn't think gfo would raise ph but that's all I did different. I guess I zapped the nutrients and raised it.

I'm not sure why yours raised and I'm not even sure it was caused by what you did as opposed to some other coincident event. Binding phosphate won't raise pH.

Binding organics before they decompose to CO2 will raise pH, but I'm skeptical that the effect is large enough to detect in a reef aquarium.

DSC reef · Oct 9, 2017

I would think keeping the ph you have stable versus chasing a number is more important. My ph never goes above 8 and I only had issues when I kept trying to raise it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 9, 2017

DSC reef said:
I would think keeping the ph you have stable versus chasing a number is more important. My ph never goes above 8 and I only had issues when I kept trying to raise it.

Why do you think pH stability is more desirable?

Corals seem to grow faster at higher pH, even if only at the higher pH for part of the day.

We had a lengthy thread discussing the literature evidence of pH effects on calcification by corals, but I can't find it now.

DSC reef · Oct 9, 2017

I found more of a swing constantly dosing trying to raise ph versus leaving it where it is constantly. I will say the ph has been better switching from me coral to aquavitro but in my my tank chasing numbers caused more issues. Every tank is different. The corals are growing at fast rate and colors are good, keeping it simple has been working better for me is all I'm saying. I'm not trying to debate chemistry randy. Sometimes people think they have a ph problem when it's an acceptable range to begin with. Not knowing what the OP's ph to begin with, were kinda just spinning wheels anyway.

Fishfinder · Oct 9, 2017

Mine is low.... 7.7

I'm going to swap my 2 part out for kalk and see if that gets it up

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 9, 2017

DSC reef said:
I found more of a swing constantly dosing trying to raise ph versus leaving it where it is constantly. I will say the ph has been better switching from me coral to aquavitro but in my my tank chasing numbers caused more issues. Every tank is different. The corals are growing at fast rate and colors are good, keeping it simple has been working better for me is all I'm saying. I'm not trying to debate chemistry randy. Sometimes people think they have a ph problem when it's an acceptable range to begin with. Not knowing what the OP's ph to begin with, were kinda just spinning wheels anyway.

I'm not saying corals won't grow and thrive at any pH above about 7.8, and great tanks e=xist at pH 7.8, but the evidence doesn't support pH stability being the important factor in coral growth.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 9, 2017

Fishfinder said:
Mine is low.... 7.7

I'm going to swap my 2 part out for kalk and see if that gets it up

That's seems a fine plan.

Fishfinder · Oct 9, 2017

I dont have any deathly problems except for the horribly slow stony coral growth

DSC reef · Oct 9, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I'm not saying corals won't grow and thrive at any pH above about 7.8, and great tanks e=xist at pH 7.8, but the evidence doesn't support pH stability being the important factor in coral growth.

I'm not understanding how ph stability isn't an important factor with a reef tank, not jyst growing coral. I strive for stability in the tank. I'll have to check out some articles, not trying to be argumentative.

DSmithZ28 · Oct 9, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I'm not sure why yours raised and I'm not even sure it was caused by what you did as opposed to some other coincident event. Binding phosphate won't raise pH.

Binding organics before they decompose to CO2 will raise pH, but I'm skeptical that the effect is large enough to detect in a reef aquarium.

I know I don’t understand it either but that was the chain of events as they happened.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 9, 2017

DSC reef said:
I'm not understanding how ph stability isn't an important factor with a reef tank, not jyst growing coral. I strive for stability in the tank. I'll have to check out some articles, not trying to be argumentative.

I guess I'd turn it around and ask why it would be? pH is not "stable" in the ocean. It diurnally varies quite a lot of many environments that corals thrive in.

Low pH is clearly an issue for growth of at least some hard corals, and you can raise it for some of the day or all of the day and get an improvement in growth rates (at least, that is what is published in the scientific literature).

Personally, I'd try to keep it at a higher pH all the time, but some of the time seems better than none of the time.

rkpetersen · Oct 9, 2017

I was having an awful time trying to keep alk up in a reasonable range while doing manual dosing. Even though I was doing careful smallish 2 part dosing into the sump, sometimes the short-term pH swings recorded by the Apex would still be excessive, and the overall pH remained too low. It just got to be ridiculous. When I got a doser and started doing small frequent doses alternating alk and calc, day and night, the pH just smoothly came up into the 8.2 range and now I just seem some diurnal variation. I suspect I was getting a fair bit of invisible abiotic precipitation with the manual dosing. If you're not using a doser with your 2 part, you might try that first before switching to kalk.