Randy! Sodium carbonate (c6ont'd)

R6REEFER · Jan 27, 2016

Randy,

Piggy backing off of what we talked about previously, I'm still having a slight issue with my alk when dosing sodium carb. As we went over, my tank was at an alk level of 11.2 dkh. I did a 10% water change and it dropped down to 9.5 dkh. Now, 3 days later, I just tested and it is back up to a steady 11.2 dkh. My tank is primarily a chalice tank so I know this shouldn't be a huge problem for them but I do like to keep anything GARF and Bonsai so I'd like to have it as stable as possible. Right now I have my austin GARF bonsai, regular bonsai, and the legendary GARF purple bonsai making a comeback from a near death experience. Needless to say there's no room for error. I don't have the funds to start 2 part dosing yet, that will be next month. Is there anything I can do to rectify this situation? I'd much rather be at 9.5 dkh but my ph would drop to 7.4. Please let me know what you would do!!

Thanks in advance,

-R6REEFER

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 28, 2016

I'm not sure how the water change could have dropped the alk that much (a 10% change with 0 dKH) water would only drop the alk to 10 dKH), but that's not really the problem.

Low pH is driven by the CO2 in your home air, or in the tank itself. Far more often if is the home air, especially if you have a skimmer.

Do you have a skimmer?

If so, and assuming you cannot bring in more fresh air (either with open windows or an airline to the skimmer inlet), you can put a CO2 scrubber on the skimmer inlet. You can DIY or get a device from a place like BRS, but you need to frequently buy new media for it. It chemically binds the CO2 from the air passing through it.

Limewater (kalkwasser) is also a much better choice for raising pH per unit of alkalintiy than is sodium carboante. So that might be worth a try for you calcium and alkalinity supplementing. I use it.

I'd also double check the pH with new calibration if you have not (sorry, I may be forgetting as there are so many similar situations and threads). pH 7.4 is extraordinarily low, and while not impossible, is among the most extreme I have ever seen (if real).

These have more:

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

Low pH: Causes and Cures by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

R6REEFER · Jan 28, 2016

Yessir my tank isn't anywhere I can draw air from outside, the closest window is behind me in the picture. I do have a skimz 143 on it, I'll look into a C02 scrubber. I thought it was quite odd myself, all my other tanks in previous homes had a natural ph of 7.8 so I never had to supplement. This apartment is brand new and not a lick of fresh air drafts in.

I went ahead and dropped my sodium carb dose from 19 grams per 5 gallons to 17 grams per 5 gallon in the ATO. We'll see what kind of results this yields. I recalibrated the Milwaukee last night and my ph was at a steady 7.9 but that's with the previous dosing. I'm keeping a chart and I'm going to continue dropping the amount of sodium carb until we find a happy medium for now. I can't stretch for any added equipment as of right now.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 29, 2016

If it stays at 7.8 or above, I wouldn't agonize over the pH in such a situation.

R6REEFER · Feb 1, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
If it stays at 7.8 or above, I wouldn't agonize over the pH in such a situation.

Randy I nailed it! I figured out the exact problem. When I woke up my ph was at 7.6 (decreasing the sodium carb tgrew it all out of whack). It's a nice breezy day outside so I opened back door and windows while running a maxijet with an air line into the display. 30 mins later ph was at 7.8. An hour later 8.0. I just checked again and I'm up to 8.2

))

I have a buddy that is selling me a co2 reactor fo fifty bucks with media. Any tips or suggestions? I'll be running it into a Skimz sn143 Monzter mini. I attached a pic of the air silencer which I believe I would run the reactor line to the top inlet, correct?