Running Kalk Reactor With Calcium Reactor?

[CCK_8814]

Hey all. I’ve been running a calcium reactor for about 5 months now and while I love everything about it I still can’t stop being bothered by how low my pH has gotten. Before adding the calcium reactor, my pH stayed in the 8.2-8.4 range. I ran kalkwasser in my ATO to maintain levels prior to the CaRX. Now that I’ve installed the calcium reactor, my pH never reaches above 7.7 and will drop as low as 7.45 when lights are off. I’ve tried the following:

- Air line from outside to skimmer intake.
- CO2 scrubber w/ CO2 absorption media
- added secondary media chamber to CaRX.
- Run fuge light on reverse cycle
- run small amount of kalk in ATO resovior

My hope is that if I use the Kalk reactor it’ll help push my pH closer to the 8.0 mark. I know chasing pH isn’t good, but this really bothers me and I can definitely notice a difference in color + growth in some of my sps. Is this doable with a low saturation of kalk in the reactor or am I heading for disaster?

 

[rossco]

I have been running a Kalk reactor along with my calcium reactor for years. It is plumbed in line after my ATO. My evaporation rate is about the same year round.

My pH usually hit 8.05-8.1 during the day and drops to 7.8 or so at night. This is about 0.2 more than it was without.

 

[LC8Sumi]

I have been running a Kalk reactor along with my calcium reactor for years. It is plumbed in line after my ATO. My evaporation rate is about the same year round.

My pH usually hit 8.05-8.1 during the day and drops to 7.8 or so at night. This is about 0.2 more than it was without.

Exact same here. Plus I cut the co2 for the reactor when the lights are off.

 

[CCK_8814]

Exact same here. Plus I cut the co2 for the reactor when the lights are off.

Hmm really? That’s interesting, never heard of that approach. I mean corals don’t really consume any alk while lights are off so this makes a lot of sense.

 

[LC8Sumi]

Hmm really? That’s interesting, never heard of that approach. I mean corals don’t really consume any alk while lights are off so this makes a lot of sense.

Some believe they do, and bacteria might also do. But it seems to be working out fine for me. I should measure the alk in the morning though once (I only measure it in the evening)

 

[CCK_8814]

Some believe they do, and bacteria might also do. But it seems to be working out fine for me. I should measure the alk in the morning though once (I only measure it in the evening)

I the KH guardian & a trident so I can measure/monitor fairly easily.