Ph 7.8 to 8.0 NORMAL?
 

Is normal to have ph 7.8 to 8.0?
I use a calcium reactor. My output from the reactor is 6.5 and a dkh of 33.
It is a single chamber. anyways to raise the ph of my tank without adding kalkwasser?
now i am not dosing kalk..
Is it usefull to add a separate second chamber to the output of the calcium reactor? what media do you put there?
any ideas are welcome..
thanks

That's a bit low. What is the dkh of your tank water?

dkh
 

thanks for your reply.
I try to mantain between 10 and 12 dkh.
Normally never drops from 10.
I pass 3ml for minute from my reactor. If I pass more I see that the ph of my tank drops.
if I shut down the reactor for 1 day I can see the ph rises...
Is this normal?
Current the output of my reactor is 6.5

I'd either reduce the CO2 slightly, or best yet, add a secondary reactor chamber to soak up that excess CO2 and add even more Ca.

secondary cahmber
 

Ok. I was thinking in trying a secondary chamber.
can this second chamber be separatly of the main reactor? Or it has to be in line and have the same ph?
Can I just use the output of the reactor and let it pass to this second chamber?
thanks
diego

Yup, feed the output into the secondary chamber ;)

wrongs readings!!
 

Hello billsreef:
Sorry!! but I have write down bad readings!!!
The alk of my reactor output is 17 dkh when it is in ph 6.7 and,
and 19dkh in ph 6.5.
I have been maintaining the ph of the reactor in 6.7 and the dkh is 17, (test 4 times) but this seems not to be enough to maintain in my reef the alk.
one week ago I correct the alk to 13 dkh(adding suplements) and now I have the alk in 8dkh!!! (the reactor was all the week in 6.7 with 17dkh output).
I am passing 5ml minute.
reactor too small?
thanks for your help.
diego

I calc reactor runs the same perameters. how are ya corals doing?

i added a kalk reactor. it helped with the alk and brought up the pH. i know thats not what you want to hear though after you just set up a calcium reactor, that you should get a kalk reactor as well.

Add that second chamber ;)

You may be looking at this backwards.

Your thinking you need to maintain your DKH at 10 but in so doing your adding more C02 to your system.

A DKH of 7 is more inline with natural seawater. Try adjusting the tank to 7 and see what happens to your pH.

Also. I was able to bring my pH up by running the hose from my skimmer to the outside. Seems there was too much C02 in my house.

Hope this helps.

put in some buffer

I'm having the same issue as well, but my ph drops to 7.65 first thing in the morning. So I may be looking for a Kalk reactor to use, but really don't want to get extra equipment and extra equipment. I'd like to hear some other suggests. One I haven't tried yet is to get a collection cup like a store uses to catch fish, hang it on the side of my sump, let it fill w/the effluent and run over and place a good sized oxygen stone and bubble it to try and bleed off co2. Any other suggestions?

my ph is 7.6 all year just about, cuz in the summer my windows are closed with ac and in winter they are closed, my tank is fine, so not sure id worry but thats me..............i do run ozone tho

Unless your alkalinity is very high, or your pH measurement is off, I'd worry strongly about pH 7.6. Calcium carbonate (read coral skeletons) in normal seawater will slowly dissolve under those conditions.

my corals grow slow but i dont have room for any more equipment, so it is what it is...............4 yrs , so far so good, if it starts to decline ill have to tear her down...........or go to fowlr

Maybe the pH is higher than you think. :)

my ph is on the low side too (7.9) and my alk near 13. My tank is new and before I put my calcium reactor online I need to get my ph to 8.3 and alk to 9 or so. whats the best way to do it?

Sometimes with fowlr you'll get a build up of nutrients that will lower pH. I put in a degassing system (basically a wet dry) to help get rid of some of the CO2. I saw a vast improvement. It took some buffer to get things up to normal 8.3, but I have not seen a decline since.