works like a charm

[reef & potito]

Dear Randy:


I followed your advise re: the use of baking soda to increase alkalinity and it worked like a charm. wow. Buffers never did much for me.

You may remember that earlier today, you answered

my question re: raising calcium quickly and stated that it would take very large amounts of kent turbo calcium to raise my very low calcium reading of 220ppm.

I've decide for the time being that Kalwasser will be my choice of calcium supplementation. I would like to purchase a calcium reactor some day, but I am unable to do so at the present.

So here's my question. I would like to dose Kalkwasser 24/7. I have only been doing it a night, since my ph has been reaching 8.3-8.5 during the day. How much distilled white vinegar should I add to one gallon of water w/one tablespoon of kalkwasser to lower or at least not raise ph? In fact, during the day, I would like to add vinegar to actually lower by .3 to .5.

thank you,

Jamie

[reef & potito]

Dear Randy:


Would it also be okay to add the vinegar to the same, one gallon plastic dispenser that I'm using to drip kalkwasser? (therefore mixing kalk, and vinegar together?)

also, is it okay to dose vinegar directly to the sump should I want to lower ph? Or should I dilute with filtered water before adding to sump?

jamie

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO, the pH of 8.3 to 8.5 is just fine, and I wouldn't add viengar to lower it.

However, if you still choose to do so, this article has details on doses. Yes, it it OK to put it directly into the limewater. It is also OK to add it directly to a sump.

High pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.htm

from it:


"Solutions to pH Problems

Some solutions to pH problems are peculiar to a specific cause, such as adding vinegar to limewater, or using less of it. Some general solutions, however, are frequently effective. My recommendations on how to deal with high pH problems are detailed below.

The most benign way to reduce high pH is to aerate the water more. Whether the aquarium looks well-aerated or not, if the pH is above 8.5 and the alkalinity is not above 4 meq/L, then the aquarium is not fully equilibrated with carbon dioxide in the air. Equilibrating carbon dioxide can be much more difficult than equilibrating oxygen. Air contains very little carbon dioxide (about 350 ppm) relative to oxygen (210,000 ppm). Consequently, a lot more air needs to be driven through the water to introduce the same amount of carbon dioxide as oxygen. Perfect aeration will solve nearly any high pH problem, and will rarely cause any problem of its own.

That said, sufficient aeration is not always easily attained, and other methods can be useful. These other methods are:

A. Direct addition of carbon dioxide. Bottled soda water (seltzer) can be used to instantly reduce aquarium pH. Be sure to select unflavored soda water, and check the ingredients to be sure it doesn't contain anything that should be avoided (phosphate, etc). Many manufacturers list water and carbon dioxide as the only ingredients.

I recommend adding 6 mL of soda water per gallon of tank water to reduce pH by about 0.3 units. Add it to a high flow area away from organisms (such as in a sump). The local pH where it first is added will be very low. Going about this procedure slowly is better than proceeding too fast. If you do not have a sump, add it especially slowly. Some soda water may have more, or less, carbon dioxide in it, and the lower the aquarium's alkalinity, the larger will be the pH drop. Also, the higher the pH, the smaller will be the pH drop, because the buffering of seawater declines steadily as the pH drops from about 9 to 7.5.

B. Direct addition of vinegar. Commercial distilled white vinegar (typically 5% acetic acid or "5% acidity") can be used to instantly reduce aquarium pH. Do not use wine vinegars as they may contain undesirable organics in addition to the acetic acid.

I recommend adding 1 mL of distilled white vinegar per gallon of tank water to initially reduce pH by about 0.3 units. Once again, add it to a high flow area away from organisms (such as in a sump). The local pH where it first is added will be very low. Going about this procedure slowly is better than proceeding too fast. If you do not have a sump, add it especially slowly. The lower the aquarium's alkalinity, the larger will be the pH drop. Also, the higher the pH, the smaller will be the pH drop, because the buffering of seawater declines steadily as the pH drops from about 9 to 7.5. Remember, there may be an additional, later drop in pH as the vinegar is metabolized to carbon dioxide.

C. Addition of vinegar via limewater. Commercial distilled white vinegar can be used to reduce tank pH by adding it to limewater that is subsequently added to the aquarium. Do not use wine vinegars as they may contain undesirable organics in addition to the acetic acid. A reasonable dose to start with is 45 ml of vinegar per gallon of limewater."