Bringing PH up.

[tanker]

A friend of mine has a "semi-reef" tank. He has mostly fish with some mushrooms and zoos. He has never tested his ph (at least not in a while). I tested last week and it was at 7.6
WOW!!!! I told him he needs to get PH up. Well he just called me and he said he went to LFS and they sold him "REEF CRYSTALS"--I have never heard of it and have never used it. Is it any good, will it work?? I told him to buy some baking soda and mix some with his make-up water. Am I right??

I tested my PH and it is at 8.0--So I am happy :)

[Maxxumless]

Reef Crystals is a salt mix made by the people (Marineland) that make Instant Ocean. It is highly buffered due to its high concentration of calcium. Yes, it probably would eventually do the job, but an additive would have done the job for less money and a whole lot less effort.

[mardemp]

He may want to drip kalk at night to increase his pH. Is it due to the use of a calcium reactor???

[Maxxumless]

Oh, I forgot. Adding baking soda will raise alkalinity, so more testing (calcium and alkalinity) would be advised.

[dchao]

Originally posted by Maxxumless
It is highly buffered due to its high concentration of calcium. No, reef crystal has very high calcium concentration, hence, low alkalinity / buffering capacity (it's one or the other). If you have a FO or FOWLR, when calcium is not critical, it's much cheaper to buy the original Instant Ocean. IO has a more average ratio of mix between alk and calcium.

Why pay more for that extra calcium you don't need?

[Maxxumless]

Originally posted by dchao
No, reef crystal has very high calcium concentration, hence, low alkalinity / buffering capacity (it's one or the other). If you have a FO or FOWLR, when calcium is not critical, it's much cheaper to buy the original Instant Ocean. IO has a more average ratio of mix between alk and calcium.

Why pay more for that extra calcium you don't need?

Yes, it does have higher calcium, thus it requires more buffering to maintain stable alk readings. I regularly have 9dKH alkalinity readings with Reef Crystals at 1.025 and calcium at 480mg/L.

However, adjusting pH using a buffer (pH additive) can potentially cause more problems, particularly if it is being caused by high nutrients in the water. Therefore, like you, I would just do more water changes. :) (Note: I would also do more frequent maintenance on mechanical and chemical filtration as well to get at the root of the problem.)

[bertoni]

I think you should have your friend look at this article:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

The brand of salt is fairly irrelevant in this case.

[tanker]

Originally posted by bertoni
I think you should have your friend look at this article:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

The brand of salt is fairly irrelevant in this case.

Thanks. Good info. :)