I set up a Avast Marine Kalk reactor/stirrer about 2 weeks ago. My tank is 3 months old. My KH started to drop as I added a few corals. I've already made it through the ugly stage. I had green algae brown algae diatoms blah blah blah. KH level is stable at 8.7 and my calcium and magnesium are staying pretty stable 440 and 1320. My question is my pH goes from 8.15 to 8.3 from midnight to about 1:00 in the afternoon when my lights are ramping up. I dose 600 mL out of my Kalk and reactor from midnight till 12:00 noon. When I set up the calc reactor/ I put in one cup of Kalkwasser. There is a place to put a pH probe on the calc reactor should I add more kalkwasser so my pH will go up? I thought it was supposed to raise my pH to about 8.3 to 8.4 and keep it there?
Kalk reactor and pH level
- Thread starter Bogartus
- Start date
8.3 to 8.4 is Ideal for faster growth Kalk will only saturate so much. ph is dependent on a lot of different things.
good article....
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php
good article....
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php
I think it’s very unlikely that your Alk would drop by adding some corals after 3 months. SPS and coralline algae suck up Alk but not softies, which I assumed that’s what you started with. I suspect it may be a testing error? You’re doing Trident, Alkatronic, Hanna, Salifert, or???
With respect to pH — you can peg it as high as 8.6 w/o any issues. Mine peaked at 8.5 on a good day with new CO2 scrubber media. However, given it’s a relatively new tank, my recommendation is to stick with stable alk and “chase” pH as a bonus. How are you stabilizing alk — 2-part, water change, or CaRx?
With respect to pH — you can peg it as high as 8.6 w/o any issues. Mine peaked at 8.5 on a good day with new CO2 scrubber media. However, given it’s a relatively new tank, my recommendation is to stick with stable alk and “chase” pH as a bonus. How are you stabilizing alk — 2-part, water change, or CaRx?
The spot for the ph prob in the reactor is to measure if the kalk is fully saturated in the ro water. dont quote me but I think the PH of Fully saturated Kalk water is around 12.5 at 80F. so when you see the ph drop in the reactor you need to add more powder.
Do a search on Chris Meckley of ACI Aquaculture .. he has some pretty good videos about Kalk dosing as well.
Do a search on Chris Meckley of ACI Aquaculture .. he has some pretty good videos about Kalk dosing as well.
You have a little wiggle room on your paramaters so you could up the dose on your saturated Kalk if you have not capped out on how much you are evaporating off a day. If you have exceeded how much you are evaporating you could add a fan over the top of the surface of the water to increase evaporation.
But your ph is pretty good.... I would leave it alone and not chase numbers... stability is more important. But that is just me.
But your ph is pretty good.... I would leave it alone and not chase numbers... stability is more important. But that is just me.
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