Ways to keep your pH up?

[epidemic]

So what are some ways to keep your pH up when using a calcium reactor?
* I "know" that Kalk is a good plan, but for me it is hard to be consistent with that.
* I "know" good air exchanging can help get rid of ambient CO2 which can help.
* I was thinking a refugium could work to consume excess CO2 like a planted tank...

Any other ideas or suggestions?

[David Grigor]

You summed it up. That's your three options........

No matter how hard you try there will always be CO2 suppression.

1. Summer time, good aeration and open windows would help. Doubtful you will able to keep very high PH levels with that alone and would be an issue in wintertime without a fresh air exhanger.

2. Refugium can also help offset but again depending on the size of refugium in relation to your show tank will likely not be enough.

3. If you have the money for a Reactor, it shouldn't be too hard to justify another $70 for a dosing pump for Kalkwasser/topoff and be done.


Having said all that, good alkalinity and a wait and see just what your PH levels settle out to be. If your at least hitting the 8s during th evening hours, you likely would be just fine as is. I know the high PH aids in calcification but just how much are we talking I don't know anyone can actually say.......I would strive for a high PH but wouldn't put a whole lot of money into it.

[epidemic]

Where can I find a $70 dosing pump? I am getting a hell of a deal on the reactor. I will likely use my RK2 to like the solenoid to the tank pH rather than to the effluent pH. My tank is mainly LPS, but Iam getting the reactor to keep my Alk stable so I get better SPS color. I just cant keep up with manual dosing. Ill do it for a while and stop for a while, I just want the tank to be more stable in general.

[David Grigor]

Ryan has them twopartsolution.com Your going to want the higher RPM model $79. Not for sure the syntax with a RK2 but want set it to come on X times a day based on your evaporation rate and the ML per minute of the pump. Keep in mind the 8000hour motor life so try to keep the time to 2 hours or less per day the pump is on and should last 10+ years.

I use the AC Jr. with mine and have it set to come on when the lights go out and osc 1 minute on and 5 minutes off through out the whole night. My Ph never goes below 8.2 ( when I remember to refill the bucket with Kalk before it runs empty )

To keep exact, can also use a float switch in conjuction, and just calculate the interval on/off that closely matches but just a little over for redundancy purposes. Plus can use the PH high as redundancy as well.

[mattb]

You could run a second media chamber to further elevate the pH of the effluent. Bob @ reefmania made me a real nice one for only a like more than the pump that David referenced.

As far as good gas exchange provided by an open window. An alternative is to vent your air intake to your skimmer outside. This will be (obviously) dependent upon how much air your skimmer sucks in, but more importantly, how many times your skimmer processes your tank.

[epidemic]

The reactor I got has two chambers,

[REEFSTOCK]

Hobby terms
Calc reactror
Kalk reactor (neilson reactor)

not the same.

[epidemic]

I see, a different media chamber