Durand tank build (1 Viewer)

[reef junkie]

Scored a bicolor hammer and red Goni along with some misc items needed for testing and such.

Items needed for ph test come tomorrow should be able to get it done before the new years festivities begin.

 

[reef junkie]

Ok new rabbit hole.
I want to try using the orp probe location on the apex for my ph. Do i need to do anything diffenet in the apex To get this to read correctly? I already moved the plug to that port and i now read ph at 12 . I assume I need to recalibrate the probe. But do I need to do anything else?

THe circled port is the one im now plugged into.

 

[reef junkie]

Forgot to mention I did turn that orp port on or enabled it as a ph2. So other then recalibrating and plugging my existing ph probe into this location, is there anything else I need to figure in the programming to make this read out correctly. Im seeing if maybe the port is not reading correctly for some weird reason and maybe thats why my ph reads So low.

 

[Varig]

Hey Shawn - So digging up an old post from Dec 8, but back to your co2 levels. Getting my own co2 monitor brought to light the whole “auto calibration” thing. So I figured I’d ask a checking question. Have you calibrated your co2 monitor outside recently? My understanding is that these things calibrate to ~400ppm as the standard for outside air. And the model you have automatically calibrates in the first 24 hrs and then every 7 days. So if you have it permanently in your sump it’s possible it’s calibrated itself to sump co2 level and called that 400ppm?

It claims there is a manual calibration feature. If you haven’t done it I would 100% recommend checking that out. That might help with the pH diagnosis.

If you’re already on top of it, well then I’ll continue to be vexed

 

[spsick]

Hey Shawn - So digging up an old post from Dec 8, but back to your co2 levels. Getting my own co2 monitor brought to light the whole “auto calibration” thing. So I figured I’d ask a checking question. Have you calibrated your co2 monitor outside recently? My understanding is that these things calibrate to ~400ppm as the standard for outside air. And the model you have automatically calibrates in the first 24 hrs and then every 7 days. So if you have it permanently in your sump it’s possible it’s calibrated itself to sump co2 level and called that 400ppm?

It claims there is a manual calibration feature. If you haven’t done it I would 100% recommend checking that out. That might help with the pH diagnosis.

If you’re already on top of it, well then I’ll continue to be vexed

Good point there David! That would def explain why his co2 is always at 400. One of the silly things many of the co2 monitors have for reasons I don’t understand. It makes them ok for spot checking but not continuous monitoring. That’s why I got the Aranet.

 

[Varig]

Right for sure. I actually bought the INKBIRD one. Reviews seemed great and it was on sale for $100. It pairs up with the same app as my temp controllers are on and logs data. And you can turn off auto-calibration. I’ve only had it a day but seems to work well.

I’m very interested to see how much the co2 level fluctuates from day to day. And to see if I can tie the swings to when the furnace is running (more air movement)?

Anyway, interested to see if this is a smoking gun. I just re-read RHF’s big article on pH. It’s complicated but also pretty straightforward. If the co2 is “normal” and you have full agitated water, the pH is directly linked to alkalinity. As co2 increases the pH will drop at that given alkalinity. So it feels like it almost has to be higher than 456. Let’s see what Shawn says.

 

[reef junkie]

Hey Shawn - So digging up an old post from Dec 8, but back to your co2 levels. Getting my own co2 monitor brought to light the whole “auto calibration” thing. So I figured I’d ask a checking question. Have you calibrated your co2 monitor outside recently? My understanding is that these things calibrate to ~400ppm as the standard for outside air. And the model you have automatically calibrates in the first 24 hrs and then every 7 days. So if you have it permanently in your sump it’s possible it’s calibrated itself to sump co2 level and called that 400ppm?

It claims there is a manual calibration feature. If you haven’t done it I would 100% recommend checking that out. That might help with the pH diagnosis.

If you’re already on top of it, well then I’ll continue to be vexed

I have not done that. I’ll do it tomorrow morning. Suppose it helps to read the direction. lol.

 

[reef junkie]

Recalibrated outside.

 

[reef junkie]

With the rest of the house up now.

 

[Varig]

So not crazy high, but making a bit more sense. Out of curiosity, when you manually calibrated did you do it just once or several times? The one review I read said that it uses some sort of rolling average of calibrations, so you might need to do it a couple times. Then, I’m sure you read it, but it just recommended bringing it outside at least one time per week. That way when it does it’s calibration automatically it just uses the “lowest” value for the past 7 days as assuming that is outside.

Anyway, 600-700ppm is at least a little elevated to make sense of somewhat lower pH. But still it seems like yours was crazy low given your kalk and co2 scrubber. Do you have everything back online now? And if so are you back in that 7.9 range or?

 

[reef junkie]

I only recalibrated once. But can try doing it again. See what it shows.

Everting is back up and running. Currently sitting at 7.52 for ph. I ordered new calibration fluid and plan to recalibrate the ph probe in the other port on the apex and then see what I get for readings.

I got my stuff to air stone some water now also will give that a try and see what happens.

 

[Varig]

Very interested to see the results of your airstone experiment. I might do the same just for giggles.

 

[reef junkie]

It’s running now. I also recalibrated the co2 monitor 6 times LOL SHould be good and reset now. LOL

Im curious if the temp difference in the water being outside vs inside warm water will affect the results on the airstone? But im excited to Get the results.

 

[Varig]

I guess if I do it I’m going to aerate outside for awhile, then turn off the airstone and let it warm back up inside. I think if it’s not aerating it’s unlikely you’ll see much change in co2 In the stagnant water?

 

[spsick]

If you have temp correction turned on in the pH probe settings it will adjust automatically.

 

[reef junkie]

Ran 1 hour outside

Brought inside and put probe from tank in water and let it sit 10 min. Oh and after turning on tc. Thanks Ben!

Before test was at 7.55
After 10 min 7.72

And ran co2 after 8 recalibrations. Sitting at the tank 770. And that’s after my wife and I were sitting in the living room near the tank for the hour waiting for outside air test.

Ran the airstone in the house with the same tank water that I originally started with again for 1 hour . I removed the ph probe during test and closed cabinet door.


Reinserted ph probe after 1 hour test. Ph probe freshly removed from display again and inserted into test sample. Ph started at the 7.58. Leaving probe in water for the same 10 min. Ph read pretty quickly at 7.49 but settled at the 7.55 after a min or so.

 

[spsick]

So basically the co2 is lower your pH .18? That’s not that bad and I guess aligns with the co2 not being very high in your house.

Curious, what do you keep you alk at?

 

[reef junkie]

So basically the co2 is lower your pH .18? That’s not that bad and I guess aligns with the co2 not being very high in your house.

Curious, what do you keep you alk at?

I shoot for 8.5.

 

[reef junkie]

On another note. Kingsford starting making ato reservoir’s lol. Perfect fit. Just a little under 8 gallons. And not shoe horned in to fit either. Plenty of room around it in all directions.

 

[reef junkie]

Few things ive learned over the last few days. .

Ph probes only go in the water a few inches. When I picked up this new sump it has probe holders. So not knowing any better I tossed my ph probe right into the holder. Well looking up info on ph and searching fixes for my own low ph i came across a post that talked about probes reading wrong because they were fully submerged. Yep im that guy. LOL Fully submerged ph probe was reading very low. Pulled it out yesterday and set to only 1” into the water and now im reading a lot closer to where I was before getting the new sump. Still not over 8. But we are getting closer.

I also am learning the less stuff I have adding to the return chamber in the sump the more stable the water level is becoming. I pulled the ato line out, as well as the Kalk line. They both dose Closer to the drain line in the sump now and im getting far less changes in the overflow. Still working on getting it exactly where i want with small turns on the gate valve but getting really close.

Those were all my lessons this week. Stay tuned for more of my trials and tribulations LOL Let the saga continue.

Calibration fluid arrives today, Going to try calibrating my existing probe on the other probe port on the apex and see if I get anything different for a reading. And if not this might be the final attempt and wrestling this monkey on my back.

For anyone still following along, the avast plank is working very well in the sump. I did add that small nano power head to keep things moving and because I was getting some film on top of the water but the power head is doing dual duties. I see just a very tiny amount of left over food today, and when I did my water change last Sunday there was a small amount of stuff in that chamber but i just sucked it out quick during the water change. If I had my return pump turned up more the power head may not be needed but this seems to be working great.