offroadodge Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Offroaddodge, any potential reason the pearlberry was declining? Any recent changes to your system or maintenance routine? well, I turned the skimmer off for about 2wks but don't think that had anything to do with it. During the tank move it took a pretty big hit and the bottom of the colony had died, the top 1/2 came back but the bottom part that was dead started getting a lot of algae growth on it. I think it just choked it out. I gave it 2wks before I finally threw in the towel, I was worried that all the death from the size of the colony may affect other corals in the tank, and when it started to STN from the base on one piece then a lot more I gave in. I didn't wanna chance killing other corals in the tank. Also if anyone knows of a way to keep my PH up when the lights are out chime in, When the tank is lit the PH gets to around 8.2, at night it goes down to 7.53. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Sorry about the loss Jeremy. Its one of my favorite SPS. For what its worth, I typically notice STN around 0.2 ppm PO4 for SPS but different ones are more sensitive than others. I am guessing you run some type of PO4 export system like water changes, refugium, skimmer, or GFO. I wonder if PO4 crept up on you, especially after shutting down the skimmer as your system will have to adjust to the change? For the pH issue, a reverse photoperiod helps out some but its effectiveness is tied to the size of your refugium. The larger, the more effective. Another option is to dose kalk at night. Lastly, you can have your skimmer run at night only to offset some of the pH drop due to buildup of CO2. The skimmer will aerate your water and off gas the CO2 helping to keep your pH from dropping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+olaggie01 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Ty and I have been using some soda lime to increase our pH. I bought a huge bucket of it if you want to try. You use it inline on your skimmer air inlet. Sucks all the CO2 out of the air and only "pure O2" enters the skimmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 That is a large drop in pH when the lights go out. While it is true, that removing carbon dioxide from the skimmer will move you in the right direction, it makes more sense to me to look at the photosynthetic contribution to carbon dioxide. With a large population of corals, when the lights go out, they will respire carbon dioxide. I would use every method I could to assist with air water contact gas exchange at night. 1. Increase surface agitation of water in display tank. 2. Where water flows from display to sump provide as much rubble as possible to increase air water contact. With a pH of 7.5 your aroggonite should be dissolving into the water and offsetting the pH drop. Considering that aragonite will begin to dissolve when the pH drops below 8.1, I would maximize my use of aroggonite. Set up a cannister filter full of aroggonite and run it at night. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 so I run a reverse lighting schedule, fuge light on a night. I also run skimmer 24/7, Carbon and GFO 24/7, I use aragonite in my CA reactor and in the fuge and tank. I have a big wavebox that makes about a 1.5" wave 24/7, and 2x6105 set at 75% power 24/7. Water changes 30Gs every 2 wks. My return is a waterfall style out the back of the tank. The PH has always dropped like this in my new tank. I think that if I can get my PH in check it would solve a lot of my green cyano looking algae problems. I may have to call one of you guys about the Lime, not sure how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Real simple, just a canister that feeds into your skimmer intake (or in your case just an airstone?). As for surface agitation to do gas exchange, that only works if the ambient CO2 in your house is favorable to bring up pH. During time periods where your HVAC isn't running, it's very apparent that the CO2 concentration in your house goes way up which brings the pH down. Of course the pH is principally controlled by your photoperiod, but I'd really give soda lime a shot. It's relatively inexpensive and made an immediate impact on the pH in my tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 The fact that you run a calcium reactor means that you are adding co2 to make carbonic acid to bring your pH down to dissolve your media. With a pH of 7.5 the aroggonite will dissolve on its on without the addittion of CO2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Is your 8.2 to 7.53 pH drop occurring with your skimmer on 24/7? I thought I remember you saying you stopped running the skimmer entirely. Also, what's your calcium reactor effluent pH? Have you tried opening up your windows for a day and airing the house out? If you notice a significant rise in pH (roughly 0.2 or greater) than normal limits, than your ambient CO2 levels in the house are to blame for some of the low pH. I would suggest using Ol' Aggies soda lime to remove CO2 from the air going into your skimmer to counteract that. Perhaps just run your CaRX during the day and shut it off at night? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 could try turning the CaRX off at night but then there would be a flux in KH. I think that I will recalibrate my 2 PH probes and go from there, I guess I don't understand how you run a bucket of soda lime inline with my skimmer, its in the sump and how would u keep it from sucking lime into the air intake? Maybe I shld GOOGLE it, isn't that what im supposed to do...LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 As I made my own calcium reactor, I may be incorrect in the operation of your reactor. In the initial start up of reactor, there is leeway to adjust effluent flow or CO2 input to get effluent pH down. During next lights out, run reactor without CO2 input. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 could try turning the CaRX off at night but then there would be a flux in KH. I think that I will recalibrate my 2 PH probes and go from there, I guess I don't understand how you run a bucket of soda lime inline with my skimmer, its in the sump and how would u keep it from sucking lime into the air intake? Maybe I shld GOOGLE it, isn't that what im supposed to do...LOL http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/29195-ph-and-ambient-outdoor-temperature/page-2 I just used a BRS canister connected to the airline of my skimmer. But you're right, start with calibrating pH probes to eliminate measurement error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 I would imagine most of your carbonate uptake is during the day when the lights are on and not so much at night. I could see potential rises and falls with an only daytime running schedule but I think its impact would be minimal unless you are already maxed out on your CaRX with your current livestock. Either way, just a thought. Calibration of the probes is probably like you said, a good check before you start changing things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted April 5, 2015 Author Share Posted April 5, 2015 may see me with a smaller tank in the near future!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 !! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 I'm back...thus was an adventure when I built this tank. Gonna keep it small for awhile but the love for corals will still show in the new tank that I'm getting. Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 I'm back...thus was an adventure when I built this tank. Gonna keep it small for awhile but the love for corals will still show in the new tank that I'm getting. Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk Ive got plenty of Palmer's Blue to Cut when you're ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Jakedoza Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Nice! I never left.. but I wasn't that active.. so I guess i'm back too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Hey hey! Alright. I got some of that superman montipora you gave me like 5 years ago if you want a piece back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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