hammondegge Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 with all the recent posts on PH i figured that i may give this question some life. My PH has been swinging from 7.85 in the morning to a high of 8.1 in the evenings. i would ideally like to see it closer to 8.1 in the AM and 8.3 in the PM. though i imagine the first question should be. should i even bother considering the stability of the alk and calc. calcium stays at 420-450 and alk at 11dkh. i am inclined to leave it alone. I do run a reverse photo period in the sump. I dose Randy's 2part (recipe 1 for low ph systems) with a dosing pump running 20ml/hour from 11pm to 11am - that seems like a lot doesnt it? thats about 8 ounces per part per day, but the tank eats it. I top-off with a tank of RO/DI and Kalk, mixed every 8 hours with a powerhead and topped off as needed by float valve. I have tried to feed the skimmer air from outside of the house without an appreciable effect. 55 gallon (shallow) tank phosban reactor tunze skimmer 2x 150 MH w/ Phoenix 14k 1/3 hp chiller set at 79 controlled with a Medussa 2 stage controller Am - 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 Phosphate <5 The tank is heavily stocked with fish, corals, and inverts and i feed pretty heavily twice a day with a homemade Borneman type recipe. I have considered adding some airstones to the sump or reducing the calcium level. or........?? What would you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 My first question is how are you measuring the PH? Have you double checked it with another means of testing? ~7.9 to 8.1 is good range to me, but I do understand the desire to keep it closer to constant. A calcium reactor could do that and (usually) eliminates the need to dose a 2 part. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammondegge Posted July 10, 2006 Author Share Posted July 10, 2006 thanks ed, i have a laboratory grade ph monitor that gets calibrated about once a month. every now and then i check it against a test kit to make sure that the dogs havent spun the dials on me. I will be replacing the 2part with a calcium reactor when i set up the 200 gallon tank, but i want to stay with the 2part until then. i am most confused that the PH has not followed the alk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedude Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 One confusing thing to remember is that carbonate hardness and alkalinity are not the same thing. Now, I need to read more into this as well but alkalinity is the ability for calcium and magnesium to stay in suspension in the water column. Carbonate hardness is the ability to keep PH constant. Might be worth asking Randy over at RC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammondegge Posted July 10, 2006 Author Share Posted July 10, 2006 i did not know that. i was thinking that dkh was just one way of measuring alk. i understand the difference between alkaline and alkalinity. how do you measure your alk john? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedude Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 Well I have an alkalinity test get (just a stupid one) and if I get real interested I'll go get it Salifert tested by one of my friends. That being said, I also have a carbonate hardness test made by seachem that doubles as a magnesium test. Pretty useful little test kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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