Ph 8.06 is an issue>>>>???

[LuckySingh]

hi i hve never bothered raising my ph...
at night its around 8.05 to 8.08 and in morning is little over 8.1...
is it a big deal..??? do i need to raise it up..all my live stock is healthy and never had any problem..
my other tank parameters r

alk 9.5 to 10.5 dkh
calcium 1450
salt 1.026 to 1.027
temp 76 to 79 varies..

[Gseclipse02]

i try to keep a higher ph than 7.8 i tend not to..... it always stays low i gave up on trying to make it go up

[LuckySingh]

i try to keep a higher ph than 7.8 i tend not to..... it always stays low i gave up on trying to make it go up
jt i know what u r saying...8.06 is not bad atall only if its constant...but what i am asking is most reefers like to run around 8.2 to 8.3...and thy tend to post threads if it goes below 8.2 to figure whats goin on and to raise back to 8.3 or even 8.4....
I was wondering if anyone has experience any ill effect on their live stock if their ph drops around 8....and how bad was the effect??

[Troy Valentine]

Mine goes from 8.0 to 8.4 on a 10hr photo period. When I was running a calcium reactor with a constant effluent stream it was 7.7 to 8.1. This got me alittle nervous so I stopped using the reactor.

[LuckySingh]

Mine goes from 8.0 to 8.4 on a 10hr photo period. When I was running a calcium reactor with a constant effluent stream it was 7.7 to 8.1. This got me alittle nervous so I stopped using the reactor.
thats a big swing... is it every day during the photo period??hve u noice any change in ur live stock when it happen like this

[Troy Valentine]

The swing on this tank is very consistant, unlike my 60 corner which is very stable 8.1-8.2. I'm sure this is due to the amount of life in the 240. Recently I increased refugium lighting to 300 watts on a reverse photo cycle. We'll see if this changes things.

[Europhyllia]

I keep mine at 8.1 day and night. I like stability.
I don't worry too much about being 'low'.
Under 8 would worry me but 8.0 and up -nah doesn't bother me.
Here's a good article by Holmes Farley:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.php

As a goal, I'd suggest that the pH of natural seawater, about 8.2, is appropriate, but reef aquaria can clearly operate in a wider range of pH values. In my opinion, the pH range from 7.8 to 8.5 is an acceptable range for reef aquaria, with several caveats. These are:

That the alkalinity is at least 2.5 meq/L, and preferably higher at the lower end of this pH range. This statement is based partly on the fact that many reef aquaria operate quite effectively in the pH 7.8 to 8.0 range, but that most of the best examples of these types of tanks incorporate calcium carbonate/carbon dioxide reactors that, while tending to lower the pH, keep the carbonate alkalinity fairly high (at or above 3 meq/L.). In this case, any problems associated with calcification at these lower pH values (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/apr2002/chem.htm) may be offset by the higher alkalinity. Low pH primarily stresses calcifying organisms by making it harder for them to obtain sufficient carbonate to deposit skeletons. Raising the alkalinity mitigates this difficulty for reasons that are detailed later in this article.

[Mr Cob]

the heavily stocked frag tank swings from 8.1-8.4 daily.

My small 55g personal tank is 8.1-8.2 daily.

Seems I have the same results as Troy.

[Europhyllia]

My tank would swing too if I didn't have it on a controller with kalkwasser that comes on when pH dips below 8.0

[Troy Valentine]

My tank would swing too if I didn't have it on a controller with kalkwasser that comes on when pH dips below 8.0

Interesting... Do you dose kalk throughout the day, Or is it only dosed at night when the ph drops the most? Is it connected through your ATO?

[Europhyllia]

It's separate from my ATO since my need for kalk might be less than my need for top off water.
The Reefkeeper only turns on the aqualifter pump that draws the kalkwasser if the pH drops below the set point and shuts it back off when the pH is back at that point. That usually happens in the early morning hours.
The dosing is linked to the pH monitor though not to time or water volume(as in top off)

[kkiel02]

Karin I have some questions for you regarding that- How often do you calibrate your ph probe with this system? I like the idea but was wondering what happend if it gave you a wrong reading for some reason or do you have some backup for that?
Do you go through aqualifter pumps fairly fast with this? I ask this because in my old Kalk reactor the guy I got it from said that I would have to replace the stirring pump inards every so often.

[Europhyllia]

I do not have a back up in case of the pH probe going wrong other than the kalkwasser container will run empty ;) So it will be a big swing if it dumped the whole thing in but nothing catastrophic (I know this because in the beginning I didn't know that the Aqualifter had to be on a certain RKL channel or else it wouldn't shut off)

I am still on the same Aqualifter pump but every once in awhile I'll have to run some vinegar water through it or replace the tubing. Of course the aqualifter as well as the 1/4 tubing is cheap. But I haven't replaced it yet. Tubing seems to crusty up before anything happens to the aqualifter.

As far as pH probe calibration I just got a bunch of calibration fluid packets the last time I ordered from BRS. I don't find pH probes to be that finicky though. I use the pinpoint brand and they've stayed pretty much right on

[kkiel02]

Cool I just wanted to understand your system better. I got burned using Kalk once as it was on my ATO so I was trying to figure out a better way I could incorporate it.