Dripping kalk

[cvonseggern]

PH tends to hover around 7.8...it's always been this way and I still don't have all the reasons. I have a small fuge lit 24/7 with grape caulerpa & chaeto growing. I found a while back that my mixed replacement water was showing about the same pH. Aerating for 12 hours or so before mixing it has helped bump that up to around 8 or 8.2, but pH in the tank itself tends to stay stable at 7.8 no matter what time of day.

Don't know what alk is at the moment. I'm going to run out in a little while and get alk/ca kits, which I have not had up until now.

Chris

[Richard]

The two main causes of low ph are 1.) low alkalinity or 2.) elevated CO2 levels.
1.) The alk test will tell you if this is the problem.

2.) Aerate some tank water outdoors for an hour and then check the ph. This will tell you if you have elevated CO2 levels. If your ph increases then you have to figure out why you have elevated CO2 levels. Some typical causes are:

a.) CO2 from Ca reactor. Fix: Turn down CO2 or add a 2nd effluent chamber.
b.) Insufficient aeration in your tank. Fix: Increase circulation. Macro algaes.
c.) Elevated CO2 levels in the room. Fix: Open the windows.

[JimD]

lol, Richard, sorry bout the confusion, Im trying my best to get this concept accross as simple as possible. Some details can be a bit trying untill, "click" is all makes sense. lol. As far as the Ph goes, a stable Ph of 7.8 is much more desirable than a dramatic swing from 7.8 to like 8.4. Kalk may or may not heep it as stable but will definately help raise it. Side note: Kakwasser will not dramatcly raise your Ca-Alk levels, you need to bring them to acceptable levels with a good 2 part system like B-Ionic, once there, the kalk will help >maintain< the levels. One more thing, be sure to use the highest quality kalk you can find, (ESV Ph-12.4)) Ive tried them all, ESV is the only kalk Ive used that doesnt leave a nasty brown residue in the reactor. This may or may not be an issue depending on how religious you are about letting the solution settle.

[cvonseggern]

Thanks for that info, Richard. I'm going to have to do some investigation based on that. I never did make it out to buy the alk/ca kits today, but I suspect alk will be low. And I can do the aeration test tonight. I doubt it's high CO2, as I don't have a Ca reactor and the water is nicely aerated between the splashdown into the sump and the skimmer, but we'll find out.

Chris

[GaryP]

Chris,

Are you adding any sort of buffer supplement?

Gary