PH/Alk Question

[DSAfanatic]

I have a 90g bare bottom tank and I can not seem to keep the PH up unless I use two part calcium supplements. I am still trying to dial in my calcium reactor to keep my calcium levels above 400, but my alk is always between 10-12.

Do I need to add sand on the bottom or something? I have a small sump/fuge with only 5lbs of sand in it.

[JimD]

You shouldnt need to add sand in order to keep your Ph stable... Ph will fluctuate normaly with the light cycle, usually higher diring the day and lower at night. If you want to stabalize your Ph, I suggest dripping Kalkwasser along with your auto top off and a reactor, many people find that a Kalk and Ca reactor is the ideal settup.. Its very important to continually monitor Ph when dosing Kalk, I suggest a Ph monitor rather than a test kit. If youre interested in more specific information on Kalk, Id be glad to help where I can...

[Troy Valentine]

Right on Jim,

Once I started using kalk to topoff my tank it made my Ph far more stable. I can recall my ph going as low as 7.7 a couple of times before Jim sold me the original Vortex kalk reactor he made.

Also adding a second media chamber, and running it through your potein skimmer will help increase effluent PH before it goes into the aqurium.

[JimD]

Man, that was a long time ago!..... Forgot to mention, running your refugium on a reverse light cycle will also help stabilize Ph.

[BIGBIRD123]

Troy, how are you injecting the effluent into your skimmer?

[Troy Valentine]

I would put the effluent hose right to the skimmer pump intake(real high tech). Some AquaC EV series skimmers actually come with a John Guest fitting designed for effluent or ozone. This is a pretty easy piece to add to any skimmer to get rid of excess CO2.