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Ph Extremely Low - Windows are open, but next steps?

trivan

trivan

Over the course of the past few days, my Ph, which has been pretty steady at 7.9 has dropped to 7.00. Thinking it maybe my probe out of calibration, I did calibrate it and still the same.

Since, I've opened as many windows as I can without getting yelled at, and I have a air hose running from the skimmer to the window. The Ph is slowly rising now.

With the coming of the really cold months I don't think keeping the windows is an option, so I've been doing some reading and there seems to be 2 approaches. 1- A CO2 scrubber seems costly, having to replace the material every 2 weeks on average, but low risk and 2-using Kalkwasser, which seems high risk as a few members here have had crashes due to over dosing.

I like the idea of the Kalk as it adds Calcium back to the tank, but the risks maybe high. Anyone running a reactor have any words of wisdom on a better set up or just dead set against it giving the risks of an over dose?

Thanks in advance.
 
MadReefer

MadReefer

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
You can also run an air pump with the in-take hose out side and the other end in the sump or where ever you want.
 
trivan

trivan

Well the fish and coral are still alive as of 6:00am when I left the house, so hopefully it's just a bad probe. It's almost 1 year old, I will check it out tonight when I get home with calibration fluid again (I did a calibration last night).

I do not run a Calcium reactor. I'm thinking that it is a equipment issue as its reading 6.68 right now. I guess I'll also pick up a ph test kit...
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

given your set up - i think it would simple to add a kalkwasser reactor to the setup. instead of having your tunze osmolator go directly into the sump - just feed it into a kalkwasser reactor. The oz is designed so that either
a) the pump never runs more than 5 mins
or
b) the eye sensor verifies water level to stop power,
or if all of the above fail,
c) the float switch is kicked on killing power (causing controller to show red).

So by design you *should* never have a chance where the kalk is over-dumped into the tank. This is what I have done on my tank. I got tired of buying two-part and just get brightwells kalk +mag. This gets fed into the tank via ATO.

but with that all said -if you're running a 45 with not much SPS - I'm not sure if a kalk reactor is required or not.
 
trivan

trivan

The 45 has more SPS now then LPS, and more coming (hopefully). I will be starting another week of Alk test logs to see what the demands are. I'm hoping with the continous water changes will be enough. I'm also thinking increasing the Alk at the water change level.
 
trivan

trivan

So if I did decide to go with Kalk, would running the Kalk to the ATO tank which then feeds the Sump work? Or is it better to have the Kalk water feed directly to the Sump?

I have no room in my stand for another piece of equipment, but I run the RO/DI from the basement to the ATO tank.
 
J

Jcurry@wesketch

IMO you should get your pH testing situation rectified before you start dosing anything. You could cause more harm trying to fix a perceived error than doing any good. High pH is just as deadly as low pH and if your pH meter is giving you an erroneous readings you could eaily push your pH over 9 with kalk.

Your probe should never be allowed to dry out it ruins it, Also check to see if any electrical wires are running near your probe wire, this will affect the reading in my experience. Make sure the calibration fluid you're using is fresh from a sealed packet. And use it as soon as possible after opening since the contact with air starts to affect it.

There are lots of threads on the web of people crashing their tanks from trying to correct water quality issues that aren't really there.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

If you deploy the kalk in the ATO container - it will undoubtedly reduce the life of the oz pump significantly. In addition, from what I read on kalk - it's reaction with H2O creates a very unstable solution - so much so that it's effectiveness gets reduced the more it is left sitting in a container. Finally the way kalk settles, the clear solution that rises to the top is what should be dosed, not the slurry mix that goes to the bottom. If your oz is set up like mine - you place the pump at the bottom - which means it will siphon up all the slurry <not good>.

Even saying all this I have read of people who do add it directly in the ATO container. I think at small quantities the risk is minimal.

Also I do agree with jeff - make sure you get the probe/alk/ph test kit in place before dosing anything.
 
MadReefer

MadReefer

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
I have to agree with Phil on the kalk and ATO. I would mix the kalk and strain the clear solution and add to my ATO. The pump and hose would still be covered with white film from the kalk. I felt it was not helping as the Ca was at a nice 440 level but not my Alk 4. I switched to a 2 part solution and am happier.
 
trivan

trivan

Once again thank you for the info.
I don't have the room to put anything after the tunze oz, thus the question on the kalk water right into the ato. I can run directly to the sump from my basement.

I picked up the new redsea test kit for all, cal and mag. I like it so far, a bit easier to use (not much) then Salifert. Now I just need a new ph probe.
 
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