Whats the deal with kalk?

[zoidberg]

i just set up my first reef tank about a month or so ago it's a 140 gallon system. So far so good although my ph is a bit low 8.14 and i think it is due to my calcium reactor i keep the effluent at 6.4 should i be using kalk to bring it back up. if so how due i go about using it?

 

[Rbu1]

That is not low. Some people would love to have their PH at 8.1

 

[calaxa]

Isn't 8.14 very good for a system using a calcium reactor?

 

[zoidberg]

so would i get any benefit from raising the ph?

 

[ken6217]

Leave it alone. The Ph is fine. By the way i assume you know that the Ph will fluctuate from morning to night. It will rise during the photoperiod.
Ken

 

[ken6217]

so would i get any benefit from raising the ph?

Not all calcium reactors are created equal. Some are one chamber, two chamber, some have a vent that can allow excess CO2 to escape.
Ken

 

[zoidberg]

word up so i guess i wasted my money today buying kalk? and no i did not know ph fluctuates between night and day lol i run all my tests at night.

 

[JohnS_323]

i just set up my first reef tank about a month or so ago it's a 140 gallon system. So far so good although my ph is a bit low 8.14 and i think it is due to my calcium reactor i keep the effluent at 6.4 should i be using kalk to bring it back up. if so how due i go about using it?

I'd be tickled pink with a pH of 8.14. We run a kalk reactor (as well as a Ca reactor) and our pH hovers around 8.0 on the high side. The one thing you may want to do is adjust your Ca reactor to bring your effluent up. 6.4 is pretty low coming out of it. Actually, you may want to check the side of your reactor media container to see what the "melt" point is for it. I'm pretty sure ARM breaks down at about 7.0 but turns to mush at about 6.8.

 

[mgonz]

I wish my ph would stay there. Mine stays in the low 8 mark. I dose kalk at night to try and maintain ph as well as a supplement for my alk and cal. I've seen great results using kalk but I don't run a cal reactor. I just dose two part daily.