Chasing pH for Explosive SPS Growth 

One thing i forgot to mention, If you make a big batch of kalkwasser for the week or more, it will lose a little potency over time as it reacts with atmospheric CO2; maybe a 0.5 pH drop at the end of the week. The CO2 scrubber will also lose effectiveness over time before its completely exhausted. So what I do, is I stagger the days when I replace my CO2 media and refill my kalk. I try to replace each a few days apart. Dont forget to Like and Subscribe if you like my stuff!

My aquarium is now 1 year old. My Ph was low 7.7-8.0. I added a co2 scrubber which helped some. I decided to experiment with a specific schedule for my Kalkwasser supplementation. I have it dose 4000ml per day for all evaporation. 2am-10am & 4pm-8pm. It took about 1.5 months and now my Ph is 8.26-8.5. It took some figuring out the schedule but that works best for my tank. I have many SPS & some LPS. My corals look way more colorful and the growth is significant since the change. I also keep the window in the room cracked all night and monitor my CO2 in the room which ranges from 475-1000 ppm.

Finally a non sponsored video from a hobbyist thank you

Great video!

Great video. Do you light your frags in the sump on a reverse schedule? Curious if that would make any dent in slowing down the pH decrease at night...may be worth an experiment, but I suppose then you can't view those corals during daytime hours, lol.

1000% agree on co2 scrubber being the best option for higher ph. I used the icecap large reactor and it lasted me 3 weeks on my 310. Bet it would last double that for you.

Great info sir! I’ll have to check out the big jug of media that you have. I’m burning through ice cap’s media!

Long term the recirculating method is the way to go. It scrubs better and media lasts 3x-4x longer. Moisture is an issue for sure. What I did is use the smaller brs scrubber that you have as a moisture catcher (put sponge inside), then mount the jumbo scrubber vertically higher so that moisture in the line dips back down to the moisture catcher. It works well. Once in a while you can open the drain cap on the jumbo reactor and drain any moisture that might collect. Since setting this up, my ranges from 8.2-8.5.

I'm in a really similar situation with regard to high co2 in the house. I've also been a bit disappointed by kalk, I'm not 100% sure it's worth it. It does save me about 30% of dosing in two part though. I've found that you can't beat a co2 scrubber, as you say you're preventing the co2 getting in, rather than taking it out. I also use a medical grade one. There's a two part here in the UK called zlements that has sodium hydroxide mixed in, which is much more effective and it's already a liquid, so a bit less risky. So at the moment I'm using a co2 scrubber, high pH two part, and kalk. For about a year I tried just dosing the high pH two part at night only, which worked amazingly and basically flat lined pH. BUT, of course, it caused dKH swings. The corals didn't seem to care and growth was truly explosive, but when I started keeping more sensitive acros I got nervous and went back to prioritising stable dKH.

interesting video, you could try using a more pure form of calcium hydroxide, I switched from using Seachem reef kalkwasser which here in the UK is £15 for a 500g tub to APC 98% pure calcium hydroxide which is £34 for 4kilos, when I did the switch my Alk skyrocketed so had to back off the dosing, my point is that I don't think the hobby grade stuff is that good, not sure if APC sell in the US but there will be more better alternatives just look for the level of purity

Hello! Have you checked the co2 level at the top near the ceiling? Should be less than below!

Hey man I’d love to talk to you about PH as I’m in a similar situation, high CO2 inside, kalk doesn’t do a whole lot for me. I do a scrubber with Randy’s 3 part using sodium hydroxide which boosts PH much better than kalk in my experience. I’ve gotten the concentrated hydroxide on my skin before without any issues as long as I washed it off right away. Do you run a night time refugium? That’s also a really good way to stabilize PH in conjunction with these other methods.

Been running kalk overnight and CO2 scrubber for a year maybe.. Problem for me is I also have a fuge run same time as kalk.. My macro have been slowly declining. I'm thinking it's either kalk or CO2 scrubber or both. Taking kalk offline today to see if macro recovers.

hey men can you play video on how you calibrate ph with apex ?

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