PH!! How To Solve, Raise and Maintain It In A Reef Tank 

no problem glad to help. Some people still give me shit saying it doesnt work. lol

Thank You for taking the time to watch the video

i add alk buffer. I am using Red Seas Reef Program, I still enjoyed the video.

Nice now focus on keeping a stable alk, cal levels and you should be good.

I have my skimmer in my sump, so if I connect some air line from the skimmer to the outside of the sump cabinet, do you think this would make any difference?

+maine932 Thank You

Hi Just curious about your night PH. Does it still drop to around 7.9-8 ish

O2 is like fire, CO2 is like ash. Having and handling a tank of O2 is much more dangerous tha tank of CO2. Just be careful and know the risks.

I have never tried it

I know this is a year old comment, and older video. But I do the Nano Bubble scrub and have been for over a year now. Love it!

I have the same issues with the same aquarium. I can never get it to stay at or above 8.0.

Ok deleted the 2 day reading I had before.. here is why you does equal amounts.. If you dose too much alk it will drive your ca numbers down through precipitation. If you dose too much ca it will drive your alk numbers down through precipitation. In short by doing equal amounts you result in a perfect balance no mater which one is needed more or less. Really they should always be in balance more or less as they are directly tied to each other. If you start having rising if falling ca your magnesium is way way off. I’d check all my numbers and stop dosing for 2-3 days then check my numbers again. During this Time not topping off my water or anything else. It takes a solid 48h for a tank to rebalance from additives. If number drop same % values overall from the two readings then nothing g is wrong with your tank it’s what you are putting into your tank. Could be several issues.. cheap salt mix, bad batch or expired dose.. bad rodi unit resulting in high ca coming out from the start that you keep adding in to the tank so what’s really happening is you’re not adding less ca you’re adding more alk cause the higher ca is driving your alk down. Need to reset the tank and let it rebalance then start testing the items your putting into it starting with water and salt mix’s. If that’s good then your dosing agents are off. As you’re adding a lot of alk that means the issue somewhere is likely ca not alk. Or your mag is possibly super low and the ca is not being used up like it should be. (Very rare case so look for extra ca first) Also make sure your not dosing bother at same time.. does one then let tank cycle a good 30min then dose the other.. if done at same time then min to min fluctuations in the tank could lead to either item being precipitated from the tank and always having erratic readings and as such.. huge ph swings in the tank which means you’ll never have unstressed corals. PH shouldn’t swing more then 0.1 max and preferably 0.05-0.07 over 24h period. I bet your seeing over full point swings right now daily if not more depending on co2 exchange. Now here is what you are stuck with.. by dosing more alk the ca right now you’re actually going to drive your ca down at some point then you’ll be on a roller coaster ride. After you find the issue you’ll need to start doing lots of small water changes daily or daily while equal part dosing till you balance back out unless you are able to do a complete drain and refill wo crashing your system.

buffers are junk, They only adding in alkalinity and in the world of corals and saltwater stability you need to add equal amounts of calcium and alkalinity daily to keep elevated levels. You can try using kalkwasser or two part calcium/ alk. I recommend you spend time researching doing to keep up with the demand of the tank.

The only reason why i didnt go with a calcium reactor for this build is i just didnt have enough room but one way to limit that lowering ph is to have a dual chamber calcium reactor.

1/2 inch

It can remove co2 so yes it would help but you dont need it to get 8.3

I will get that video up for you soon.

+Owen Edwards you using a ph probe? It would not be possible to have a ph of 8.7 with dkh of 10.1 even with 100% CO2 out of the tank.

+Owen Edwards Something you are testing is wrong. Also make sure you are dosing equal amount of cal/alk 2 part

I do have a ph probe on my reefkeeper

Do u think I need to recalibrate the probe

+Owen Edwards when was the last time you calibrated it? most ph probe need calibrated every 3-6 months sometimes every month depending on quality

That video is already uploaded

Oh, I will look for it then. I saw in the video how you connected it to the hard line but didn’t see how you actually ran it outside.

My ph has always been around 8.1-8.2. I noticed a small increase. Not sure if its all from the air stone. so many things play into how much co2 is in the room

Was going to ask same question

I just made one out of a L-carnitine bottle, i added mesh and carbon.

Just do it when she's not home man , what she gonna do Divorce? Hahahah

Its not ok, run away

Sure can

If your alk is at 10dkh then whatever you're testing ph with is wrong. I would double check both with different kits.

It's the reading from my apex I check for micro bubbles on the probe, but it was all good...

Sounds like it needs to be re calibrated, Pick up the 7 and 10 solution from brs.I have a calibrating video on the apex playlist.

Adding another air line wont bring your ph up. You need to keep a consistent alk level of around 9dkh and inject air via skimmer air pump ect. keep the windows open when you can to help remove co2 out of the room that will keep ph higher. I also run my refugium during the night while my tanks lights are off. this helps to remove co2 as well. One more thing i do is dose the majority of my 2 part during the night to keep levels higher. watch my dosing videos to understand that.

It would depend on that type of calcium reactor you are using, single or dual chamber.

if single?double?different alot?

Im using an neptune apex

+John ortiz Thank you and i have been in for about 13 years. Honestly i dont really remember what books i got a bunch of them on the kindle and every night i read as much as i could. I spent most of my time trying things out based on what i read and what others did. Every tank is different so you have to adjust to what works best for you. Try to get away from the chasing numbers it really messed with me for a while.

No removing CO2 allows you to have higher ph based on your total alkalinity. You need to keep consistent and stable alkalinity and calcium levels using a 2 part solution if you are not able to do it via water changes or kalkwasser.

Personally id leave it alone or you could connect your shipping air intake outside that was a big help. I would stay away from adding anything to bring ph up and wouldnt chase it, You are still in a good range. No need to stress.

What test kits are you using to test alk? bc if you're removing that much co2 from the room that alk reading cant be correct. Have you tried airline into the skimmer? that is the number one thing people do to bring ph up.

FishOfHex im using salifert test kits for the alk and an apex controller for the ph. I will try running an airline to the skimmer.

+Mofros Reef First off thanks for the sub, second that swing from 8.14 to 8.27 is actually not that bad. You are staying within good ranges. You could add that air stone to pull fresh air into the system that might help keep ph elevated. I have noticed with my system some days the ph swing is 8.2 to 8.27 and others its 8.10 to 8.3 with nothing being changed. Simple things like people in your house can effect it but at the end of the day you are in good growth range so i wouldn't attempt to chase numbers but if you want to add that air stone it def wouldn't hurt anything. Hope this answers your question.

No Problem

No Problem

Doctor say's i should cut back on salt but when i do its the pink himalayan salt

FishOfHex Aquatics oh I meant aquarium salt lol

Fritz blue box

You have to much Co2 in your tank

+pauls reef No the only thing that should be dosed that would impact ph should be equal parts of soda ash and cal. I never use ph buffers they are worthless and cause damage.

Thank You

double check your alkalinity level is probably to high

I believe you need a skimmer as its good for nutrient export. Some people can get away without one but its not recommend for beginners. Taking the glass covers off will allow for better gas exchange

+Owen Edwards before i can answer that i need to ask a couple questions. 1.what is your current ph reading? 2. Do you have a ro/di system and if so when was the last time you changed filters? Lime could be in your tap water that could raise ph. 3. what test kits are you using and how old are they? 4. are you adding any ph buffers? 5. are you using any 2 part calcium/alkalinity? I will do a video on this in the future but lets get this fixed before then.

+Gold Shot I would say the same concept would work for freshwater. I know PH isnt a big deal unless you are trying to keep something in a specific in freshwater.

Yea im trying to keep German Blue Rams, theyre really sensitive to ph swings

+Gold Shot the best thing you can do for cichlids is build a tank with the same type of rock and substrate they would see in the wild. I do know when i kept African cichlids i used texas holy rock and coral based sand that helped buffer the ph but as long as you are not putting any external buffers in the tank and building a natural environment like they would have in the wild you shouldnt have any problems keeping them.