Jesse Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 After temperature and salinity, the pH of aquarium water is one of the most important parameters of reef aquarium chemistry. In freshwater tanks soft water fish have been adapted to higher pH and vice versa, and saltwater fish are not picky either, but our beloved corals needa higher pH to grow at a normal rate. ‘Light enhanced calcification’ is a well described phenomenon in reef building corals. In bright light photosynthetic corals actually create a high pH condition between the skeleton and the tissue to precipitate aragonite crystals of calcium and carbonate, the two elements we add most to our tanks. Reefers have been content to have a pH that fluctuates between 7.8 to 8.2, natural seawater used to have an average pH of 8.2. However, due to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and its subsequent dissolution into seawater, the ocean has acidified and now has a pH of 8.1, slowing coral growth and calcification of all marine life. For a hobby that is practically obsessed with growing aquarium corals as fast as possible, we don’t do nearly enough to buffer the pH of aquariums to natural levels or higher. At the Reef Builders Studio a centralized kalkwasser delivery system was designed to keep the pH of all the systems at 8.2 or higher. Through generous addition of Kalkwasser we aim for a baseline of pH 8.2 with daytime peaks up to 8.5 with very happy and fast growing corals as a result. In this video we discuss the three elements needed to properly manage the pH of our reef tanks and systems including an accurate and reliable pH probe, a programmable dosing pump, and kalkwasser reactors all over the place. We had no idea that this video would strike such a chord with its viewers and judging from the deluge of comments and questions it’s clear that pH is a topic we’ll be revisiting again in further detail for future videos and articles. https://reefbuilders.com/2019/02/25/how-to-actually-make-corals-grow-faster-high-ph/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley000 Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 Quite interesting! Now that I have my alk/dosing stabilized I am enjoying some good growth on my story corals. Interestingly look at my ph. I'm not doing anything special to buffer it. Flounder 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 I can remember when my 180 was rocking my ph was above 9. I was worried about it. But it never seemed to effect anything negatively. May be something to it? You want good ph, run a hose from your skimmer intake to outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErickS Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 My alk was onlow side at 7 I brought it up to just over 8 and coral really took off lately the ph was also at 8 and is now around that 8.4 range . I’m betting a combo of the 2 helped a lot Joe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 3 hours ago, ErickS said: My alk was onlow side at 7 I brought it up to just over 8 and coral really took off lately the ph was also at 8 and is now around that 8.4 range . I’m betting a combo of the 2 helped a lot Misdosing Alk is what crashed my 180. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErickS Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 1 minute ago, Joe said: Misdosing Alk is what crashed my 180. I been just dosing manually . And testing before I add when I do. Watching it very closely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 11 minutes ago, ErickS said: I been just dosing manually . And testing before I add when I do. Watching it very closely I was testing twice a day. But I had a bad Red Sea test kit. I didn’t figure out that it was a bad test kit until it was to late. But Alk and PH are both important to keep up. ErickS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErickS Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 3 hours ago, Joe said: I was testing twice a day. But I had a bad Red Sea test kit. I didn’t figure out that it was a bad test kit until it was to late. But Alk and PH are both important to keep up. Was the test bad from beginning or expired Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 On 3/4/2019 at 3:16 PM, ErickS said: Was the test bad from beginning or expired No. It was not expired. But somehow the reagent or something was bad. Got another kit and it was way off. ErickS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crimsonvice Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 54 minutes ago, Joe said: No. It was not expired. But somehow the reagent or something was bad. Got another kit and it was way off. Hanna Checker ftw. Anyone running a high pH? ErickS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 (edited) Mine averages around 7.9 basement setup. How do you get you ph up without plumbing outside? Edited March 9, 2019 by JMM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErickS Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 45 minutes ago, JMM said: Mine averages around 7.9 basement setup. How do you get you ph up without plumbing outside? Co2 scrubber would work Muttley000 and rjchiles 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjchiles Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 8.35 after co2 scrubber and Red Sea abcSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ErickS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Thanks. Looks kind of expensive to run long term. Might just have to run that airline outside. I have a canister I can run the airline through to clean with charcoal. Appreciate the suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crimsonvice Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 4 hours ago, JMM said: Mine averages around 7.9 basement setup. How do you get you ph up without plumbing outside? Kalkwasser will raise pH too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Already dosing alk and Calc. Will look into it though. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fishman Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 My ph was 8.3 at last test crimsonvice 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crimsonvice Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 I hit 8.3 at the end of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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