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how to stablise pH


weileong
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My dkh currently at 10 dkh

pH just before lights on is 7.7.

pH just before lights off is 8.5

Lost 4 (all my clownfish) on Saturday night and I suspecting they die due to the pH swing. They also came down with ich. I suspect it is due to the stress induced by the pH swing.

No more fishes for the next 2 months. Don't want them to die.

Corals and shunk shrimps are doing fine. No Casulty for the past 2 months except the clownfish.

Any idea to help?

Water volume is 80 litres, running on 150W MH with BLV 10K bulb. Cooling with AC fan, temp between 27-28degs.

NH3 = 0

NO2 = 0

NO3 = 10ppm.

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Don't worry... the kalk you dose for water top shouldn't push PH to dangerous levels.

I am dosing kalk only at night.

I too have PH drops to 7.9... with my nite kalk dosing... it hovers around 8.1 now.

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I run my kalk container to a tubby set on a timer. Power on at night, tubby wakes up and detects water level is too low. Pumps kalk out of container with a ball valve so it drips out.

works so far.

I do the exact thing too! :lol:

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Hey hey I would say great minds think alike, but really am not in same league :)

I was a bit concerned with the solidification of the kalk exposed to air though. So far, no obvious degration of kalk, although the surface is a thin crust after a day or two. The randy-holmes chemist dude says its ok, and he's a chemist, so heck I just follow.

The pump is raised on eggcrates, so I dont get any of the solid debris into the sump. cant get enough kalk in though. Trying out with spiking vinegar now into the 1 week storage container (coral life bucket)

a bit off topic, but might be useful if weileong keen to try.

cheers

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thanks for all the tips.

I will wait for my new 4ft to be setup then I implement all these.

I managed to find the bodies of 3 out of the 4 clowns that died.

2 of them the bodies as usual become fainter in color. The 3rd one has some transparent slimmy stuff coated on it. Not sure what it is. Any diagnosis on that?

Another method that I would like to try would be to use my pH controller, once detect the pH less than 8.1 then start to dose kawasser then stop when pH reaches 8.3.

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although the surface is a thin crust after a day or two

I think that's ok because the thin crust form would prevent co2 from further reacting with the kalk solution. I mean that's what i understood :)

The pump is raised on eggcrates, so I dont get any of the solid debris into the sump

Don't mind i ask if u have problem with the pump after sometime ?

My impeller broke into 2 pieces :( Or is it juz me ??

Also with this method, the end of the kalk air-line dripper might clog right ?

Or again, is it juz me ?? :P

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Hi onghm,

ya the crust is suppose to block off the co2, but it looks like curdled milk. Good training from me mom, if it looks like curdled milk, then its spoilt. Have to always fight that urge whenever I lift the lid to check if I should top up.

I got no problems with the pump leh. I did a cleaning up, and the pump looked damn clean. Its the rubber hose above the water level that looked crusted. What pump are you using? Mine is a dyna boxer and a Ocean Free.

The dripper does looked crusted, but so far no jam. Good point- I must take a closer look at that.

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Hey hey I would say great minds think alike, but really am not in same league :)

I was a bit concerned with the solidification of the kalk exposed to air though. So far, no obvious degration of kalk, although the surface is a thin crust after a day or two. The randy-holmes chemist dude says its ok, and he's a chemist, so heck I just follow.

The pump is raised on eggcrates, so I dont get any of the solid debris into the sump. cant get enough kalk in though. Trying out with spiking vinegar now into the 1 week storage container (coral life bucket)

a bit off topic, but might be useful if weileong keen to try.

cheers

Actually... its not that exactly the same! ;)

I use the TUBBY to detect water drops... and it activates a pump that brings water to my kalkreactor and it goes into my sump.

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What pump are you using? Mine is a dyna boxer and a Ocean Free.

I'm using sicce nova. After changing the impeller, I went back to manual gravity drip :) Maybe i should try again.

The dripper does looked crusted, but so far no jam.

Yeah, but as it get crusted, the drip rate slows down. I was using timer, not float switch, so consistent drip-rate is important.

hmm...maybe should get a tubby :)

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Another method that I would like to try would be to use my pH controller, once detect the pH less than 8.1 then start to dose kawasser then stop when pH reaches 8.3.

I think you should add PH buffer instead of Kalk, with your PH controller.

Kalk will maintain the pH but not easy to push up the pH. Direct dosing pH buffer with the controller might be more effective. :P

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I think you should add PH buffer instead of Kalk, with your PH controller.

Kalk will maintain the pH but not easy to push up the pH. Direct dosing pH buffer with the controller might be more effective. :P

What is pH buffer actually?

Like the seachem reef buffer?

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