Reef nutrition

what do you guys use for stabilizing your PH?

Apon

Apon

Supporting Member
BARcard
ok so during the holiday, I recalibrated my ph monitor because it was reading way high. I did this like 3 times and now it reads that my ph is very low 7.8, use a test kit to confirm this. I think its because I have been dosing Kent turbo calcium for a 2 months, and its been lowering my PH slowly. just recently I lost an SPS, so I decided to check everything. I am now using kent supper buff, but I wanted to hear what you guys use.
 
Turbo Calcium is just anhydrous calcium chloride. It won't provide alk, and as your alk gets used up, your pH drops.

Super Buffer is mostly baking soda plus borate. Baking soda is bicarbonate, and won't keep your pH high enough. The borate buffers, but doesn't provide carbonate for stony growth.

People use bicarbonate if they run a calcium reactor. Otherwise they use carbonate.

[edit] Sorry, I should have wrote "if they run kalk"

I use the Randy DIY 2-part. Dowflake, and baked baking soda - home made sodium carbonate.
 
Hi Norm,

This is what I been using...any other thoughts? Oh I do have some mrs wages lime as well, but I don't have any instructions on how to use this stuff.

Kent Superbuffer-dKH is a specially formulated pH buffer and alkalinity or carbonate hardness (KH) builder, designed to adjust the pH of saltwater aquariums to the range of 8.0 to 8.3 and build the KH. Superbuffer-dKH is the finest buffer available for either fish only or reef type marine aquariums and is designed to mix clear with little or no cloudiness or precipitation. Will not flake on your corals as other competing products can! Compatible with and designed for use with Kalkwasser Mix, Concentrated Liquid Calcium, or Turbo-Calcium by Kent Marine.
 
Arnold

You can drip kalk to raise ph and alkalinity.


In my tank the alk drops way faster than my ph - ph for my tank is typically at 8.2 and when the doors are closed up in the room it drops down to 8.1.

With the cooler weather we've been having people will not readily open their windows to bring in fresh air so ph drops.
 
We use Randy's 2 part recipe (without baking the NaHCO3) -- everything has been very stable since we moved to this. Previously, we'd been using kalkwasser without enough of an alkalinity supplement, and that was starting to cause problems.
 
I'm with Eileen - I drip Kalk and also a little buffer too. Since moving from my 60g to the 210g I have been lucky enough to keep a very steady 8.4 with almost no trouble .... of course now I just said that, it will be 7 when I get honme today ;)
 
[quote author=Apon link=topic=1594.msg14171#msg14171 date=1167860701]This is what I been using...any other thoughts? Oh I do have some mrs wages lime as well, but I don't have any instructions on how to use this stuff.[/quote]

Kalk/lime is ok when you don't need to support a lot of calcification. Otherwise you have to go to 2-part or a calcium/CO2 reactor.

I'd use Kent Super Buffer(or baking soda) for fish only system or hyposaline fish quarantine system that has reduced buffering capacity. I'd only use it if pH is low due to build up of organic acids and lack of water change. Water change would be the better choice in those situations though.
 
Here's a couple articles with good info on the chemistry:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/june2002/chem.htm

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2004/chem.htm
 
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