Dosing

I should probly mention that this is a little earlier than I normaly check my ph but still seams low. In an hour or so when its my normal time to check it might be up to 8?

 

you need to check PH once your full lighting has been on for a long while Jessel
do not test in darkness or test early morning

late afternoon is better IMHO

and if 8 is your PH - there is nothing wrong with that

Steve

 

The lights have been on now for about 2 hours. I tend to test about 1100-1200 and the lights are on at 8am. I do not have the ability to test ph in the afternoon being I have to leave for work about 1230. Today I tested it about an hour before normal. But by the time I get home from work the lights have been off for a good 6 hours.

 

jessel in that case

I would not be worried about a PH reading of 8 , a couple of hours after lights have been on

your DKH reading is more important IMO - you dont want to allow that to fall below 7
if your Calc is 440, your DKH is 8 or more, and your PH is 8
your levels are acceptable

Steve

 

Ok thanks. Still being new to this however, would it be acceptable to try and raise my kh to around 11? If so how would I raise that and ph without affecting anything else. I would like to have kh at 11 and ph around 8.4. I will be spending a lot of time gone in the next few months and was hoping that I could set up a diy calcium reactor so the fiancee will not have to worry about adding anything while im gone from anywhere between 4 days to a month. I have a regulator that I bought a year ago and never used and picked up a co2 tank from a buddy yesterday. A reactor is only weeks away now.

 

until I know what your magnesium level is, I cant answer the question

you could try increasing to 11 - but you need to take at least 3 days to do so ( do not increase by more than 1 DKH in any 24 hour period)
and while you did that, you may find your Calcium drops

if the system does not have the SG or Magnesium to support your targets

for every degree of DKH you add, Calcium can fall 20ppm
and then for every 20ppm of Calcium you try and put back in - your DKH drops 1 DKH

Its a see saw
and without knowing your Mag - its a see saw that you dont know if you can balance

I would maintain at 440, 8 and 8
when you have your mag test kit
work out if you need to increase mag
and once you have, if you needed to - then start working to achieving the DKH levels

dont forget - CO2 could be the reason for the lowish PH
more surface movment - may actually increase the PH for you, without the need for the PH buffers IME

Steve

 

Ok, I will keep it where its at now, I know its a blind guess, but what are the chances of my kh droping anymore in a 24 hour period? Also I couldnt tell you if its enough but I do get good ripples at the surface from my PH and overflow creates tons of bubbles and foam in the sump.

 

Also if it helps any my parms this morning for what I could test were
ph-7.8
Amonia-0
Nitite-0
Nitrate-5
Kh-8
Calcium-440
SG-1.025

 

My tank has about 30 SPS frags and mini colonies in
and over 1 dozen LPS corals in at present

if I turned off my auto doser this evening for 24 hours
it would drop from 8.0 to 7.7 ish this time tomorrow

my opinion is, you have been experiencing the large drops from 11 to 8
simply because you where dosing calcium also, and that was driving the DKH down

you now have a balance at 440 and 8 which is tied into your Mag level
if you increased it to 9 this evening IMHO you would find your calcium was closer to 420 tomorrow

so IMHO - you would probably just be pouring your money away, continuing to do what you have been doing

suggest you do not dose anything today, and test those levels tomorrow
lets see if there is actually any demand in the 24 hours
and then replace that demand tomorrow once we have measured it?

Steve

 

Ok, sounds good to me. It would be nice if I got the mag test today but I dont think it will get here until I am at work tomorrow. Thanks for the help and will keep you posted.