Brucey
Well-Known Member
Hi Guys, Newsalt emailed me with the following question, so thought Id post the reply here in case it helps anyone else
Brucey
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Hi Brucey:
I recently purchased a pH Controller form Milwaukee Instruments. I want to use it to maintain my pH at 8.4 like you do. Can you show me your set up for that? You're using kalk right? Are you using a kalk reactor? My LFS says that he maintains his pH using a Ca Reactor. Do you think that's over kill for me? Appreciate your help.
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REPLY
HI NS . . . . . hows things going buddy
Well, how to use a PH computer. Now there's a question. OK, first things first. Can the PH computer be used to turn on/off when the PH drops below a point and turn on/off when the PH rises above a point. If so, it's a true computer, rather than a controller that most devices on the market are.
OK, lets get this out of the way, You CAN NOT use a Calcium reactor to control PH at a high level. The best PH for our reef tanks is 8.3 - 8.4. The effluent from a calcium reactor has to be approx 6.75 to dissolve the media inside the reactor. Therefore, it is generally true that aquariums that run Calcium reactors run low PH. Using a Ca reactor can only lower the PH in a tank, although it could be argued that a Ca reactor adds Alk to our tanks and in that form, helps stabilise PH at higher levels.
I USED to run my PH computer on my kalk stirrer, as you rightly said to maintain the PH at 8.4. But as you add more and more corals and the demands on the system become heavier and heavier, the kalk is unable to keep up with demands of the tank and you end up adding more kalk solution that you can evaporate. Therefore it becomes a dangerous game of flooding the system in an attempt to keep up with PH demands. You can try it and if your stocking levels are low, then it can work VERY VERY well. For over a year I managed to maintain my PH 24 hours a day between 8.25 and 8.4. Which is a pretty tight variance.
However, as I said above, you end up adding more kalk than you can evaporate. So I ended up adding Kalk in line with a top up computer, therefore taking away the risk of flooding. The PH variance becomes greater, but you lose the risk of flooding the system.
Now I use my PH computer to control my calcium reactor. As I said above, the effluent of calcium reactors is very low and it can become dangerous on systems with poor PH balance, by driving down the PH to levels undesirable to corals, and to a certain extent, fish. So now the PH computer turns OFF the calcium reactor when the PH drops below 8. My PH fluctuations these days are much higher (8.00 to 8.3) but the very nature of my SPS dominated tank controls this. I've added another Kalk reactor, a reverse light schedule refuge etc etc etc in an attempt to balance the PH but it really is a difficult game to get on top of.
Good luck and don't hesitate to ASK more questions
Brucey
Brucey
=======>
Hi Brucey:
I recently purchased a pH Controller form Milwaukee Instruments. I want to use it to maintain my pH at 8.4 like you do. Can you show me your set up for that? You're using kalk right? Are you using a kalk reactor? My LFS says that he maintains his pH using a Ca Reactor. Do you think that's over kill for me? Appreciate your help.
=======<
REPLY
HI NS . . . . . hows things going buddy
Well, how to use a PH computer. Now there's a question. OK, first things first. Can the PH computer be used to turn on/off when the PH drops below a point and turn on/off when the PH rises above a point. If so, it's a true computer, rather than a controller that most devices on the market are.
OK, lets get this out of the way, You CAN NOT use a Calcium reactor to control PH at a high level. The best PH for our reef tanks is 8.3 - 8.4. The effluent from a calcium reactor has to be approx 6.75 to dissolve the media inside the reactor. Therefore, it is generally true that aquariums that run Calcium reactors run low PH. Using a Ca reactor can only lower the PH in a tank, although it could be argued that a Ca reactor adds Alk to our tanks and in that form, helps stabilise PH at higher levels.
I USED to run my PH computer on my kalk stirrer, as you rightly said to maintain the PH at 8.4. But as you add more and more corals and the demands on the system become heavier and heavier, the kalk is unable to keep up with demands of the tank and you end up adding more kalk solution that you can evaporate. Therefore it becomes a dangerous game of flooding the system in an attempt to keep up with PH demands. You can try it and if your stocking levels are low, then it can work VERY VERY well. For over a year I managed to maintain my PH 24 hours a day between 8.25 and 8.4. Which is a pretty tight variance.
However, as I said above, you end up adding more kalk than you can evaporate. So I ended up adding Kalk in line with a top up computer, therefore taking away the risk of flooding. The PH variance becomes greater, but you lose the risk of flooding the system.
Now I use my PH computer to control my calcium reactor. As I said above, the effluent of calcium reactors is very low and it can become dangerous on systems with poor PH balance, by driving down the PH to levels undesirable to corals, and to a certain extent, fish. So now the PH computer turns OFF the calcium reactor when the PH drops below 8. My PH fluctuations these days are much higher (8.00 to 8.3) but the very nature of my SPS dominated tank controls this. I've added another Kalk reactor, a reverse light schedule refuge etc etc etc in an attempt to balance the PH but it really is a difficult game to get on top of.
Good luck and don't hesitate to ASK more questions
Brucey