Maintaining PH

[seafan]

Is kalk essential for maintaining PH? Can I simply use PH up? If I don't have any corals hard or soft do I need kalk?

 

[crage34]

u can buffer alk which has a direct effect oh ph..someone else will give u a more informative answer than i

 

[Brad]

Why would you need to be adjusting Ph? I found that it sort of stays right around 8.2 or so all the time. I think that is the question you should be considering.

I use Kalk. Once, my Ph jumped up quite high. I've since concluded that was because my skimmer wasn't operating well at the time. The OH in Kalk combines with C02 (mostly in the skimmer). Otherwise the addition of Kalk would drive Ph up (Kalk would have a Ph of about 12)

 

[phases99]

Why would you need to be adjusting Ph?

Because the normal biological functions that occur in a tank will tend to drive PH down over time unless there is something to buffer it. A calcium carbonate sandbed, reef buffer or plain old baking soda can be used to buffer your water and help stabilize your PH. I wouldn't use Kalk if your only goal is to increase your PH. Sometimes opening a window in the fish room can help raise your PH if there is too much CO2.

 

[Shultz]

Is kalk essential for maintaining PH? Can I simply use PH up? If I don't have any corals hard or soft do I need kalk?

I would firstly ask you what is your PH, what time are you testing it & what are you using to test it?

Cheers Shelton.

 

[Brad]

Reading my own post, I confused myself.

I'm using Kalk, but only in order to add calcium and alk. I'm not trying to move Ph at all.

Normally, I've found that the addition of Kalk doesn't affect Ph (and I wouldn't want it to). EXCEPT, when my skimmer broke, the Kalk drove the Ph up. As soon as I got the skimmer running again, the Ph returned to normal.

 

[seafan]

Ok I understand. PH is at 8.2-8.0 so I don't think I have anything to worry about, yet. I don't have any corals so I still don't need kalk, right?

I use the word "don't" too much don't I?

 

[phases99]

Our goal is to keep the Ph as stable as possible in the 8.2-8.4 range. Ph will drift lower at night as the CO2 levels rise. For a FO or FOWLR tank your PH range is fine. The reason why a lot of reefers drip Kalk at night is because it helps to offset the Ph drop when the lights are out.