How do i raise ph?

[Hockey0000325]

Hey guys trying to tune in all my numbers before I start to add coral. my salinity is at 1.025 calcium 380, alk 11.8, and ph 8 I dont know what else is needed but can ya let me know if these numbers look ok or not and how to fix them if they arent!

[Aquarist007]

Preferred levels of
calcium 390-420
alkalinity 8-11 dKh
magnesium 1300 ppm
pH 8-8.5
salinity 1.024-1.026

Your question about pH. I would not worry with a 8.0 reading. Most of the time pH is related to the amount of carbon dioxide in and around your tank. Making sure the surface of the tank is open and the water is churning and or opening a window occasionally in the fish room will help decrease the carbon dioxide and raise the pH

I would suggest you look into a two part dosing system like B-ionics. It will address all three--magnesium, calcium and alkalinity.
Weekly water changes with a quality salt mix should be all you need right now but as you add more corals, the demand will increase for cal, alk, and mag and at that point you can look into dosing

[Hockey0000325]

I actually have the Bionic dosing kit but have not started as of yet! Is this something I may want to start addressing? I use Instant Ocean Reef crystals and do water changes 30 gallons every 2 weeks. this is a 120 display and 29 sump.

[Aquarist007]

I address how to initiate a two part dosing on this thread

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1786183&page=4

Instant Ocean has good numbers so you should be able to keep your parameters within acceptable ranges with it

[Hockey0000325]

Cap cant seem to find it on there. I am still diggin tho

[Hockey0000325]

Ive been using a link for a chemistry calculator http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html This seems to tell me to add only part 2 of the buffer system since my Alk is to high is that safe or no?

[crvz]

I'll reiterate what capn is saying... you're pH is fine as it is, and you have to be careful about how you manage it should you chose to do so. most pH buffers are alkalinity additives, and adding chemicals to your tank to manage pH will almost always end with an out of balance water chemistry. I'd also question how you're testing pH, as only a recently calibrated probe is going to give you reliable data. If a test kit is being used, I would never trust it enough to make decisions about buffering pH.

As it is, I'd say you're fine. It is safe to use part 2 of the buffer system (assuming it's the calcium side of the equation), but even still a calc at 380 is nothing to worry about.

[rafa316]

Hockey! here it is. I am in the same boat as you are

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1179702

[Chiefsurfer]

sounds all pretty good. Alk is a bit high, but not absurd. Also, reef crystals has very high calcium, so for yours to be low would surprise me, especially with nothing in the tank to use it up. I would either double-check your test with your LFS or a nearby reefer with a different test-kit. Also, if it is the correct level, then check your magnesium, because if your magnesium off, you could add calcium til your blue in the face, and it won't go up. With reef-crystals, you should be much higher on calcium. I used reef crystals in the beginning, and my calcium was 450 or so.

[Aquarist007]

Cap cant seem to find it on there. I am still diggin tho


page one at the bottom

"Using a two part dosing system has brought great stability to my tanks water chemistry. Specifically calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and indirectly pH

Interested in starting? Here is one way to do it

first check out your mag levels and use kent tech-M if needed to bring them up to 1300 ppm
to bring up your calcium level try Kent turbo calcium--it is a chloride so it won't affect alkalinity levels

Here is a suggestion
bring up your alk levels with kent super dKh (8-11 dkH)
bring up your calcium levels with Kent turbo calcium(400 plus ppm)
and bring up your mag level to 1300ppm

Go on the suggested dose of two part for one week
Remeasure and adjust the amt of two part accordingly
Repeat for another week and repeat the above procedure
Continue for one month like this and you should have stable water chemistry"

BTW
Thanks for the thoughtful email:)