jcraft
07/01/2006, 03:41 PM
Ok, I've been dealing with Alkalinity, Calcium and pH issues for a while now . . .
It all started a few months ago when I did two things almost simultaneously- I changed my old MH bulbs out (same bulbs though) and switched salt brands (Reef Crystals to Tropic Marin Pro)
Before the changes, my pH hovered right around 8.3 lights on, and dipped to about 8.1 at night- I didn't run any lights at night.
Now I can't seem to keep my pH over 8.0 during the day and it dips to 7.8 during nights . . . alkalinity I can't seem to keep stable either- I had thought my salifert kit was bad, so I took a sample to the LFS, where the test came to 7dkh . . . this number may not be correct however, since the sample was in a hot car and temp was high. Calcium, as tested today, was at 257
I'm running a dual chambered Calcium reactor with an effluent pH reading of 6.8 And to keep the pH up, I've been dosing about 60ml of Bionic in addition to running the reactor.
All life in the system seems to be doing fine- no coral bleaching, no snail deaths, etc.
Should I quit the Bionic and just drip Kalk? that would solve both the pH and Ca problems, wouldn't it? I was also thinking of switching back to the old salt- I had run the Reef Crystals without incident for a year- only switching because I "thought" Tropic Marin was supposed to be a better salt.
It all started a few months ago when I did two things almost simultaneously- I changed my old MH bulbs out (same bulbs though) and switched salt brands (Reef Crystals to Tropic Marin Pro)
Before the changes, my pH hovered right around 8.3 lights on, and dipped to about 8.1 at night- I didn't run any lights at night.
Now I can't seem to keep my pH over 8.0 during the day and it dips to 7.8 during nights . . . alkalinity I can't seem to keep stable either- I had thought my salifert kit was bad, so I took a sample to the LFS, where the test came to 7dkh . . . this number may not be correct however, since the sample was in a hot car and temp was high. Calcium, as tested today, was at 257
I'm running a dual chambered Calcium reactor with an effluent pH reading of 6.8 And to keep the pH up, I've been dosing about 60ml of Bionic in addition to running the reactor.
All life in the system seems to be doing fine- no coral bleaching, no snail deaths, etc.
Should I quit the Bionic and just drip Kalk? that would solve both the pH and Ca problems, wouldn't it? I was also thinking of switching back to the old salt- I had run the Reef Crystals without incident for a year- only switching because I "thought" Tropic Marin was supposed to be a better salt.