One thing to remember is that pH and alk are linked, but only as long as your water is in perfect equilibrium with the air (and depends on the CO2 levels in your air). Low pH can be a sign of poor aeration of your tank. Early on before I started skimming, I was able to raise my pH by adding a bubbler to my sump. If you don't have a good skimmer that really oxygenates the water, then you might consider something to improve aeration. In my nano, it was a HOB filter (with no filter media) that broke the surface of the water. Pointing one of your powerheads upwards to break the surface can help also.
Frustration setting in...
- Thread starter Haulin Oates
- Start date
Zooid;144992 said:
Definitely not cheap to start a reef tank, but not too bad running one.
I've paid for quite a few goodies like four Vortech MP40w's and a six unit AI fixture by
raising clownfish
I've paid for quite a few goodies like four Vortech MP40w's and a six unit AI fixture by
raising clownfish
Ricky's pride- I liked your post about the poor mans dosing!! I still think it hold true and would love to try it! I think it'll be great to keep those levels, I just need to get my levels to that point so I can maintain them.
I think part of the problem is I won a full line of red sea product last year at reef stock and the instructions in there make it seem so easy, maybe getting these levels in check is harder than they lead on...
At any rate, I run 3 skimmers on this tank so if I don't have sufficient aeration I'd be very surprised! I'm going to run a full line of tests today and I'll post up. I'll also look into getting fresh air to the skimmer airlines and re-research kalk, I may have been doing it wrong or something.
Majicmike, you'll have a pm in a few minutes!
I think part of the problem is I won a full line of red sea product last year at reef stock and the instructions in there make it seem so easy, maybe getting these levels in check is harder than they lead on...
At any rate, I run 3 skimmers on this tank so if I don't have sufficient aeration I'd be very surprised! I'm going to run a full line of tests today and I'll post up. I'll also look into getting fresh air to the skimmer airlines and re-research kalk, I may have been doing it wrong or something.
Majicmike, you'll have a pm in a few minutes!
You can also look into getting something like this http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/the-co2-scrubber-kit-raises-ph.html if you suspect that you have high ambient CO2 levels. It scrubs the CO2 from the air on the way into the skimmer and some people have been happy with the results.
Edit: discontinued. See their links for what they replaced it with.
Edit: discontinued. See their links for what they replaced it with.