how can I raise my ph?

[rarelyseriousb]

My ph is at 7.7 . My alk is 3.25 meg/l or 660ppm. my cal is 400. I did a test by aerating tank water outside and the ph went just to 8. to test co2. I was thinking kalk but not sure how I would maintain without overshooting cal and alk. any thoughts. Could 2 part help. I have some just not much demand yet so I have not used it.

[ETBReefer05]

Hey, I tried to get you in chat. You can use Kalkwasser. 3.25 meg/l actually comes out to 160ppm, not 600. In terms of dKH that is just over a 9, with that kind of alkalinity, you should be able to dose Kalk just fine without worrying about calcium precipitating out. Just measure your pH and alkalinity about 24 hours after each dose until you reach desired levels.

[rarelyseriousb]

I started dosing kalk/vinegar today. Ill post tomorrow with test results.

[Werdlone]

Kalk will work...I don't know why you are adding vinegar. It will allow you to supersaturate the Ca/alk, and may actually lower the pH of the kalk water. BTW, how are you currently maintaining your ca and alk? Calcium reactor or 2 part?

Also, try getting better aeration. You don't have to pump in air from outside, but getting more surface turbulance, a larger skimmer, or just put an airstone in the sump may bump your pH up. My pH goes up by .2-3 by just letting my water dump into my sump rather than flow in by a pipe. Makes more noise, but helps the pH.

good luck!

[rarelyseriousb]

I Aimed a power head in the sump strait to the water surface so that should help. My skimmer should be ok. One of the reasons I used the vinegar was to bring the ph down(of the kalk) just a touch. If i read the article correct. My though process was that the overall PH raising would be more gradual that way. I could just diluted the kalk more but I figure why not use the vinegar. I have been maintaining my levels threw water changes. (brightwell) I have no sps or lps. I'm just adding more snails now. I have been waiting on SPS and LPS until i got my nitrates under control.

[schminksbro]

Vinegar is not only an acid which will lower the Ph of the kalk but it is also a carbon source which will cause bacteria blooms. I would recommend dripping saturated kalk at the same rate as evaporation. Skip the vinegar.

Originally Posted by rarelyseriousb

I Aimed a power head in the sump strait to the water surface so that should help. My skimmer should be ok. One of the reasons I used the vinegar was to bring the ph down(of the kalk) just a touch. If i read the article correct. My though process was that the overall PH raising would be more gradual that way. I could just diluted the kalk more but I figure why not use the vinegar. I have been maintaining my levels threw water changes. (brightwell) I have no sps or lps. I'm just adding more snails now. I have been waiting on SPS and LPS until i got my nitrates under control.

[rarelyseriousb]

i was going to stop the vinegar when this 5 gallons are up. I will also measure and see if I should add more or less powder. I did 1 tsp per gallon.

but that does raise the question. If all these people are adding vodka as a carbon source could they not accomplish the same thing by adding vinegar to there kalk. You would get the benefit of the carbon dosing and getting more cal and alk into solution. am I right or way in left field?

[schminksbro]

You are correct. However vinegar seems to cause blooms of different bacteria than vodka. I have seen some pretty ugly results come form it. At one point I was dosing VSV (vodka, sugar, vinegar) but due to strange "Mats" and "Strings" I changed to straight vodka. Works much better. Adding vinegar to your kalk defeats your purpose of adding kalk. Raising your Ph. People add vinegar to kalk so that they can dose higher amounts without overly high Ph. In most cases because they are using kalk only for their calcium/carbonate addition and their demand is very high.

Originally Posted by rarelyseriousb

i was going to stop the vinegar when this 5 gallons are up. I will also measure and see if I should add more or less powder. I did 1 tsp per gallon.

but that does raise the question. If all these people are adding vodka as a carbon source could they not accomplish the same thing by adding vinegar to there kalk. You would get the benefit of the carbon dosing and getting more cal and alk into solution. am I right or way in left field?

[rarelyseriousb]

gotcha. I thought the ph of the vinegar/kalk is still around 9+. either way I will not add my vinegar in the next batch.