PH Swing

[reefnut]

After the first night of running the reactor at a stead 6.8 the tank's PH is at 7.9. Question is, will a PH swing from 7.9 to 8.1 hurt anything?

 

[timsedwards]

no i dont think so, its not too comfortable but not life threatening IMO.
Tim.

 

[jauringer]

reefnut, did you get a single or a double chamber reactor?
where is your effluent come out at in your tank?

 

[reefnut]

It's a single stage and currently the effluent is going into the sump up stream of the skimmer. I'm trying to find something to funel it into the intake of the skimmer but haven't made it that far. It might be best just to start the kalk back up??

 

[jauringer]

I bet kalk will do the trick. I am jealous!!! I need a reactor really bad. that PH swing seems fine to me anyways. Mine has been 7.9-8.2 for a while now with no ill effects. It's really not the swing that hurts, its the PH range the swing occurs in. for instance, people that use two part additives to maintain levels. The alk part will instantly shoot your ph up about .4 for a few minutes and then come back down to more normal level. It doesn't start to hurt anything unless it spikes up over around 8.6.

 

[attml]

Reefnut,
What are your BMP and drip rate at? You may have it set too aggressively. Has your ALK & PH started to rise or fall since starting the reactor?
Mark

 

[reefnut]

Thanks jauringer, hopefully it will not go below 7.9.
Mark, I stopped the kalk yesterday morning and the reactor has only been running constant for about 24hrs. I have noticed a slight drop in alk but I'm going to test it again in a few hrs. The effluent is at 35ml per-minute and the drip rate is 30DPM... which is the minumum or starting point that the instructions give. I assume I will need to take the effluent rate up? I'm wanting to keep the effluent PH at around 6.8 to give it a little room for adjustments.
I'll post more as I see how everything is reacting. Thanks,