Overstocked tank - and limits for alkalinity

"Pszemol" wrote in message
...

I need to hook up my skimmer air intake to the outside air somehow.

Do this and your current pH problem will go away. Just be sure to use
oversized tubing so as not to choke off the air too much.

Kev

"KevinM" wrote in message . com...
I need to hook up my skimmer air intake to the outside air somehow.

Do this and your current pH problem will go away. Just be sure to use
oversized tubing so as not to choke off the air too much.

But what about the tank water surface ? It is agitated right now...
Wouldn't it interfere with what I want to do ? The water surface
will be exchanging pressure with the indoor air full of CO2... :-(

"Pszemol" wrote in message
...
But what about the tank water surface ? It is agitated right now...
Wouldn't it interfere with what I want to do ? The water surface
will be exchanging pressure with the indoor air full of CO2... :-(

Most likely not. There is alot more gas exchange going on inside that
skimmer than at your air/water interface. Although I would try to see if I
could get more fresh air in the house, I don't think it will upset your
efforts if you don't. Just hooking your air intake to the outside air will
help some, as it will be constantly pumping fresh air inside.

BTW, what kind of skimmer are you using? What size air inlet on it? (My air
intake is a garden hose)
If your skimmer is, for example, a Skilter (God forbid), I wouldn't expect
much out of it in the way of blowing off CO2. If, on the other hand, you
have something like a AquaC, ER, Beckett, etc...type, something with a
decent sized pump running it, it should have no problem keeping your CO2
blown off.

Kev

"KevinM" wrote in message . com...
Most likely not. There is alot more gas exchange going on inside that
skimmer than at your air/water interface. Although I would try to see if I
could get more fresh air in the house, I don't think it will upset your
efforts if you don't. Just hooking your air intake to the outside air will
help some, as it will be constantly pumping fresh air inside.

I hooked up the skimmer to the outside air using the fact my tank
sits near the wall air-condition unit. I run the larger (2x) diameter
tubing near the air condition unit (between the unit and the sleeve)
so the intake is outside, through the "grill" in the unit sleeve box...
Than I link the smaller tubing going into the skimmer and then into my
water column... Unfortunatelly, pH this morning was again low, 7.75 :-(

BTW, what kind of skimmer are you using? What size air inlet on it?
(My air intake is a garden hose)
If your skimmer is, for example, a Skilter (God forbid), I wouldn't expect
much out of it in the way of blowing off CO2. If, on the other hand, you
have something like a AquaC, ER, Beckett, etc...type, something with a
decent sized pump running it, it should have no problem keeping your CO2
blown off.

I am using small SeaClone 100 - my tank is only 30 gallon of water.
The skimmer is powered with the MaxiJet 1200 with an regular air tube
as its air intake.

Instead of buying jumbo skimmer for $$$ I think I will finally make
a sump for that tank and run a lot of macroalgae with the light period
in the opposit phase to the main tank... That is the only thing I can
think of currently.

"Pszemol" wrote in message
...

Instead of buying jumbo skimmer for $$$ I think I will finally make
a sump for that tank and run a lot of macroalgae with the light period
in the opposit phase to the main tank... That is the only thing I can
think of currently.



I'm sorry but I don't recall- do you drip kalk?
Doing so overnight will fix that low pH.



--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/reef.htm

"Toni" wrote in message news
Instead of buying jumbo skimmer for $$$ I think I will finally make
a sump for that tank and run a lot of macroalgae with the light period
in the opposit phase to the main tank... That is the only thing I can
think of currently.

I'm sorry but I don't recall- do you drip kalk?
Doing so overnight will fix that low pH.

I do not... Somehow my Ca levels are very high - 500mg/l and above.
Probably from shells/substrate dissolving during low pH phases...
Something similar to what happens in Ca/CO2 reactors maybe.

"Toni" wrote in message news
Instead of buying jumbo skimmer for $$$ I think I will finally make
a sump for that tank and run a lot of macroalgae with the light period
in the opposit phase to the main tank... That is the only thing I can
think of currently.

I'm sorry but I don't recall- do you drip kalk?
Doing so overnight will fix that low pH.

Last night I decided to try kalkwasser...
Got one spoon of KENT kalkwasser powder in the gallon of RO/RI watter.
Let it clear up for an hour or two and started dripping to the tank,
just after the lights went out. The dripping rate was preset with
a cheapo plastic air valve, so it was not very accurate, but the drops
were falling into the tank at a rate est. on drop per 5 seconds...
It averaged about 2ml of kalkwasser per minute into my 30-gallons tank.

I let it drip over night - this morning I noticed dripping rate fall
down to about one drop per 10 seconds (valve did not hold the setting)
and pH was higher than the last morning: 7.88 - about 0.10 above
the normal morning reading. Should I expect more rapid results after
dropping kalkwasser or what I saw is normal ?

I stopped dripping before leaving to work this morning - I will start
it again this evening. Should I observe better, accumulated results next
night or what I measured this morning will repeat tomorrow, so to get higher
pH (to about 7.9-8.0) I should increase dripping rate (increase dose) ?

"Pszemol" wrote in message
...

I stopped dripping before leaving to work this morning - I will start
it again this evening. Should I observe better, accumulated results next
night or what I measured this morning will repeat tomorrow, so to get
higher
pH (to about 7.9-8.0) I should increase dripping rate (increase dose) ?


I have just begun dripping kalk myself, so I am not the most experienced
person around.
I do just repeat the same results every night- in other words my pH never
gets up and stays up- I just try and keep it from lowering too much
overnight. It is just a matter of trial and error to get things right for
your system.

An increased amount of kalk in the water does keep my pH higher overnight- I
believe RO water will hold as much as 2 tsp per gallon. But I am still
experimenting with mixing ratios, drips per second, and hours of dripping.
I know that many people with chronic low pH drip 24/7.

I have a lot of learning to do on this myself.
I used this as a jumping off place
http://www.reef-aquarium.net/resourc...alkwasser.html
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/...alkwasser.html


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/reef.htm