Massive Air!! My Experience with Outdoor Aeration, pH boost, & Stability

[Doctorgori]

I currently run a powerful airpump to an airstone in the sump. This is most effective in my case because I can pump much more air this way than what the skimmer could take.

Others might have success just routing outside air to their skimmer.

I am soooo hoping this works…gonna give this a try and if it works: big thanks

 

[rishma]

I am soooo hoping this works…gonna give this a try and if it works: big thanks

If it doesn’t work…MORE AIR!!!

 

[TeeJay87]

I expect that is true. Aeration can raise or lower pH, and can do opposite things at different times of the day.

I agree and I see it in my own tank. I reach higher pH for longer during the day with the skimmer off during the photoperiod. So I turn the skimmer on before I go to bed and turn it off in the morning. Works for now and I will put it on a timer soon.

Meckley/Kalkwsser/BOLUS side topic: I suspect this also relates to why people see a decline in pH over time when dosing Kalkwasser overnight per the Chris Meckley method. Their skimmer is never given the chance to fight against overnight pH drop from the CO2 increase in the water when there is no photosynthesis. Then as the bioload of the tank increases over time, more and more Kalkwasser is required overnight to keep the same flatline of pH (~8.3) per the Meckley method (KALK addicted tank effect). The benefit of a BOLUS dose in the morning is that you don’t waste the pH boost from your Kalkwasser overnight. So I BOLUS dose my Kalkwasser over 1 hour in the morning before lights on, and I have a pH of 8.4+ throughout the photoperiod. Just my opinion/hypothesis that almost any benefit seen with BOLUS dosing is due to this and not due to using Fauna Marin products.

 

[bubbgee]

Sorry, because my outdoor air pump is plugged in outside and not near my apex, I am not switching it on/off with apex. I was wishing I could because that would be great to switch based on pH. I am just using a WiFi connected outlet and its app/timer.

Ah ok. Well.. it was worth a shot to compare notes.. lol

Thanks for sharing - my skimmer is a BK300 and the max air intake is 600gph and the max of the above pump can do 300gph. This won’t get the desired result right? Also, what if the pump is clogged or run out of battery/power? This method will overflow the skimmer, right?

Yes. I did that by mistake. You can alternate between the two via light cycles on apex scheduling or just turn off the skimmer when running the airstones so it won't interfere with the CO2 reduction.. or have a lot of CO2 scrubbers (I have two for the air stones or use the second one for the skimmer).

 

[Garf]

So I BOLUS dose my Kalkwasser over 1 hour in the morning before lights on

Night time calcification is a real thing, it's not just during photosynthesis. Presumably if higher Alk and pH Increase growth in the light, the same would apply in the dark, as long as the necessary organics are sufficient to aid calcification.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Night time calcification is a real thing, it's not just during photosynthesis. Presumably if higher Alk and pH Increase growth in the light, the same would apply in the dark, as long as the necessary organics are sufficient to aid calcification.

I've always been unclear if calcification was higher during the day purely due to a higher pH effect, or if there is an internal effect to organisms as some scientists have suggested.

 

[TeeJay87]

Night time calcification is a real thing, it's not just during photosynthesis. Presumably if higher Alk and pH Increase growth in the light, the same would apply in the dark, as long as the necessary organics are sufficient to aid calcification.

Yes that makes sense. I don’t know which is more beneficial, but I do believe (and has been my experience) that dosing Kalkwasser overnight will reduce the average pH in the tank over a 24 hour period compared to someone who uses their skimmer/aeration to combat the overnight drop in pH and then doses their Kalkwasser shortly before or after lights come on.

Initially with overnight Kalkwasser dosing I was easily hitting 8.4 pH or atleast 8.3 during the day, but over time, I would dump more and more Kalkwasser and was struggling to hit a 8.2 peak reading. I now dose less Kalkwasser and am at 8.4+ pH the entire 12 hour light cycle.

 

[Garf]

I now dose less Kalkwasser and am at 8.4+

Without your Alkalinity decreasing?

 

[bubbgee]

Yes that makes sense. I don’t know which is more beneficial, but I do believe (and has been my experience) that dosing Kalkwasser overnight will reduce the average pH in the tank over a 24 hour period compared to someone who uses their skimmer/aeration to combat the overnight drop in pH and then doses their Kalkwasser shortly before or after lights come on.

Initially with overnight Kalkwasser dosing I was easily hitting 8.4 pH or atleast 8.3 during the day, but over time, I would dump more and more Kalkwasser and was struggling to hit a 8.2 peak reading. I now dose less Kalkwasser and am at 8.4+ pH the entire 12 hour light cycle.

I'm curious since I am at this point as well. When do you dump kalk at this point? Just dose the kalk throughout the 12 hours (xyz ml at the top of the hour for example?)

 

[TeeJay87]

Without your Alkalinity decreasing?

My Alkalinity stays stable now. Under the Chris Meckley method, my alkalinity was always skyrocketing because Alkalinity is something you don’t worry about with the Chris Meckley method. You chase pH and ignore Alkalinity. (This was his advice 10 months ago, but I believe he is adjusting his recommendation to less Kalkwasser these days).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My Alkalinity stays stable now. Under the Chris Meckley method, my alkalinity was always skyrocketing because Alkalinity is something you don’t worry about with the Chris Meckley method. You chase pH and ignore Alkalinity. (This was his advice 10 months ago, but I believe he is adjusting his recommendation to less Kalkwasser these days).

IMO, the problem with generalizing that method is that it was seemingly developed in the sort of setting where alk is in more demand than kalk can provide, so alk never got too high (his systems), and is mistakenly being applied in systems with low alk demand and high CO2, where kalk can be added in large amounts without reaching the pH target, while not being consumed (boosting alk excessively).

 

[TeeJay87]

I'm curious since I am at this point as well. When do you dump kalk at this point? Just dose the kalk throughout the 12 hours (xyz ml at the top of the hour for example?)

I slow-drip dose something like 500ml of fully saturated Kalkwasser into my 90g system from 6:30 to 7:30am. Lights kick on at 7:20 to full ramp to 100% at 7:30. The light ramp and timing of the Kalkwasser dose follows the BOLUS method, but importantly, the Fauna Marin guys that came up with the BOLUS method say they can only recommend doing it this way with their BALLING LIGHT product. And they have even said this won’t work with Kalkwasser, but did not give a reason to my knowledge. I should say, I am new to corals (first purchase 8 months ago) and don’t have any thriving SPS, so take what I’m doing with a grain of salt and maybe dose at the top of every hour as you suggested. Also, turning that skimmer/aeration off during the photoperiod will increase your pH, but this may not be ideal for some. I find my skimmer rarely pulls skimmate out of the water more than 12 hours a day anyway.

 

[TeeJay87]

IMO, the problem with generalizing that method is that it was seemingly developed in the sort of setting where alk is in more demand than kalk can provide, so alk never got too high (his systems), and is mistakenly being applied in systems with low alk demand and high CO2, where kalk can be added in large amounts without reaching the pH target, while not being consumed (boosting alk excessively).

I agree with you. Chris was recommending this for brand new systems and instructing to ignore Alkalinity as no ill effects were being seen due to the high Alkalinity whereas livestock respond well to increased pH / Kalkwasser. I think Chris would possibly recommend less aggressive pH chasing now.

As you say, I think tanks with high Alkalinity demand do better. However, even people with full tanks (e.g. Reef Bum / Keith) saw diminishing pH increases over time with the Meckley method to a point where pH was peaking at 8.2.