We all know the positive effect that proper pH can have on coral growth, so when we heard that Reef Zlements, Kamoer, and D-D The Aquarium Solution were working together on a new pH control method, we had to know more. D-D’s Sales Director Stuart Bertram gave us all the details:
“The KH Manager was originally developed as a very successful way of automatically controlling the dKH in your reef aquarium but has now been further developed by D-D for use with the Reef Zlements Hybrid Two-Part (H2P) dosing system allowing you to also control and elevate your pH.”
“For those not familiar with the Reef Zlements H2P Dosing System, this 2 Part system consists of 3 different solutions, where there are two choices of ‘Part’ 1, Complete and pHplus, and a common ‘Part 2’ solution called Universal. Use of the H2P Dosing System will provide everything that your aquarium needs to foster an ecosystem that closely mimics the natural ocean environment.”
Part 1: Hybrid Complete/pHplus
“There are two interchangeable ‘Part 1’ solutions, Complete and pHplus, each designed to increase alkalinity and enrich your reef aquarium with a comprehensive blend of macro and trace elements. Each liter contains 10,000dKH units, and a 10 ml dose of either solution will raise the alkalinity of 100 liters of water by 1dKH.”
The two ‘Part 1’ solutions differ in the effect that continual use can have on the pH of your aquarium.
- Complete: Ensures optimal alkalinity whilst maintaining/gently elevating pH.
- pHplus: Ensures optimal alkalinity whilst actively increasing pH.
Part 2: Universal
“Universal is the rebranded ‘Part 2’ solution for the Reef Zlements H2P Dosing System and can be used with either pHPlus or Complete. It contains approximately 72,000 mg/L of Calcium, but also a meticulously balanced blend of 13 essential macro and trace elements crucial for the health and growth of your corals. Each of the elements plays a critical role in creating a stable and thriving environment for your reef.”
Automatically control and elevate your pH
“Most hobbyists are continually chasing the tail of low pH, but by using pHplus as your ‘Part 1’ solution, you can gradually increase the average pH of your system to an optimum level of 8.2-8.3, which is the ideal range to achieve the best coral growth and health. Once you get to that point you can then use Complete to maintain the elevated level and cycle back to pHplus if the pH starts to gradually fall.”
“By using a KH Manager, with the new programming, the switch from pHplus to Complete can now be fully automated about a user-defined set point, using the pH measurement that the unit already takes when carrying out the normal KH test and adjustment, to maintain a constant elevated ‘Average pH’. The additional benefit of this automation is that it can also reduce the normal day-to-night pH swing that occurs on all aquariums.”
“Natural diurnal biological activity within the aquarium will act every day to raise and reduce the pH of your system. Photosynthesis within the corals during the day, whilst the lights are on, will raise your pH, and respiration at night will lower the pH. On most aquariums, this daily swing of pH will be between 0.2 and 0.3, depending on stocking and degassing effectiveness of the system.”
“Using the KH Manager, the program will enable you to dose Complete during the day whilst the pH in the aquarium is naturally rising and to dose pHplus at night to counteract the natural fall. This will give you the ability to potentially halve the daily pH swing on your system so that it spends more time in the ideal range.”
“To get the maximum benefit from this adjustment, we would suggest that you set the KH Manager to carry out a minimum of 8 tests per day, the more tests, especially from the time when the light intensity starts to reduce, the better the results. The program is currently on Beta testing and will run on the KH Manager with a wired E1 box and a DDP4/DDP4PRO pump.”
“In current development is a wireless connection box, which will allow the KH Manager to connect to the new P1+ dosing pump wirelessly so that the pumps can be located remotely. There is also a new version of the P1 STP stepper motor pump in development, called the P1 STP ‘Connect”, which will also work with the KH Manager, ideal for people dosing larger volumes.”
