So if your salt has low alk then you will need to buffer it by dosing to bring it up. If your tank is sps dominant you will eventually need to dose anyway or run a calcium reactor. The amount of cal. and alk. in salt mixes isn't enough to support a heavy bio-load in my opinion. Kalkawasser is great for keeping them balanced and for top off but alone it isnt enough to sustain what the corals need especially if you have alot of sps and as they grow they are going to deplete the amounts faster. I dose 60ml of the 2 part from brs daily and I dose 60ml of the mg. solution every 2 weeks for me this seems to be the ticket at the moment. I drip kalkawasser at full strength 24/7 at the rate of 4 drops a minute from a 5 gal food grade bucket. This works for me but everyones system and demands are different. Hope this helps..
Alk dropping ?
- Thread starter cjrudy
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cjrudy
Active Member
Well after testing a fresh batch of saltwater, here are the readings
Mag 1500
Alk 9.3
CA 560
PH 8.0
So it looks like the low Alk is not from the salt mix, I did dose my tank with a buffer and have the Alk up to 8.0,looks like I will also increas my Kalk to help maintain the Alk levels
Mag 1500
Alk 9.3
CA 560
PH 8.0
So it looks like the low Alk is not from the salt mix, I did dose my tank with a buffer and have the Alk up to 8.0,looks like I will also increas my Kalk to help maintain the Alk levels
cjrudy
Active Member
Refractometer 1.026
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MBG75
Well-Known Member
Increasing your Kalk won't help the alk. As long as your calcium runs high, your alk will be unstable.
Just my opinion, but I would either back off the Kalk till you can even out the levels, or start dosing alk daily to slowly bring it back up.
Just my opinion, but I would either back off the Kalk till you can even out the levels, or start dosing alk daily to slowly bring it back up.
ritter6788
Coral Fraud Private Eye
Coralife salt has a high calcium level. 520+ is common for this salt. Baking soda for alk may be a better option while using this salt if the demand isn't too high.
I would take a cup of baking soda and mix it with a gallon of RO/DI water(this doesn't mix too easily, so I use a hand held high speed mixer). Once dissolved I would add about 4 ounces of the solution to your sump, and test in about an hour. To be safe don't increase the Alk by more than 1dKH per day.
I wouldn't stop using the kalk in top off @ 1tsp./gal. I think that if you do regular water changes on whatever timetable you prefer, and keep monitoring your parameters, you will see how much your particular system uses and can establish a dosing schedule to keep them at an optimum level. If you find yourself dosing a lot, you may want to go to a Ca reactor, but dosing pumps are also an option.
I wouldn't stop using the kalk in top off @ 1tsp./gal. I think that if you do regular water changes on whatever timetable you prefer, and keep monitoring your parameters, you will see how much your particular system uses and can establish a dosing schedule to keep them at an optimum level. If you find yourself dosing a lot, you may want to go to a Ca reactor, but dosing pumps are also an option.
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