alk won't rise

[will elliott 04]

I have a queastion for all about alk in my tank. my alk isnt going up I am useing seachem reef builder to rise carbonate alk, I Ben dosing five 1\2 tsp for my 175gallon tank for the last couple months or so.my cal is 440 and my mag is at 1280,nits are at 0, pH 8.0, amonia 0. Any ideas how to raise it and dose baking soda really work? How much should I dose for a 175gal. Thank

 

[Diesel]

What is your ALK now and what you use to test with?

Let me drop @Randy Holmes-Farley in here as he's our ALK expert.

 

[Girish23]

Use sodium carbonate to raise alk. It also take ph stable around 8.0 to 8.4

 

[will elliott 04]

I am useing red sea pro test kit and idk what it is at cuz its so low its not on the cart that came with the kit

 

[Diesel]

Can you test your new mixed saltwater for water changes?
What salt are you using and let me know what the ALK is with a 35 or 1.0026 NSW level.

 

[will elliott 04]

Salt I use is reef crystals, my salt level is 1.025. And idk what alk cuz I use the kit and says fill needle up of kh. And I empty it all in the test tube and I don't want to keep shooting the kh in the test tube ml. After ml cuz if it as not within that test tube its low so and I Ben adding alk rise stuff.

 

[Diesel]

You need to test your test kit and you can start with your new mixed salt water to see if you get a reading.
Looking at your PH you should get a reading.
I suspect here testing errors or a faulty test kit in one of the regents.

 

[will elliott 04]

Sorry just got home from mine. I just tested all
Cal-480
Mag-1280
Alk- ?na?
PH 8.0
Both nits-0
Amonia-0
And I bought one of them test strips its says my kh is 240 and my gh is 180. But on my red sea pro test the color stays blue won't change to pink
Idk lolo e says good and one says low. How would I test my test kit as u said? Maybe the kh kit is bad n I am geeking for no reason ha

 

[will elliott 04]

 

[will elliott 04]

 

[justingraham]

Ok are u using 10 ml of tank water?
Second are u putting the needle on the end of the syringe and raising the plunger to one?
When u insert the needle into the titronator is the needle fully seated?
These are all thing I messed up when I first tried to measure my alk

 

[jaws789832]

If you are shooting all the reagent in I believe that means your alk is high not low

 

[justingraham]

If you are shooting all the reagent in I believe that means your alk is high not low

Yes that is correct as well

 

[will elliott 04]

Yes 10ml and the needle at 1.0 all the way up.and it sits nice and tight and like 5mms above the water in the test tube

 

[will elliott 04]

O high? Well that old guy on YouTube who showed how its done ****** me lol cuz he said he used like 7 something. Ha well thanks guys for pointing that out should I let it drop by it self or b best to lower it alil myself?

 

[justingraham]

Let it go. Only way to get it lower would be to do water changes with lower alk water. I still thing there could be an error somewhere because that would be up near 15-16 dkh and if u are not doseing then no salt starts out that high the highest I believe is coral pro and that's 12dkh

 

[will elliott 04]

Only things I put in tank is kent liquid calcium when needed same as Kent teck M magnesium.and Kent purple teck 2times at week at night And lately I Ben adding that Shechem reef builder for alk cuz I thought it was low. Other then that my other levels stay fine before and after water changes.

 

[jaws789832]

I am not 100% sure on this but I think if your test strips are showing 240 ppm then your dkh is about 13.5 which is pretty high. I would probably do a water change to get it back down to ok levels

 

[dgrigor02]

I'd let it fall on it's own unless your seeing some type of stress with your livestock. Retest in a few days.

Instant Ocean and reef crystals is usually around the 10dkh level so attempting to lower by water changes wouldn't help much.

 

[will elliott 04]

OK I'll do one tomorrow cuz
Lately some of my duncans doesn't fully extend for a couple of days now I'll swipe a pic