Alkalinity raising.
- Thread starter Devin Le
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Crabs McJones
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Generally .5DKH a day is safe, I can't imagine another .1 is going to hurt anything. I've heard of reefers raising it by as much as 1DKH over a day and having no ill effects
Randy Holmes-Farley
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That sounds ok to me. It’s also fine to split it into two doses on 2 different days.
I don’t know if I’m doing my test kits wrong. So I brought some water to my lfs to double check with their results and they use the Red Sea test kit as well. They told me that my ALK was 7.8 but when I got home I checked it again and got 8.1. But I went with the 7.8 and added the recommended dose to bring it to 8.4. But I checked my alk one hour ago which is three hours after I dosed the ALK and my ALK is now 9.8. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. The test kit has given me multiple levels.
I don’t know if I got a bad test kit or maybe all my levels are just high. The kit says that my levels are
Mag: 1650
Alk : 9.8 (now)
Calcium : 440 when I tested and 425 when lfs tested. I had assumed my levels might be a little lower since I have about 10-12 stony corals. But nothing has grown at all. Could my alk be testing weird if I tested it after lights out.
Mag: 1650
Alk : 9.8 (now)
Calcium : 440 when I tested and 425 when lfs tested. I had assumed my levels might be a little lower since I have about 10-12 stony corals. But nothing has grown at all. Could my alk be testing weird if I tested it after lights out.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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The difference between 7.8 and 8.1 dKH should be considered insignificant relative to the natural error expected with most hobby alk kits.
We are not doing rocket science.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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How much of what did you add to what size tank, and how did you determine that amount?
I dosed liquid soda ash from BRS the calculator said dose 10 MLS to bring 7.8 to 8.5. After waiting a few hours I tested and it was 9.8. That was last night. I tested this morning and it was 9.2 dkh.
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What size aquarium (estimated water volume)?
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10 mL of my diy recipe using sodium carbonate (as used by BRS) in 20 gallons of water will boost alk by 0.7 dKH. Perhaps you calculated incorrectly somehow.
This calculator using my recipe #1 gives the 0.7 dKH, which is within kit testing error if what you got.
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
This calculator using my recipe #1 gives the 0.7 dKH, which is within kit testing error if what you got.
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
I used the measuring cups BRS provided and added 10 ML’s to the water. I think that I got a false reading on the test. Either the alk was high to begin with or the test at the end went too high.
