High alkalinity research

mom · Oct 30, 2023

Hello everyone,

I'm a bit of an unconventional user in this forum. I'm a researcher, and I'm interested in studying the effects of high alkalinity on three different coral species and red crustose algae. I joined this group to learn more about dosing, alkalinity reactors, and your personal experiences in high-alkalinity environments. I recently purchased two Alkalinity DKH Colorimeters - Hanna Checker and the cTech T-2 Calcium Reactor to test. My goal is to increase alkalinity from 3000 to 5000 umol/kg (approximately 8 - 14 dKH). For our experiments, we need to use calcium oxide (CaO), Olivine (MgSiO4), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as alkalinity agents. Our tank's capacity is 450-500 L and it is a flow-thru system at 10L min-1 which gives a residence time of about 50 min. Any recommendations are welcome!

Peace River · Oct 30, 2023

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!! You may also want to post your above question to our Reef Chemistry section.

1112-425XL · Oct 30, 2023

Kristopher Conlin · Oct 30, 2023

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

Good luck with your experiments!

shakacuz · Oct 30, 2023

welcome aboard the r2r board!

KrisReef · Oct 30, 2023

@Randy Holmes-Farley

Hawaii Researcher with Alk issues. Just joined so Welcome to Reef2Reef!

dschuffert · Oct 30, 2023

Welcome!

vetteguy53081 · Oct 30, 2023

zheka757 · Oct 30, 2023

welcome o R2R!

Pvtgloss · Oct 30, 2023

CoralB · Oct 30, 2023

Welcome!!

Miami Reef · Oct 30, 2023

mom said:
Hello everyone,

I'm a bit of an unconventional user in this forum. I'm a researcher, and I'm interested in studying the effects of high alkalinity on three different coral species and red crustose algae. I joined this group to learn more about dosing, alkalinity reactors, and your personal experiences in high-alkalinity environments. I recently purchased two Alkalinity DKH Colorimeters - Hanna Checker and the cTech T-2 Calcium Reactor to test. My goal is to increase alkalinity from 3000 to 5000 umol/kg (approximately 8 - 14 dKH). For our experiments, we need to use calcium oxide (CaO), Olivine (MgSiO4), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as alkalinity agents. Our tank's capacity is 450-500 L and it is a flow-thru system at 10L min-1 which gives a residence time of about 50 min. Any recommendations are welcome!

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Add 283 grams of sodium hydroxide to 1 gallon of fresh water. It will get quite warm. Make sure it doesn't soften your container. This solution will contain about 1,900 meq/L of alkalinity (5,300 dKH).

Use this calculator to determine dosing for alkalinity (recipe #1) http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

00W · Oct 30, 2023

I add a few things to my tank now and again and run my alk at 6.5,so I won't be much help but I'd like to extend a warm welcome Welcome to R2R!

Pistondog · Oct 30, 2023

mom said:
Hello everyone,

I'm a bit of an unconventional user in this forum. I'm a researcher, and I'm interested in studying the effects of high alkalinity on three different coral species and red crustose algae. I joined this group to learn more about dosing, alkalinity reactors, and your personal experiences in high-alkalinity environments. I recently purchased two Alkalinity DKH Colorimeters - Hanna Checker and the cTech T-2 Calcium Reactor to test. My goal is to increase alkalinity from 3000 to 5000 umol/kg (approximately 8 - 14 dKH). For our experiments, we need to use calcium oxide (CaO), Olivine (MgSiO4), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as alkalinity agents. Our tank's capacity is 450-500 L and it is a flow-thru system at 10L min-1 which gives a residence time of about 50 min. Any recommendations are welcome!

Welcome mom,
Please share the results with us here.