How Do you Lower Alkalinity? Mine keeps Rising.

[gonpostal]

I Dose twice a Week:

Seachem PH Buffer

The pH buffer is probably raising your alk.

 

[that Reef Guy]

The pH buffer is probably raising your alk.

But I have been dosing PH Buffer for years with no problems.

This all started once I started GFO for the Very First Time.

I need PH Buffer to keep my PH Up otherwise it will be at 7.8 not 8.4 like I need.

 

[gonpostal]

Your pH doesn't need to be 8.4. When I used to check mine, it went from 7.9 at night to 8.1 at daytime. 7.8 is fine, I would stop dosing the pH buffer and stop worrying about your pH.

 

[Pappy]

Ph buffer is the problem. It falsely raises ph (meaning the next day or 2 it drops) and only raises alk. Stop dosing this crap and use sodium bicarbonate or soda ash from brs. If you insist on chasing ph which is not necessary ime then run kalk that will maintain your ph. And that whole article is on iron oxide not ferric oxide. Granular ferric oxide I can't see how that would raise or lower alk. Completely irrelevant. Buffer is your issue.

 

[Tahoe61]

Ditto you do not need a pH of 8.4. You're chasing the numbers and that is not a good idea.
Figure out what your pH swing is, the difference between the value before the lights go on in am and off in pm. By figuring out the swing you will get idea of if you truly need to intervene. If you do indeed have a chronically low pH then use some other intervenes like a reverse light fuge, increasing surface agitation, improving oxygenation...Stop using the buffer.
Alkalinity is a reflections of your water ability to maintain a stable pH, if you are maintaining an Alk value between 8-10(roughly) you should be fine.

 

[DaveMorris]

If your Alk is around 8 - 10dkh, your calcium is at 450ppm, and your Mg is at 1450ppm, then your ph will be right where it should be. All three of these work in unison with each other. Chasing ph values will do only one thing...waste your money on "ph in a bottle".

 

[Dan1789]

I had the same thing happen, stop using the ph buffer. Let your ph drop to where it wants to be. Stable ph of 7.8 is better than ph swings of 8.4 to 7.8.

 

[that Reef Guy]

Ph buffer is the problem. It falsely raises ph (meaning the next day or 2 it drops) and only raises alk. Stop dosing this crap and use sodium bicarbonate or soda ash from brs. If you insist on chasing ph which is not necessary ime then run kalk that will maintain your ph. And that whole article is on iron oxide not ferric oxide. Granular ferric oxide I can't see how that would raise or lower alk. Completely irrelevant. Buffer is your issue.

sodium bicarbonate or soda ash from brs

So how are these two things different from Seachem PH Buffer.

If they too raise PH would they not just be PH Buffer too just from a different brand?

 

[gonpostal]

You shouldn't dose the BRS stuff either unless your ALK is low. If you DO have to dose, you're better off getting a BRS 2-part kit, it comes with CAL, ALK and MAG and it would probably be a lot less expensive than the stuff you're using now. What are your parameters before you dose anything? You might not have to dose anything unless you have a lot of stony corals, water changes may be enough to keep your parameters in check.

 

[CoryC]

they arent much different, the point is you're measuring the wrong thing. the ph buffer isnt going to raise ph much, just like the soda ash. you should be measuring your daily alk consumption and let it fall to a safe workable range, then dose to keep it stable and repeat the process with the CA and MAG, you're chasing ph and and the only dosing agent the really raises ph is kalk. those ph buffers are just baking soda and some other proprietary ingredients.

 

[Swine]

This is in the article you posted about GFO talking about GFO...

Since gfo was mentioned in top post to lower alk, I just wanna point it out that gfo does not and to prove my dis-agreement....

You didn't prove it... The article you posted in fact said that GFO can lower alk. It does not crash alk and lower it by a huge amount but it will lower alk.

From the article again:

The drop in alkalinity and/or pH caused by abiotic precipitation of calcium carbonate would not be expected to be very great in most aquaria, and typically isn't especially large, as reported by the aquarists themselves. In the cases from which I've seen data, the effect is not as great as the variability between aquaria or between dosing events in many aquaria. Still, such changes might be important in some circumstances where conditions are already marginal.

Maybe someone can help if this is correct:
So it is because GFO gets phosphates low enough for calc to be used by corals and thus drop that alk will drop as well to balance out?


back on topic:
Have you tested alk again? is it still rising? have you tested your new mixed salt water before the water change for alk levels? you said it had a rise of 1dkh, over what period was that?

 

[Pappy]

sodium bicarbonate or soda ash from brs

So how are these two things different from Seachem PH Buffer.

If they too raise PH would they not just be PH Buffer too just from a different brand?

Please re read what Dave Morris wrote as he is spot on! If u "need to dose" you're dosing the wrong stuff was my point.

Back to lowering alk...check your alk of new water u mix first. If that is where u want it then do a series of wc's and that will lower it like anything else. Also I would suggest double checking test kit. I had an API I used for a long time thinking dkh was 9-10. Bought a Hanna and it was 6.7. So could def be the test kit.