Is 6.7 alk hurting my tank?

[mbarber87]

I’m not yet at the spot where I feel like I know enough about dosing chemicals to do it in my tank. I’m learning a lot and want to be confident before I start.

in the meantime, is 6.7 too low? I use RedSea salt for water changes so it always bumps it during water changes, but eventually finds itself back around the 6.7-7.0 range.

am I damaging my corals by letting it stay so low?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It is marginal, but not hurting corals. That's about the level in much of the ocean. Don't let it drop much further if you have hard corals. It is easy to boost alkalinity with baking soda.

 

[mbarber87]

Ok thanks so much!

 

[blasterman]

Just use grocery store baking soda and any online reef calculator.If it's a younger tank target a dKH of 9 or so because it will be constantly diving.

Fill a plastic quart bottle with tank water, dump the baking soda in the bottle, shake it for a minute until it's perfectly clear and then slowly add it to the tank, preferably over a pump or area with a lot of current. As long as you aren't jumping dKH more than a full point or so you are fine.

Younger tanks devour alkalinity pretty fast. That will slow down after the tank cycles.

 

[EMeyer]

Fwiw I'd rather have 6.7 (very similar to the ocean) than anything above 8 (rarely encountered in the ocean)

I wouldn't dose anything until you have measurable depletion below nsw levels. And then, dose very slowly to maintain rather than raise alk.

 

[juannnn]

It is marginal, but not hurting corals. That's about the level in much of the ocean. Don't let it drop much further if you have hard corals. It is easy to boost alkalinity with baking soda.

the formula that you recommend to increase the kh is
200.7 g of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and 31.6 g of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) in 2.5 liters, or only with sodium bicarbonate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

the formula that you recommend to increase the kh is
200.7 g of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and 31.6 g of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) in 2.5 liters, or only with sodium bicarbonate?

You can use only sodium bicarbonate or sodium carbonate or any mixture in between. The latter raises pH too and the former does not.

 

[juannnn]

Hay muchas publicaciones sobre este tema, pero me gustaría saber cuál es su mezcla favorita para aumentar los kh en 5 litros con agua rodi, mi inglés no es muy bueno y no quiero estar equivocado

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Hay muchas publicaciones sobre este tema, pero me gustaría saber cuál es su mezcla favorita para aumentar los kh en 5 litros con agua rodi, mi inglés no es muy bueno y no quiero estar equivocado

Descargue la aplicación google translate. En cuanto a la alcalinidad de dosificación, hay numerosas calculadoras en línea. Utilizo Tropic Marin All For Reef, ya que realmente simplifica la dosificación para tanques pequeños.

Editar: Perdón por mi mal español, solo hablo un poco.

 

[Billldg]

@Randy Holmes-Farley pretty much answered everything and I never question him as he know's his chemistry. I will say though that I would never keep my ALK on the bottom end, meaning I like a little buffer. I would rather have a little margin of error and keep my ALK around 8 or at least high 7's. I looked at the Red Sea salt mix and the normal ALK at a mix of 1.026 id around 8 DKH and the pro is much higher. What type of test kits are you using to measure your ALK?

 

[Tompickles]

I think your good at that range. I’ve had my nano tank up for about 3 years now and have never tested any parameter until the other day and alk was at 5.8 but all corals are happy and growing so I’m not worried to much about it

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I think your good at that range. I’ve had my nano tank up for about 3 years now and have never tested any parameter until the other day and alk was at 5.8 but all corals are happy and growing so I’m not worried to much about it

I have found that much lower alkalinity works in my tank. Higher alkalinity, over 8dkh, seems to cause problems for me.

 

[juannnn]

[CITA = "Randy Holmes-Farley, publicación: 7504974, miembro: 45227"]
Puede usar solo bicarbonato de sodio o carbonato de sodio o cualquier mezcla intermedia. El último también eleva el pH y el primero no.
[/ CITAR]
My aquarium is 300 liters what I want to know is exactly the amount of sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate that I need to prepare 5 liters of rod water to dose with peristaltic

 

[vetteguy53081]

Its' acidic but not deadly especially if it is steady at that number ( remember stability is key)

 

[juannnn]

nobody can help me?

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

6 is pretty low I’d try to run 7s as low as I’d go. Every tank is different but stability is #1.

 

[juannnn]

6 is pretty low I’d try to run 7s as low as I’d go. Every tank is different but stability is #1.

My aquarium is 300 liters what I want to know is exactly the amount of sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate that I need to prepare 5 liters of rod water to dose with peristaltic

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My aquarium is 300 liters what I want to know is exactly the amount of sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate that I need to prepare 5 liters of rod water to dose with peristaltic

This calculator shows how much you need;

Reef Chemistry Calculator

 

[Rybren]

Use the instructions that @Randy Holmes-Farley published in this article. It can be founds in the stickies at the top of this forum in Reef Chemistry Articles.

 

[juannnn]

Lo que quiero es mantenerlo, no aumentar mi kh, no puedo encontrar la cantidad de carbonato de sodio que tengo que disolver por litro de agua y luego agregarlo con peristáltico. Y si se explica con esa calculadora, no entiendo