low alk

bonomo53 · Nov 2, 2011

so just picked up some new salifert test kits and my calcium is 500 and alk is 4.5dkh i did a water change exactly 1 week ago and haven't dosed anything in my tank what should i do to get my alk up

pumarjr · Nov 2, 2011

Does not seem right, what test kit are you using to test your Ca Level? Alk @ 4.5dkh should put your Ca level at about 350 or so. Mg should also be kept a little higher. All assuming your keeping a reef tank.

bonomo53 · Nov 2, 2011

ca and alk test are salifert and mag is elos… im gonna recheck them again

pumarjr · Nov 2, 2011

exact same kits I use, make sure the tests are done properly and re-post your findings.

bonomo53 · Nov 2, 2011

just retested with same results

keokea · Nov 2, 2011

For what it's worth I just purchased the red sea test kits for Ca Alk and Mag and they're all bad. tested against elos api and salifert to confirm it was a bad batch.
You could have a bad test kit like me

bonomo53 · Nov 2, 2011

made lfs double check my water and came out the same way is it just possible that my tank is using a lot more alk then ca

bonomo53 · Nov 2, 2011

ok so did a water changed and check them again calcium is 470 alk is still 4.5 and mag is 1000 should i start dosing mag and alk or can my low mag just have caused my alk to drop

LegoZ81 · Nov 3, 2011

If you are all using the same brand and batch # kits you could both have bad... I'd check with a different brand completely if possible. how big of a system do you have?

FaviaFreak · Nov 3, 2011

man that is low DKH! are you dosing 3pt daily?

LegoZ81 · Nov 3, 2011

I'd be really concerned about "number chasing" with the possibility of a bad test kit...
do you you have any of your old kit left to confirm?
I always try to have enough left to crosscheck between the old and new kits because of this.

bonomo53 · Nov 3, 2011

i doubled check with another test kit and getting the same reading … i haven't dosed anything in my tank for the passed 6 months and been getting great results with just weekly water changes but i guess the frags are getting to the size now where i need to start dosing… i ordered a 2part kit from brs and in the meantime picked up alkaline.3 and magnesion gonna try to get my levels back up slowy .. i just don't understand why my cal is zoo high ?

Miken · Nov 3, 2011

LegoZ81 said:
I'd be really concerned about "number chasing" with the possibility of a bad test kit...
do you you have any of your old kit left to confirm?
I always try to have enough left to crosscheck between the old and new kits because of this.

+1 on this

Jayboogy510 · Nov 6, 2011

Are you running carbon or gfo? If you use too much it will such all your alk out of the water... I need my gfo running so I just dose more Alk.

bonomo53 · Nov 9, 2011

ok so i started to bring my alk up slowly the past week with bright well alkaline 8.3 ..Today my 3 part from bulk reef supply arrived. My current levels are ca 480 alk 6.7dkh and mg 1250.
After reading the instructions on my new 3 part kit it says to only dose alk and cal until i'am done with the 1 gallon mix of each then to dose 20oz of mag. why is this? is this the right thing to do?
Heres the instructions Instructions-for-Prepackaged-Kits-(Recipe-1)

floridareef · Nov 9, 2011

This is a great site that will tell you exactly what to dose.

Google "Reef Chemistry Calculator"

Dowtish · Nov 9, 2011

I would not pay attention to that at all. Like you, I was on a steady water change regimen and my levels were okay, until my corals got larger and I got more of them. The salt mix I use has pretty high mag levels, and when I started testing my cal, alk, and mag levels religiously, my mag was always high, and still is. I have been dosing the alk and cal for 6 months now, and have yet to use any of the magnesium...at all. If you keep up on your water changes you will have to test before and after the WC to see what kind of boost you get just from your salt, and then dose accordingly. I dose more for alk than calcium at this point, but it is rising gradually because of the growth of my SPS.