Low alkalinity suggestion

[Anthony123]

I don't have much coraline at the moment. I believe my tuxedo urchin farms it...haha. But I don't have many corals either since my tank crash many months ago. I have been working on stability ever since and have tried so many different things. Kalk works well in my Auto top off but why should I have to dose with such a small load and at the same time doing frequent water changes using Salinty? Thanks

 

[Kershaw]

Something is consuming it. I switched from rc to salinity. And I had same issue. But it is my coraline using my alk. My alk was slightly better with rc. Also my ph would drop to 7.6 now that I keep my kh at 9 my ph is 8.1 to 8.2

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don't have much coraline at the moment. I believe my tuxedo urchin farms it...haha. But I don't have many corals either since my tank crash many months ago. I have been working on stability ever since and have tried so many different things. Kalk works well in my Auto top off but why should I have to dose with such a small load and at the same time doing frequent water changes using Salinty? Thanks

Do you know how much you are dosing?

 

[Servillius]

Hey guys, I have a 30 gallon, a little over a month old, have a few lps coral in there. I am using HW Reefer salt, mixing at 1.026, just did a ten gallon change yesterday. Tested the fresh mixed water, read 9.2 dkh. Changed the water yesterday, tested it today and it's at 7.5dkh. I don't think my tank is usuing up alk that quickly, is it? What should I do to raise it, i was thinking limewater, or maybe Red Sea coral pro, mix some in with my current salt? Any ideas?

Were you ever able to evaluate your consumption?

 

[Jakepen]

Were you ever able to evaluate your consumption?

Yeah, checked it yesterday and it was at 6.3 which seems like a lot of consumption for 5 corals!

 

[Servillius]

Yeah, checked it yesterday and it was at 6.3 which seems like a lot of consumption for 5 corals!

How many days to go from 7.5 to 6.3? The other problem is 6.3 is so low it's starting to prevent further uptake so it may not be a great test.

 

[Jakepen]

How many days to go from 7.5 to 6.3? The other problem is 6.3 is so low it's starting to prevent further uptake so it may not be a great test.

Six days. What do you mean not a great test?

 

[Servillius]

So this is going to sound a bit contradictory. That is the result of punishment for not giving the full story earlier. I'm not really sure of the details but I believe once your alkalinity gets low enough, it's too low for stuff to be able to use it or to use it easily. If that's the case it could have dropped from 7.5 to 6.3 on the first day or whenever and then stopped dropping. I'll stand by not testing too often as my advice, but you also want to work towards a level that is high enough that you can be confident in the results.

If the result is accurate though, which is a definite possibility, thats not a whole lot of consumption.

 

[Jakepen]

Just a low number. Should I pick up another test kit to make sure mine is accurate? I'm using the Hanna checker.

 

[BluewaterLa]

Remember that in a non complicated way, alkalinity is the ability of buffer capacity of your water. While the alkalinity ions and calcium among other trace elements are used by coral, coraline, snails, etc. alkalinity is also consumed some by the biological process in your tank.
Having alkalinity issues in a new immature reef tank is usually normal due to the presence of organics being broke. Down in the nitrogen cycle.
Some older tanks will experience this as well sometimes when the organics build up in the rock work.
Most of the time the consumption rate balances out as far as the nitrogen cycle and bio load on the tank.
There are a few factors other than just coral that affect alkalinity in our reef tanks.
With low alk, magnesium or calcium water changes may not be enough to raise them to proper levels unless the water volume changed is very large.
You will have to dose the tank to get the levels back up and continue dowsing if regular water changes won't sustain the levels.

Alkalinity shouldn't bounce around from low to high from one day to the next if dosing isn't taking place.
If you cannot seem to maintain alkalinity I suggest you test your magnesium first to make sure that your levels are around 1300-1350ppm.
Magnesium keeps alkalinity and calcium stable, low levels of magnesium and you will be chasing numbers for no reason.
Hope this helps in some way
Good luck and happy reefing

 

[Jakepen]

Remember that in a non complicated way, alkalinity is the ability of buffer capacity of your water. While the alkalinity ions and calcium among other trace elements are used by coral, coraline, snails, etc. alkalinity is also consumed some by the biological process in your tank.
Having alkalinity issues in a new immature reef tank is usually normal due to the presence of organics being broke. Down in the nitrogen cycle.
Some older tanks will experience this as well sometimes when the organics build up in the rock work.
Most of the time the consumption rate balances out as far as the nitrogen cycle and bio load on the tank.
There are a few factors other than just coral that affect alkalinity in our reef tanks.
With low alk, magnesium or calcium water changes may not be enough to raise them to proper levels unless the water volume changed is very large.
You will have to dose the tank to get the levels back up and continue dowsing if regular water changes won't sustain the levels.

Alkalinity shouldn't bounce around from low to high from one day to the next if dosing isn't taking place.
If you cannot seem to maintain alkalinity I suggest you test your magnesium first to make sure that your levels are around 1300-1350ppm.
Magnesium keeps alkalinity and calcium stable, low levels of magnesium and you will be chasing numbers for no reason.
Hope this helps in some way
Good luck and happy reefing

Just tested my water, magnesium is 1380, calcium 450 and alkalinity is 6.7. I did a five gallon change last night, so the water changes alone aren't enough to bring up my alk?

 

[Jakepen]

What should I do to raise and maintain my alk? Will just adding kalkwaser in my ATO raise it?

 

[ScoobyFish]

What should I do to raise and maintain my alk? Will just adding kalkwaser in my ATO raise it?

id go with the Bulk reef supply 2 part dosing system. the one youll need to raise alk is soda ash. but since alk and calc work hand in hand you can buy their system and prepare yourself save money.

 

[Anthony123]

 

[Anthony123]

Very helpful information, thank you

 

[Jakepen]

Kalkwaser seems so much simpler. With the 2 part, I would want to buy pumps, for a few different reasons. I don't have the outlets for more plugs, or the budget ha.

 

[Anthony123]

Kalk has always raised and helped maintain my levels using the ato but I do always worry about the actual dose I am giving or how much. Sometimes my evaporation rate is high and sometimes low. Adding to my existing top off water can be tricky because after several times there is quite a bit left over in the bottom of the container and I just feel that I'm not actually sure of the concentration is anymore. Oh, and I have had my ato fail once.

 

[Jakepen]

My ph is at 8.2 (using a co2 scrubber) I don't want to raise it anymore. Would it be wise to raise alk with baking soda, than keep it stable using kalkwaser @Randy Holmes-Farley ?

 

[Anthony123]

Ph 7.8
Dkh 7
Calcium 380
Mag 1260
Nitrate is 20 my nitrates have always been zero.... Alk is not my only problem now...after working so hard on doing small water changes and a lot of research I am feeling very frustrated.

 

[BluewaterLa]

What should I do to raise and maintain my alk? Will just adding kalkwaser in my ATO raise it?

Kalkwasser is a good way to maintain levels of calcium and alkalinity in equal proportion. You would need to get your alkalinity up via another additive for alkalinity before you start dosing kalkwasser.
Kalk is more of a maintain the levels more than just raising one at a time.
In my experience trying to raise alk with kalk dosing doesn't work all that well, and additional supplement like seachem or BRS 2 part was needed to get the value up.

Water changes won't maintain the levels unless you change a massive amount of water at one time, so for example 50 gallon system with a dkh of 6.7 and after a 10 gallon water Change with dkh of 9 won't really have any affect on raising the tanks dkh. A 30 or 40 gallon water change would have a better chance at raising the alk but I don't recommend it.

When you mix your water you want to match the salinity of your display tank. Along with salinity you also want to match the temperature so you don't shock fish or corals, nor do you want to add hot water.
Alkalinity is also important to match in your fresh made seawater before you add it to the tank because a fluctuating alkalinity is not good for corals. So if your alk is 6.7dkh in the tank and your mixed water has an alk of 9 dkh then you will have pockets of water with a higher alk that can burn corals or stress them.

So after the long winded version I would recommend you buy a type of supplement to dose your alkalinity up slowly ( not more than 1 dkh a day)
Raise it to match the dkh of your salt mix to make things easier on you and safer or less stressful for your reef.

You could use mrs. Wages picking lime for your kalkwasser dosing in your top off water. This is a inexpensive product that works well and you could make a drip system out of a container and some air line tubing with a 1/4 valve to adjust drip rate. This way you could skip the auto top off dosing and drip dose the tank at night to keep the parameters dialed in and constant.
Hope this helps you and others as well
Good luck and happy reefing
BluewaterLa/ Mike