One off alkilinity raise?

[Reef.]

I need to raise my alk by 1.5dkh what s the best way to do this?

I’m no good with maths, would a water change be a reasonable way to go or dosing something?

I’m trying to get my alk back to my salt parameter of 7 before I start dosing AFR, it’s dropped to around 6kh when it should be around 7, not sure why as no coral yet.

 

[MarshallB]

Depending on the amount of water a large water change a few times should get you back into range. If you have a large volume of water dosing some baking soda over 2 days should do the trick.

BRS calculator

I believe some processes like the nitrogen cycle consumes some alkalinity. Im not sure if dry rock and sand absorb some as well. I know I had a pretty significant drop in alk when I set up my tank too without any coral or noticeable coraline algae growing yet.

 

[Reef.]

Depending on the amount of water a large water change a few times should get you back into range. If you have a large volume of water dosing some baking soda over 2 days should do the trick.

BRS calculator

I believe some processes like the nitrogen cycle consumes some alkalinity. Im not sure if dry rock and sand absorb some as well. I know I had a pretty significant drop in alk when I set up my tank too without any coral or noticeable coraline algae growing yet.

great cheers, daft question coming...do a do anything to the baking soda or straight from the tub? If I go this route? Do a need to bake it, think I read that some place?

Yeah weird the drop, I was trying to find a reason for it or wait it out to see if it corrected with w/c but seems intent on staying low.

 

[MarshallB]

great cheers, daft question coming...do a do anything to the baking soda or straight from the tub? If I go this route?

Yeah weird the drop, I was trying to find a reason for it or wait it out to see if it corrected with w/c but seems intent on staying low.

Adding it as is will lower your ph a bit. If you bake it in a over at 200F for about an hour it will raise your PH.

To quote Randy Holmes:

NaHCO3 = sodium bicarbonate = baking soda and boosts alkalinity and has a small pH lowering effect on seawater
Na2CO3 = sodium carbonate = baked baking soda boosts alkalinity and has a substantial pH raising effect on seawater

 

[Reef.]

Adding it as is will lower your ph a bit. If you bake it in a over at 200F for about an hour it will raise your PH.

To quote Randy Holmes:

Right, I wasn’t sure if you had to bake it, didn’t realise either worked. As it’s a small raise I need and my ph is normally around 8.15 I’ll not bake I think.

 

[MarshallB]

Right, I wasn’t sure if you had to bake it, didn’t realise either worked. As it’s a small raise I need and my ph is normally around 8.15 I’ll not bake I think.

Im not sure how much it will drop added as is, but it should be pretty negligible. I have about 160 gallons of total water volume. My Alk dropped to 6.8, to get it back to 10 ( where my salt mix it ) using baked baking soda boosted my average PH about .3 just as a reference. I did this slowly over about 2 weeks.

Since you need to raise your dkh by 1.5 I would do half the dose one day, check your levels and PH and if the PH looks fine to you, dose the rest on the second day.

 

[Reef.]

Im not sure how much it will drop added as is, but it should be pretty negligible. I have about 160 gallons of total water volume. My Alk dropped to 6.8, to get it back to 10 ( where my salt mix it ) using baked baking soda boosted my average PH about .3 just as a reference. I did this slowly over about 2 weeks.

Since you need to raise your dkh by 1.5 I would do half the dose one day, check your levels and PH and if the PH looks fine to you, dose the rest on the second day.

Thanks, .3 a bit more of a difference than I was thinking, if the drop is that much I need to watch it, yeah I’ll do it over a few days I think.