Raising alk.

pastelball · Apr 10, 2017

I got a hanna dkh checker. Found out that my my alk was 5.5dkh. I did a water change brought it to 6.6 dkh. I would like to get to 8.0. I have 25 gallon with 15 gallon sump. Should i use baking soda to get it up to 8.0 or use b-ionic 2 part. Calcium is at 420.

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 10, 2017

pastelball said:
I got a hanna dkh checker. Found out that my my alk was 5.5dkh. I did a water change brought it to 6.6 dkh. I would like to get to 8.0. I have 25 gallon with 15 gallon sump. Should i use baking soda to get it up to 8.0 or use b-ionic 2 part. Calcium is at 420.

Part 2 but do it over the course of a week or two. And do another water change next weekend or two more this week and one on the week end.

donnievaz · Apr 10, 2017

pastelball said:
I got a hanna dkh checker. Found out that my my alk was 5.5dkh. I did a water change brought it to 6.6 dkh. I would like to get to 8.0. I have 25 gallon with 15 gallon sump. Should i use baking soda to get it up to 8.0 or use b-ionic 2 part. Calcium is at 420.

Baking Soda will raise your Ph, if you're OK with that, go for it but go slow. Probably shouldn't go more than 1 dkh a day.

pastelball · Apr 10, 2017

Thanks, might just do the 2 part. Have it ready to go any ways. Just starting to figure out the 2 part siding. Haven't had to dose alk or calcium before.

cheseenlo · Apr 10, 2017

what is your Calcium level ? 5.5 is so incredibly low its hard to believe that accurate. one water change bumps it up by 1.1 dkh how big are your water changes ?
maybe you should try using another test kit just to be sure your hanna is accurate

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 10, 2017

pastelball said:
Thanks, might just do the 2 part. Have it ready to go any ways. Just starting to figure out the 2 part siding. Haven't had to dose alk or calcium before.

go slowwww...... Also the wc is the most passive way to reset the levels.

Def look at R Farleys articles. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/chemistry
And look for the math on how much to insure the correct dosages with the specific product.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 10, 2017

pastelball said:
I got a hanna dkh checker. Found out that my my alk was 5.5dkh. I did a water change brought it to 6.6 dkh. I would like to get to 8.0. I have 25 gallon with 15 gallon sump. Should i use baking soda to get it up to 8.0 or use b-ionic 2 part. Calcium is at 420.

If you have baking soda, that's a fine way to go before you invest in a two part. Chances are the demand is pretty low at the moment.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 10, 2017

cheseenlo said:
what is your Calcium level ? 5.5 is so incredibly low its hard to believe that accurate. one water change bumps it up by 1.1 dkh how big are your water changes ?
maybe you should try using another test kit just to be sure your hanna is accurate

If it is a 20% change with 12 dKH water, then it would bump up by 1.3 dKH.

pastelball · Apr 10, 2017

I am doing a 5 gallon water change. My calcium is 420. I figure i have ambit 28 gallons of total water volume. I am using reef crystals.

I do have a Salifert dkh test kit. It is giving me a reading of 7.0 dkh as of tonight.

I have the 2 part already just figured i would use that.

pastelball · Apr 13, 2017

So i have checking my alk at 5:45am this week. Monday it was 6.6, Tuesday 6.5, Wednesday 6.3 and this morning it is 6.1dkh. From my understanding i need 23.7ml to bring up to 8.0. I will do this over a course of a few days using B-ionic 2 part. Does this sound correct?