I can't seem to get my Alk to raise. It has been at 5 for the past 2 months! I'm dosing my top off water with buffer, and doign water changes, but it won't go up. I need to raise it, to get rid of an algae problem. The PH is at 8.2 and hasn't budged either way. Any ideas? Thanks.
Alk problem
- Thread starter Kennetht
- Start date
cee
New member
What is your Ca and Mg at? From another post I made, not directly relevant (no precipitation reported), but points out the importance of balancing these 3 properly to maintain desired levels:
To quote a paragraph from Randy Holmes Farley's article on Magnesium in the Reef Aquarium (see the RC Reef Chemistry Forum), "Given enough time calcium ions will interact with carbonate ions and precipitate as calcium carbonate. If you push the concentration of either too high, CaCO3 will start to precipitate. Magnesium interferes with this process, permitting both calcium and carbonate to be elevated above where they would be in the absence of magnesium". Precipitation in a nutshell!
Dave
To quote a paragraph from Randy Holmes Farley's article on Magnesium in the Reef Aquarium (see the RC Reef Chemistry Forum), "Given enough time calcium ions will interact with carbonate ions and precipitate as calcium carbonate. If you push the concentration of either too high, CaCO3 will start to precipitate. Magnesium interferes with this process, permitting both calcium and carbonate to be elevated above where they would be in the absence of magnesium". Precipitation in a nutshell!
Dave
FloatingFish
Member
Check out these links lots of info.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm
http://reef.diesyst.com/
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm
http://reef.diesyst.com/
Sir Knight
New member
also get your hands on another test kits to make sure you are truly getting correct readings.
