alkalinity/buffering question

[futureeyedoc]

Have a question about alkalinity and buffering...

Here are my current tank parameters

pH 8.2-8.3
Nitrates - 0 ppm
Nitrites - 0
Ammonia - 0
Phosphates - 0
Calcium - 360 - 380 ppm
Temp ~ 81-82
Salinity - 1.020-1.021 (not sure when/how this got here since the last water change - will be doing a 15% change tomorrow to fix this)


KH test is showing somwhere in the range of 5-6 dkh...
(8-12 is norm here so that's low)

So here's the questions:
I realize the calcium is a little low (should be 400-500ppm I believe?) and the kH is also low. I have been dosing reef advantage calcium (powder form dissolved in 1 cup tank water) to keep the calcium in the proper range - just fell behind a little bit on that....

As for the kH - since the pH is relatively normal, what would be the best additive to add to the tank to rase the kH without messing with the pH , calcium, all of that? Is there a better way to fix the calcium and kH (not that they're necessarily directly related)?

I have some Seachem Reef Buffer (powder form) that I think might do the trick, but I wanted to get opinions as to the best possible product/way of going about fixing this before I screw up my beautiful display tank!


THANK YOU!

 

[The0wn4g3]

Unless you are seeing problems caused by an alkalinity 5-6 I wouldn't really worry about it as the pH is great. My 65 gallon measured 3-5 dKH consistently with a pH of 7.8-8.0 and I never had any problems as long as I kept the pH in check. My 110 was consistently 5 dKH with a pH of 7.6-7.8. I've been dosing 2 teaspoons of baking soda over the past week and it has risen to 7 with a pH of 7.9-8.1. My goal is 10 dKH or 8.1-8.3 pH, whichever comes first.
If it bothers you enough, I'd start out with about half the recommended dosage of the Seachem Reef Buffer (it's good stuff, I like the Seachem calcium and alkalinity products) and monitor how it effects pH over a few days. If you see an increase continue (if not, boost the dosage per day) until the pH reaches over 8.3 then knock the dosage down slightly to maintain that level of alkalinity. According to the reef chemistry calculator it's safe to add alkalinity buffer until you reach a pH increase of 0.2. That's difficult to measure if you don't have a meter, though.

 

[futureeyedoc]

cool, that's what I figured

I just ran the same tests on my 24 nano dx and had some similar results ( which I would expect with the same RO water, supplements, salt, etc...)

However, for the nano

calcium was way up at 500
and pH up at 8.4....

should I take any different measures/precautions with that tank or just do the same with the 1/2 recommended does of the seachem reef buffer???

 

[swearint]

I would not mess with any additives until you correct the SG. After the water change, you might not need to add anything else, or at least very little. Actually, an easier approach would be to use freshly mixed salt water for your evaporation top off.

Todd

 

[futureeyedoc]

hmmm... I'm definetly going to work on that.... however I know I tested before my last water change and the sg was fine then ( must've just put a weird drop on the refractometer or tilted it weird or something) - and the alkalinity was still way low...

 

[futureeyedoc]

well, I did some tinkering over the last few days....
Added salt water instead of fresh for top-offs
Added Seachem Reef Buffer to both tanks
Added some Seachem calcium to the display...

Now in both tanks:
Everything's at 0 ppm now
1.023-1.024 SG
dKH ~ 8 in both tanks
calcium ~ 440 in both tanks
temp ~80 in both tanks
pH ~ 8.3 in both tanks....

feeling a lot better about all of it now!