Alkalinity fix.....

demariners

Work In Progress
So I have been having issues raising my alkalinity. I currently have a Ph of 8.1-8.3, calcium of 420 pm, and mag of 1290. I seem to only be able to get my alkalinity to 6.5 dkh and can't seem to raise it. I have been dosing daily with reef code buffer. I also use kalkwasser to keep my levels stable. I do not have much in the tank. Just a couple clams and anemones. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I would agree. I am using the red sea reef Alkalinity Pro kit. When I first started testing with this kit a few months back it was reading fine at 9-10 dkh. Not sure it is the test kit but I can go grab a few refills and see.
 
Have you tried a different test kit? I was using two different ones tetra and APi. Knowing they were not the best out there I would test with both. They would come in at like 10-9 after water change and drop a point or two the next day and hold for a week. Usually ending up at 6-7 after 7 days. Long story short got a new salifert kit and my level was 10 after water change and after 7 days it was 9. Backed it up with a trip to the LFS to test for all and they were same as salifert. I had been having "issues" for a few months. I run a sumpless 45gal and do not dose. Just do weekly water changes. Has been pretty stable for years. That's what I get for trying cheap test kits LOL.
 
Well I may invest on a hanna checker. I am heard they work really well for Alkalinity and phosphate. I have one for calcium and it is a pain in the butt. Still though I am not sure my alkalinity is even raising with the buffer.
 
I would agree. I am using the red sea reef Alkalinity Pro kit. When I first started testing with this kit a few months back it was reading fine at 9-10 dkh. Not sure it is the test kit but I can go grab a few refills and see.

I have had just a couple numbers off, say ph of 8.1 & kh at 7.5 but not the readings you have, now the Seachem Reef Salt I use needs 2 level tablespoons of soda ash to get my kh up in the 50 gallon can I mix up each week to see the 8.2 I need.
 
Well I just checked my ph. I do also have a pH probe and DA system. The pH is reading about 8.2 which the probe also says. I tested the Alkalinity and again it is at about 6.7 dkh. The test is a little bit of a pain because it does change color pretty fast and I am not sure if the range is correct. I will go to the LFS and get a new test kit tomorrow and see if I see any changes. I do want to get some buffer just in car because I am out of reef code. Any suggestions?
 
I have been adding both parts daily and still the alkalinity will not go up. I assume a value a little lower then 7 isn't too bad but I do want to make sure I have it a range I can manage with the kalkwasser.
 
I usually add 30 ml per day of the reef code buffer and 10-15 ml of the calcium reef code. Calcium seems to stabilize but for the past week the alkalinity has been below or about 7 dkh. I was going to go to the LFS and get a new test kit and also some different buffer. Not sure if that is the cause of the issue.
 
So I checked and checked again today. I purchased Alk 8.3 bright well and also 2 different test kits. BOTH show at 6.5-7.0 before dosing. I dosed AGAIN 3 times the recommend amount. I then did a test an hour later and STILL the same results.
 
There are a number of post on the Web with people trying to raise Alk with Reef Code and having the same issue.

I use Seachem's 'Reef Builder' when I need to adjust Alk. Its been quite effective.
 
Well I ran out of Reef Code and purchased liquid Alk 8.3 i think it is called by bright well. Not sure if it has the same issues as the reef code did. I will give this a try for a few days. If not I will get the sea chem a try.
 
I think your problem is that you are thinking of a "recommended amount", not that you need different products. Any alkalinity product will raise alkalinity if you add enough.

Following a manufacturing recommendation for an alkalinity dose doesn't make sense. You dose what amount is needed to maintain alkalinity, not what a manufacturer thinks might be a good dose for a reef they have never seen. You determine the dose by trial and error, raising or lowering it as needed to get to your target alkalinity. Their recommendations should just be used as a starting dose.

The only time to deviate from that is if you are dosing so much that you are getting precipitation on pumps so rapidly that they clog up quickly.

If using a two part, I'd also recommend using both parts equally unless calcium is already too high. It moves far more slowly than does alkalinity, and even if calcium is at, say 450 ppm, it isn't going to rise too much using a two part.

For example, here are my directions for my DIY two part:

Dosing Instructions
The dosing instructions are basically the same for each recipe, although any given aquarium will end up using about twice as much of recipe #2 as recipe #1 to add the same amount of calcium and alkalinity.

To initiate dosing, first adjust calcium and alkalinity to roughly their correct ranges. This may require a substantial dose of just the calcium part if calcium is low (e.g., below 380 ppm). I would suggest targeting calcium between 380 and 450 ppm, and alkalinity between 2.5 and 4 meq/L (7-11 dKH; 125-200 ppm calcium carbonate equivalents).

This calculator shows how much of what parts to add in order to boost one or both of the parameters by a certain amount:
Reef chemicals calculator
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

Then, once things seem roughly correct, select a starting daily dose for routine dosing. Here are some suggested starting doses, but the exact values do not matter much. The suggested doses apply to both recipes.

After a few days of dosing, note whether alkalinity is low, high or on target. Only bother to test alkalinity, not calcium, during this period, because it is much more sensitive than calcium to over- or underdosing. Adjust the dose up or down as necessary to increase or decrease the alkalinity.

Once you have determined the proper dose, continue it until there is a substantial reason to adjust it (such as falling alkalinity as the corals increase in size). When adjusting the dose, raise or lower both of the recipe's parts together.

Resist the temptation to keep jiggering calcium and alkalinity independently. They will need occasional corrections, but that should not be the normal course of dosing unless there are substantial outside influences, such as water changes with a salt mix that does not match the tank's parameters or an error in making the mixes.

Check alkalinity fairly frequently to make sure the dosing continues at a suitable rate. Check it maybe once a week to once a month (or less as you get more experienced with the system and the tank). Check calcium once a month to once every few months to make sure it continues on track.

Remember to add an appropriate amount of Part 3 each time you finish adding a gallon of Parts 1 and 2.
 
I appreciate all your help. I am currently NOT using two part. I have Calcion and Alk 8.3 by bright well that I am using. I also have a kalkwasser reactor. The whole reason I purchased the kalkwasser reactor is do I wouldn't have to do daily dosing. So I noticed you said at the beginning that I could potentially dose more then what is recommended. I have dosed the "Daily Maximum" on the label and I test about an hour after? When Should I check the levels after dosing? Then I could get the levels I need. Is there a certain amount of alk, mag, ca that I shouldn't raise beyond a day? What I mean is what is harmful to the animals. +/- 50ppm per day for ca for example? I want to try to get this "automated." I do not have a lot of time to dose daily. I may consider a calcium reactor. Thanks for all your help.
 
I understand. My point in giving the directions is that you raise the dose until the alk is where you want it, not that you are using that specific product. That is how you dose any alkalinity supplement.

It is possible that there is something wrong with the alk supplement you bought. Maybe someone bought it, removed some or most, and replaced it with water before returning it. Or maybe it is just a bad batch. Or maybe you kit is inaccurate (fairiy common with hobby test kits, unfortunately)

But any alkalinity supplement will raise alkalinity if you add enough. Alk supplements are all basically the same thing, perhaps at slightly different concentrations: baking soda and washing soda or mixtures of the two. :)

Can you tell us exactly how much of what you added to what size tank and didn't see an alkalinity rise?


FWIW, two parts are as easily automated as is a CaCO3/CO2 reactor, using dosing pumps.
 
I am using http://www.brightwellaquatics.com/products/alkalin83.php. I have been dosing at the manufacturs recommended daily maximum of 5mL per 10 gallons. My tank is about 60 gallons. I just did a check on all my levels and here is what I discovered today.

Alk - 7.4
Mag - 1240
Ca - 340

So it looks like ALL my levels may need to be increased slightly. Just so you know at the time I have been having issues the calcium was about 400 or so ppm and the mag was at 1290 or so. I did add some kalkwasser to my reactor in case I did not have a strong enough solution.
 
So I went ahead and decided to do 2-part with a dosing pump. I am not sure how to go about this and how it will work. I am removing my kalkwasser reactor and just doing 2-part. The directions are a little vague. It is the LFS C-Balance. Any ideas how I should set this up in a 60 gallon tank? Thanks.
 
So you were dosing about 30 ml per day? That 30 ml to a 60 gallon tank should have boosted alk by about 1.5 dKH. You should be able to see that an hour after dosing unless something is wrong with that bottle. That said, you could have demand that high so that in 24 h it may be back where you started. :)

With C-balance, you'll determine doses just as I indicated above for my DIY, except there won't be a magnesium part. Stick to equal parts dosing unless calcium actually gets too high.

This calculator shows how much to use for say a 1 dKH boost, which is a fine daily dose for now and see what happens:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html
 
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