alkalinity help please

H

heliguy71

New member
hi,i am using fully saturated kalkwasser in a 5 gallon bucket for my ato.i am trying to get my alk levels to 9dkh but i cannot keep them there.in one day my alk drops 1 dkh.i have been using baking soda to bring it up and kalkwasser to maintain it.my tank has very little coral but alot of coraline on the live rock and glass.about 100 lbs in my 120 gallon tank and 60-70 in my 40 gallon sump.calcium is not moving at all and staying at 440ppm and mag is 1460.if anyone has any ideas why my alk drops so fast let me know.i am very confused on what to do.also i do not think it is precipitating out because my heaters and pumps have no white build up at all.

thanks mike
 
Alkalinity can drop fast as corals and coralline algae use it, and limewater may not be able to keep up, even with coralline alone, although it does so in my non-SPS tank just fine.

How much daily evaporation do you have?
 
i would say around 1 1/2 gallons a day maybe more.so do i need to dose bakeing soda and kalkwasser to get alk stable then.why would the calcium not move?
 
Calcium moves up and down very slowly relative to alkalinity. A drop of 2.8 dKh is only accompanied by a 18-20 ppm drop in calcium.

If the limewater alone cannot keep up, I'd use a two part additive system in addition to it. Maybe a DIY if you are so inclined. :)
 
can i use 1 1/8 cups baking soda mixed in a one gallon jug and dose that with my dosing pump.how much do i need to dose and how often should i check it before making any adjustments.

thanks
 
should i keep dosing baking soda til is stable and start dosing calcium when it starts coming down or should i start dosing calcium right now.my calcium is at 440ppm right now that's why i want to wait til it starts dropping before i start dosing calcium.

thanks
 
If you start dosing calcium now, you won't raise it, you'll jjust keep it where it is, which is fine. :)

In any case, start dosing the baking soda solution every 1 or 2 days to get to your target and see how fast it drops back to something below your target level, dose again, repeat...
 
yes but the kalk is keeping it at 440 ppm now and i am dosing 185ml of baking soda with my dosing pump but i need to increase this more i think because alk is still dropping
 
here is what I would do,
first off I would test the pH of the tank right before the lights come on - if it tests over 8.2, then continue using regular baking soda, as the kalk is doing its part in keeping it elevated through the dark cycle of the tank (when ph is usually lowest).

If it tests below that maybe think about using "baked baking soda" that is alot more potent but will raise pH (this is why it is important to test like I explained before switching as not to spike the pH too much) also set it to dose during the dark cycle which will help prevent it from spiking the pH too high from it.

If it were me and I was making any changes to my dosing regime , I would be testing daily for at least a few days after making the changes.
 
ph is monitored by my reef keeper elite ph does drop at night to around 8.14 and raises during the day to around 8.26.but i thought ph always dropped when light were out and slowly raised during the day.i dose 7.7 ml of baking soda every hour right now but like i said i think i may have to increase this because alk is still dropping.

thanks mike
 
heliguy71 said:
not sure if corals benefit from calcium levels over 380 ppm,seems like a waste of calcium but i could be wrong
Click to expand...

how is it wasting calcium if it stays in the system?

Its good to have a little more as a "buffer" same reason some people like keeping DKh values a few points above NSW ~8dkh

I said 450 cause thats what "I" shoot for, 380-450 is a good range , its just personal preference.:)
 
no problem,i think i read somewhere that corals didn't benefit from calcium over 380ppm and i didn't want to waste calcium.i just want my alk to level out and it's driving me nuts.

thanks
 
heliguy71 said:
ph is monitored by my reef keeper elite ph does drop at night to around 8.14 and raises during the day to around 8.26.but i thought ph always dropped when light were out and slowly raised during the day.i dose 7.7 ml of baking soda every hour right now but like i said i think i may have to increase this because alk is still dropping.

thanks mike
Click to expand...

I would switch to baking the baking soda on a cookie sheet for 1 hr at 300 degrees.

play around with dosing and TEST !!
 
that would be correct Sir, however maybe look into making your own soda ash via baking baking soda as I described... alot of $$ to be saved in the future
 
i will try that,but right now i just want to keep trying baking soda and increaseing the doseage hopefully it will get stable. iam at 185 ml a day now not sure how much i should bump it up each time,any suggestions.tank is 120 gallon but with sump and fuge around 190-200 total gallons.

thanks
 
I'd bump it from wherever it is in alkalinity to reach or just a bit exceed your target alkalinity goal for the tank.

So if you want the tank at 8 dKH, and the tank reads 7 dKH, bump it to 8-8.5 dKH, then remeasure 24 h later, and see what needs to be added again. :)
 
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