Alkalinity

[Freshbrew]

I have possibly (ignorance is bliss sometimes) a problem with my alkalinity. I just did a test for alk and discovered my tank is at 11.9 dKH. What can I do to lower this? All my other tests are as follows:

Spg: 1.024
Nitrate: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Ammonia: 0mg/l
Ph: 8.4
Ca: 380 (I added two scoops of buffer, which should raise Ca to 440.)

Is this livable, would it explain my anenome's problems, color is not that great and tenticles are not sticky to the touch. I just bought a Coralife Outer Orbit with 2 250W MH and 4 t-5's of various outputs, so the lighting is not the issue, although this light has been present for only about a 1 1/2 weeks. Don't want another catastrophe on my hands here. Should I worry about the alk? Thanks guys.

 

[murfman]

Water changes. Stop adding supplements till you get it under control and then used ballanced amounts.

http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/LibrarySaltwaterFactsandFallaciesNovember1999.htm

 

[racer69]

Alk at 11.9 is not that bad. The worst thing you will see with that reading is some precipitation. Buffer will raise your alk and ph, not your calcium. Your calcium is not that bad, and can be brought up with calcium carbonate that you can get from me as part of the two part recipe. None of these things should affect your anemone, but lighting wil. If you have only had your new lights on for a week or two it could be adjusting to the lights. These animals do not make changes over night and will take time to adjust to the new changes.

 

[Thurge]

Thats nothing. I once pushed my alk literally off of Salifert's chart. The snails and stars and such didn't fair well but my RBTA and fish seemed unaffected.

 

[Freshbrew]

Cool, thanks guys! One less thing to worry about, lol

 

[Sk8r]

Try to get it to 8.3 alk and 420 cal. Water changes and careful testing will straighten it out. Remember: Kent dkh buffer raises alk; Kent Turbo Calcium raises cal. It's what I use---so I can at least be definite on that.

 

[Freshbrew]

thanks!