Alkanlinity issue

[wswftball02]

I am currently confused on why my alk is off. I used kent marine pro-buffer dKH and it worked well for weeks, but within the last 2 weeks it will not raise my alk at all. I do not know if maybe it is just the shitty test kit being expired, or if the supplement is simply expired and will not work anymore.

ph: 8.1-8.2
ca: 420
mag: 1350
alk: 6 (which is low but wont go above this)

I just did a 10% water change yesterday morning to help try and fix problem any help or advise would be appreciated thanks!

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

Why not try adding a little baking soda to see what it will do? Here's a calc to help you decide how much to use; I would start very conservative. My guess is you may be going by a recommended amount, and perhaps its not enough to keep up with your tank's demands. I'm a fan of saving a few bucks and use regular old baking soda, or heat it turning it to soda ash, and Calcium Chloride.

 

[wswftball02]

Adding that will not affect anything else in my tank?

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

nope, not if you're using them correctly. Stony corals need carbonate and/or bicarbonate, and Calcium, Magnisium chloride & sulfate is another material many of us use. Its felt that the other minor elements are found in much greater than needed quantities in our synthetic salt, and regular water changes more than replenishes them. Spend a little time in the Chemistry forum if you want to try to understand some of these relationships better. One of the frequent posters there is a URS member, maybe he'll see this. Want to hear the kicker? We're pretty much talking about Arm & Hammer, a couple specific driveway deicers, and Epsom salt.

 

[wswftball02]

Yeah i have some baking soda, I just do not know how much to put in my tank at a time, u said heres a calc in your last post but I cant see it there.

 

[Conesus_Kid]

I'm going to guess that it's this one:

http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

Sorry, forgot to press v; that's the one^^^

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I am currently confused on why my alk is off. I used kent marine pro-buffer dKH and it worked well for weeks, but within the last 2 weeks it will not raise my alk at all. I do not know if maybe it is just the shitty test kit being expired, or if the supplement is simply expired and will not work anymore.

ph: 8.1-8.2
ca: 420
mag: 1350
alk: 6 (which is low but wont go above this)

I just did a 10% water change yesterday morning to help try and fix problem any help or advise would be appreciated thanks!

how do corals look?

what happens when you stop adding buffer... does alkalinity go down? (it should)

here's another vote for preparing your own alkalinity supplement-
go bake some baking soda.

 

[wswftball02]

All corals look great, this is what I find weird. How do I go about using baking soda now? I cant just add it to the tank, I have to bake it? How long and Why? Sorry to ask soo many questions but this method is new to me. Thanks!

 

[Johnsy85]

I spread it out on a cookie sheet for about an hour to drive off the moisture. I dissolve 2.5 cups in about a gallon of RO water and then add it to my tank (about 200 ML/day). It is inline with one of the recipes from BRS and I also use their calculator for adjustments.

Don't raise your alkalinity too quickly, a good calculator should warn you about this.

Good luck!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I would bookmark this page

make sure to read the articles on calcium and alkalinity and how to make your own two part supplement.

Corals that are growing deplete calcium and alkalinity. If corals are depleting calcium and alkalinity as fast as you're supplementing them the levels will appear to stay the same.

 

[Gravesj1s]

Yeah I use it ,too.Sodium bicarbonte is the main ingredient in most hobby buffers anyway so save yourself some loot and get some arm & hammer. I read some of the packaging of some other off brands of baking soda and they definately vary brand to brand. I agree the arm & hammer is a good choice.

Baked vs unbaked is more ph related .unbaked doesnt raise the ph as baking it removes the H+(raises ph) whitch you may want to consider.

 

[josepha]

Be careful here. I used an off brand and it resulted in the "great baking soda incident of 2008" it was not pretty.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Be careful here. I used an off brand and it resulted in the "great baking soda incident of 2008" it was not pretty.

I can't find it using search- can you elaborate?

 

[Gravesj1s]

That doesn't surprise me Joespha,When I was looking at buying some at sams club there were a couple different kinds to choose from. The arm & hammer listed 100% sodium bicarbonate. another brand (bad memory it has the indian head on it red & white did list po4 in its ingredients .one other if i remember had atleast a handful of impurities that I dont remember what were.
Sorry about your tank.

 

[pascal32]

Once your alkalinity is where it should be, get your calcium where it should be.

The dose the SAME amount of both from that point on

 

[wswftball02]

Could that be why my ALK is not raising because calcium is already where it needs to be, because its not in the right ratio of ALK to CA?