I for some reason cannot raise my alkalinity. Currently I am dosing my tank with 3.5 oz of BRS 2 part Alk a day. When I do that it raises my PH .2 from 8.3 to 8.5. My Alk will not go over 6.7 granted this is up from the 5.5. Also my Cal and Mag is super high. Cal 870 Mag 1800. I know these things will come down once I get my Alk down. I am going to dose with a pump once I get things under control. I have been dosing in the middle of the day due to this tank is at a school. Should I mix BRS 2 part with baking soda so I can dose in higher amounts?
Another Alkalinity problem
- Thread starter Rishsd
- Start date
homer1475
New member
Have a read up on Randys DIY 2 part...
BRS 2 part is not meant to be mixed with anything except water.
Randys 2 part uses baked baking soda(Soda ASH same as BRS 2 part) for the ALK part which will increase PH.
Randys 2 part part 2 uses plain baking soda(unbaked) dissolved in water as the ALK part and will not raise PH.
BRS 2 part is not meant to be mixed with anything except water.
Randys 2 part uses baked baking soda(Soda ASH same as BRS 2 part) for the ALK part which will increase PH.
Randys 2 part part 2 uses plain baking soda(unbaked) dissolved in water as the ALK part and will not raise PH.
I had the same issue using BRS Soda Ash. For a very short timeI was able too keep alk at 8.5, then for unkown reasons it began to drop. Could not get it to go above 7.5
(Mag was at 1450 and Cal. was 450.)
Total volume of my system is 160 gallons.
I increased my dosage over a two week period from 4 oz. daily to 16 oz. with no increase
in the alk. As a result my tank began to crash. I went back to dosing Seachems Reef Builder and was able to stabilize the system over time.
(Mag was at 1450 and Cal. was 450.)
Total volume of my system is 160 gallons.
I increased my dosage over a two week period from 4 oz. daily to 16 oz. with no increase
in the alk. As a result my tank began to crash. I went back to dosing Seachems Reef Builder and was able to stabilize the system over time.
ReeferNoob4ever
New member
I'm no expert but your alk not gonna stabilize with such high mag and ca++. You have essentially overdosed one or more parts of your system and need to decrease calcium and magnesium to stabilize alk.
I just started dosing. I have only dosed ALK. I have not started dosing the MAG or CAL. I have used 3 different testers and I am getting the same results. I did test this morning and finally I got to 8.1 but went down to 7.8 mid afternoon. I'm hoping that my coral is going to eat up my CAL and MAG.
ReeferNoob4ever
New member
Test the water you use for water changes. What kind of salt do you use? Are you adding kalkwasser?
Currently I am using IO, I am switching to Red Sea once I run out of IO. I am using Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate).
35 mixed gallons to go. I will do a water change this weekend and it will all be gone
. I am excited to move to Red Sea. I am still dosing 4 oz a day of ALK. It is slowly going up. I guess I expected if I dosed the ALK up 1 dkh it would be close to that 1 dkh the next day. It is only moving up about .2 dkh a day. Once I get my perimeter under control I will move to auto dosing. Thanks for all the responses.
ReeferNoob4ever
New member
What kind of inhabitants do you have in your tank? I use IO and weekly water changes maintain my parameters. No need for dosing.
.2 is about all you want your pH to increase at a time unless you want to start killing critters.
Good luck!
.2 is about all you want your pH to increase at a time unless you want to start killing critters.
Good luck!
You are correct .2 is all you want in PH. I am talking about ALK. I have a 120 mixed reef tank with about 15-20 sps and 10-15 lps, 5 fish, 30-40 snails, 3 green emerald crabs, 5 star fish, 10-15 hermit crabs, 2 sea cucumbers, 3 shrimp, 5 sea urchins. Prob left some out.
