High Alkalinity...again...

[callmedrlove]

I wrote a week or so ago about my high alkalinity and low calcium. After doing about 60 gallons worth of water changes over the course of a week, and starting a Kalkwasser drip, I've got the alkalinity down to 5.5 meq/L and the calcium is up to 225 ppm. I know the calcium needs to be higher, and it's coming up slowly but surely. But, after I do about a 30% water change it comes down to around 5.0 for a while, and within 24 hours it's back up to about 5.5 meq/L. Other than more and more water changes, I don't know how to get the alkalinity to come any lower. I'm not adding anything other than kalkwasser to the tank. Is 5.5 meq/L still too high, or will this work?

 

[alten78]

How much kalk are you dripping? Also, what are you keeping in the tank that you need to drip? 5.5 is still too high, imo stop dripping kalk and continue to do large water changes to correct this. What brand of salt are you using?

You may also look to dose calcium chloride to up your calcium.

Try the chemistry forum, dr. rhf can tell you the best method

 

[callmedrlove]

Kalk is like a gallon per day, trying to get just enough to make up for evaporation. Coralline algae in the tank, which I would like to encourage to grow. I don't really know if anything else in the tank uses a lot of calcium other than my snails. I have a black urchin in the tank, don't know if they need calcium for their spines or not. I mostly needed the kalkwasser because after the unwise addition of sodium bicarbonate to raise my pH, which skyrocketed my alkalinity, my calcium dropped to less than 25ppm which needless to say, was really limiting my coralline algae growth, plus the fact that the high alkalinity was prolly going to kill everything in the tank.

 

[cweder]

If you stop your kalkwasser drip, both your calcium and alk will drop. Your only solution is to add extra calcium via calcium chloride or use a higher calcium salt mix and keep on doing the water changes to get your alkalinity and calcium back in balance. Keep dripping your kalk will not correct your imbalance since kalk is a balanced solution of alkalinity and calcium. Once your back in balance it sounds like you can lower your kalk drip and keep up with your tanks demand. I like Oceanic salt alot for its high calcium content and easy mixing. This is all I am using along with kalkwasser to maintain calcium in the 350-400 range. I am using Reef Buffer for extra alkalinity on occasion with magnesium. It is a balancing act that can be tricky no doubt.