How can I lower my alk while using a calcium reactor ?

[Livinlocal619]

This may seem pretty simple to others, but not to myself. I'm wondering if there is a way to lower my alkalinity without lowering my calcium while I am using a calcium reactor? My calcium is at 440 and my alkalinity is at 10.3. I am running a ULNS so I would prefer my alkalinity to be lower so if there is any kind of swing it will not damage my corals as easily. I know that with a ULNS it's better to have the alkalinity around 7.5 or 8.0, but my problem is that if I turn down the co2 going into my reactor, My calcium is going to drop, and I don't want to turn up the effluent line because I don't want my pH to drop either. What would be the best way to go about this, and what would be the best thing to try first?



Also, my magnesium has been pretty low. I'm going to buy some more a rag and I and put the magnesium rocks inside of it.



Cal- 440. Red Sea

Alk dkh- 10.3. Red Sea

Mag- 1200. Red Sea

Po4- 0.00. Hanna





Nothing is wrong with my corals, and everything seems to be growing quite well, but I want to lower my alkalinity just as a precaution. I know that I am dangling right on the edge of what's "acceptable"

 

[anthonys51]

Your consumption and calcium reactor set your numbers. You night want to slow done your calcium reactor but both numbers will change. But alk will go down faster than calcium. But honestly your tank looks great I wouldn't touch a thing over time it will probably lower on its own as your tanks consumption goes up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DamonG]

Your system looks great and I wouldn't touch it personally.. But if you want to lower, just turn off the reactor starting with a single day.. Watch how much it drops.. But thats all you need to do honestly.. Especially since your not having any problems with your system..

One it reaches where you want it, just turn it back on, and test for a few days to make sure it doesn't go back up

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[anthonys51]

Your system looks great and I wouldn't touch it personally.. But if you want to lower, just turn off the reactor starting with a single day.. Watch how much it drops.. But thats all you need to do honestly.. Especially since your not having any problems with your system..

One it reaches where you want it, just turn it back on, and test for a few days to make sure it doesn't go back up

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Yes but turning it off will lower both. But I agree don't touch anything. Don't chase numbers. Your results are great


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mr.Fishtank]

If it ain't broke don't touch it. But, if you really want to lower the alk. I would turn you cr down just a little and hand dose cal and mag to keep them stable while the alk drops. Just remember to do this very slowly.

 

[DamonG]

Yes but turning it off will lower both. But I agree don't touch anything. Don't chase numbers. Your results are great


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, agreed, it will.. But the triangle of the three elements, and add to that, typically alk, in a system(like his and mine especially), falls much faster than calcium.. It's not going to lower the Calcium very much at all, but the alk will drop.. And I'd also add a little more remag(I used the Brightwell last time, but will switch to remag next Refilllor whatever magnesium is typically added into the reactor mix.. Instead of, for my geo, the 1lb per Refill, which works out to half a bag, I, am adding a whole bag or 2lb to the mix, which keeps me in the 1380 to 1400 range..

But me, I wouldn't, and when I had this situation, didn't mess with the controls.. It's "interesting" enough to get a nice balance, unless your running perstaltic. And it even then, takes a while to see the effect when you tweak either the effluent or the gas.. And then, to just temporarily change it, and to get it back to where it was.. Lol, I know I wouldn't and didn't do it to my system.. That, to me, is, because I know what's involved, almost nuts, and asking to throw yourself into instability.. Especially, since it's set right now, you just need it to drop.. No way would I touch a needle or flow.. And I have a pretty good idea of how mine reacts to the slight changes suggested here.. This isn't a dosing pump.. No where near that simple..

Just shut it down for a day, and by your tank looks, and this is just a guess, you may lose maybe 0.25 to 0.5 dkh day a day.. Maybe.. But again, just a guess.. And then, maybe, maybe 10ppm calcium if that.. Again, just guessing based off what you have, and the size looks similar to mine (180 display), 240 twv..

Just a guess though..

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[Livinlocal619]

Thank you everybody for the input, what I did so far was I went to the fish store and bought Brightwell aquatics magnesium supplement. I bought the powder form. I mixed some up and some RODI water and added it into my system, I want to get my magnesium up before I start trying to change anything. I'm going to test it pretty soon, and once Its at 1350, that's when I'm going to start trying to lower my alkalinity. I am hoping that there is a little bit of a inbalance because my magnesium is on the low side, I also refilled my reactor with coral sand number 15, I noticed this morning it was only a quarter of the way full. One thing I also wanted to mention, is that my alkalinity drops at a incredible rate. If I were to turn my calcium reactor off for 24 hours, it would go from 10.3 to 8.3. When I was dosing, I was having to add 250 mL every day of cal/alk

 

[jda]

You can always lower alk with muratic acid. If you do it in the tank, you need to be REALLY careful since the PH will dive - otherwise, it is plenty safe.

Gallons * dKh to lower * .123 = MLs of Murtaic to add over time.

...like others have said, you might not want to.

 

[Livinlocal619]

Yeah I'm going to take this slow and easy approach. I got my magnesium up to 1350, now I'm going to wait a few more days and then take it from there. If my calcium and alkalinity have not equaled out, then I'm going to try shutting the cr off for maybe eight hours and just add a little bit of calcium.

 

[lynchmob3000]

There's nothing wrong with turning it off for 1 day and then testing and adjusting ca accordingly. That's not a swing when it take that long to lower. Just turn gas off for one day then supplement ca and mag. Easy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Livinlocal619]

Well that's what ended up happening, but not by choice. It's kind of ironic how it all happened since I wanted to lower my levels, but my calcium reactor got clogged and it shut off for two days, it lowered my alkalinity from 10.2 to 6.4. That is a pretty dramatic change, but my curls were not affected at all. I fixed the reactor and added some calcium and alk. I will be testing later today to see what the levels are at now

 

[aaron86]

How did this work out for you in trying to figure out the exact same thing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk