increased alk, now calcium too high.

bmullikin1

New member
have been adding a fair amount of sps lately, and noticed on last testing that my alk was going too low around 7dkh, calcium was around 450 last test, didnt test this time. was dosing 2part equally 10ml aday. slowly increased to 15ml over one week then to 20ml , now my alk is at 8.3dkh and calcium is reading between 550-600. shoud i just stop dosing calcium for a few days and let it drop. then can i start dosing equal parts once it levels out.

45g cube w 175w metal halide lumenbright reflector, 20g sump, total water volume around 50g. mag 1400, salinity 1.025, ph 8 to 8.3, phosphates .03 nitrates 0. everything doing well, but colors are a little pastel.
 
The balanced Alk for 440 Ca is around 11 DKH.

The balanced Alk for 420 Ca is around 8 DKH.

The balanced Alk for 600 Ca is not achievable (33.5 DKH).

As long as they are out of balance they will not use equal amounts as far as the balanced 2pt goes. The one that is high tends to push the low one down.



I shoot for 9 and 430 then drip kalk and make adjustments at the end of the week if needed.

You will need to only dose Alk for a while until the Ca falls back down.
 
Easiest way is to just use the reef calculator ( Found in the reef chemistry articles sticky at the top of this forum ).

When you plug in the CA or ALK numbers into the reef calculator, it tells you what the ionic balance would be.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15475404#post15475404 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by acrylic_300
The balanced Alk for 440 Ca is around 11 DKH.

The balanced Alk for 420 Ca is around 8 DKH.

The balanced Alk for 600 Ca is not achievable (33.5 DKH).

As long as they are out of balance they will not use equal amounts as far as the balanced 2pt goes. The one that is high tends to push the low one down.



I shoot for 9 and 430 then drip kalk and make adjustments at the end of the week if needed.

You will need to only dose Alk for a while until the Ca falls back down.


But I dont know why my Cal is 480, but my KH is 13~14 @__@
I can't figure out why, I stop dosing Cal for a week already, Cal was sky high 540+, due to my Pho was high, recently lower the Pho to around 1.0 ( still lowering), Cal drip to 480, but KH keep only drop from 15~13....is KH13 too high? what's the best KH?
 
The word "balance" in terms of calcium and alkalinity is a relative term.

As long as you are within the recommended ranges of each, one should not be concerned.

With all of the additions reefers are now adding to their tanks, it is not uncommon for alkalinity or calcium to deplete faster than the posted ratios.

I would just adjust my additions to keep the numbers in order.

The caveat to all of this is, test kits can go bad and sometimes reefers must question any and all results that do not make sense.

Hobby grade kits are, well, accurate in most situations. However, they do go bad.

Always check your test kits when you see a result that does not make sense or is out of the norm. :)
 
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