Please help me with my Alk.

[virginiadiver69]

Two days ago my Cal was 370ppm and my Alk was 9dKH. Over a two day period I have raised my calcium to 400 with seachem reef advantage, but now my Alk has has gone up to 10.5. I have looked at a couple of calculators but they assume that I would want to RAISE my Alk so will not calculate anything for me. I want to get it down close to 8dKH. What should I do?

 

[Peter Eichler]

You should wait it out and let it fall on its own if you really want it at 8 dKH. Many of us try to maintain 10+ dKH and I can only think of positives from doing so.

FYI, your numbers are a measurement of KH (carbonate hardness) not alkalinity which is measured in meq/L and is a much lower number in relation to dKH.

 

[virginiadiver69]

Okay... so my measurement using salifert of 10.5 dKH is not a worry? I thought sea water was 8 and this is what I was trying to replicate.

 

[Peter Eichler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10287734#post10287734 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by virginiadiver69
Okay... so my measurement using salifert of 10.5 dKH is not a worry? I thought sea water was 8 and this is what I was trying to replicate.

Seawater is 8-9 dKH, but this being a closed systems with a lot more fluctuations and organics to drop the PH and buffering capacity many prefer to keep KH levels elevated. Many reefers do the same with magnesium and calcium levels. Just to ease your mind a little more, there was a time in this hobby when it was suggest to maintain dKH levels close to 20 in reef tanks, so 10.5 is absoloutely nothing to worry about.

Also, it's important to note that there have been a lot of Salifert test kits reading inaccurately high, so your levels may already be pretty close to 8 dKH if you have one of those test kits. The fact that you're using a Salifert kit alone is reason to maintain the levels you're at rather than let them fall to 8 dKH.

 

[virginiadiver69]

Thanks for the info.