remind me about raising alk

Michael

NTTH Rookie Help
Premium Member
my alk is just under 7dkh, my ph is 8.2, my calcium is around 400, if i want to raise the alk to say 7.5 how exactly do i do this, ok i know i have to dose, can you confirm its bicarbonate of soda, or baking soda, and its dripped overnight, ive never needed to dose before but now its slightly dipping, i have alot of corraline now and my rocks are covered as are my phs etc, can you please just descibe basically what i have to do, i have read articles and got a good idea however i need to just have a couple of replies or 1 reply whatever just giving me the basics so i can put 2 and 2 together, many thanks, by the way i know you will say water changes because its a small rise, however i would like to know for future reference and usuage
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12918933#post12918933 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy Holmes-Farley
Normal baking soda can be dissolved in some fresh water and added all at once to a high flow area. This calculator shows how much to use:

Reef chemicals calculator
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

ok randy, when you say baking soda, what is it, we havent heard of baking soda, we either have bicarbonate of soda, or baking powder which is a raising agent, not sure if they are the same thing, sorry about the confusion
 
Ah, OK, it is pure sodium bicarbonate (bicarbonate of soda). In the US it is sold in grocery stores. Definitely not baking powder.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12919119#post12919119 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy Holmes-Farley
Ah, OK, it is pure sodium bicarbonate (bicarbonate of soda). In the US it is sold in grocery stores. Definitely not baking powder.

thank goodness for that, its what i thought, i have some in the cupboard ready for use when required, thanks for the calculator link, also im pleased i can just mix with ro-di and add to the sump in 1 go, i will probably start with much less than i need and see how it goes, its a bit of practice really as im very close to adding hard corals and want everything right first, i dont think im far off, 7 months in with this tank and everything looks great, now the hard bit with the hard corals, probably will start to add them next month so i have a couple of weeks or more now to get stabilised, thankyou very much for your help:)
 
Wow Randy, that calculator is great. Thanks for posting the link, I put a shortcut to the page on my desktop. Should prove very valuable to me!
 
well randy i tried it out yesterday and used jdiecks calculator using the bicarbonate of soda, and it worked well, the alk rose from just a smigen under 7 to 7.6, i was well pleased, ok a new question, would this raise the calcium?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12924899#post12924899 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy Holmes-Farley
No, it has no impact on calcium. Glad it worked as advertised. :)

h--mmm well i have tested my calcium 3 times today just to make sure i did it 100% accurately, and it was 480, well this is how i make it, perhaps i didnt do the test properly on wednesday evening as it was around 420, the only thing i have done is dose the alk, i must have tested wrong on wednesday then, as im sure its right today, ok then thanks again ill get there with dosing alk im sure, cheers:)
 
thanks again, i honestly do appreciate your help, last question, have you got any of your articles i can look at about alkalinity, im sure if i search through the archives i will find something but would appreciate your input for me to read, a little info on calcium dosing would be great too, sorry to take you for granted, its just im at that stage and want to do it right, thanks randy
 
Sure. These are a good place to start in general, and then the last link has many more detailed articles on each topic:

The "How To" Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 1: The Salt Water Itself
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

The "How To" Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 3: pH
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/index.php

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners,
Part 4: What Chemicals May Detrimentally Accumulate
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/rhf/index.php



http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605
 
thats great, should keep me busy for a while taking it all in, many thanks randy
 
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