water test

[tbui127]

just did water test and my alk is at 7 and my calcium is at 480. is calcium high? and i want to raise my alk how do i do that?

 

[shifty51008]

most go for 420-450 cal. but 480 will be ok just let it drop on it's own.

in the reef chemestry forum on the sticky threads there is a DIY 2 part system that shows how you can raise your alk using baking soda.

you will also want to test your mag. as all 3 of these work together.

 

[Chris27]

There are a couple of ways to raise it, any buffer from Seachem, Kent, Brightwell, etc. will work, but most folks on here just put some plain old baking soda in their tanks to raise it up. Check out the following link, it's a calculator to determine how much product to add.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

 

[tbui127]

how do i add it? (baking soda) just slowly add it to my sump?

 

[Chris27]

You can sprinkle it slowly in a high flow area of the sump or toss it all in a filter sock if you have one.