whats up with my alk

[platax88]

Hey guys...

My tank has a CA of 400 and Alk at 4.57.... I use a kalk reactor.

What should i do? I was thinking of bumping up the CA to 425-450 and then not dosing kalk till cal/alk drops to a better level. If i do that the two should remain balanced right?

Thanks for your help

 

[crumbletop]

How are you dosing ca and alk? I'd just lay off the alk part for a while until the alk comes back in line. Unless you are dosing gallons of kalk, then you can probably leave this running while you let the alk fall. It will fall more gradually with the kalk reactor going which the corals may like better. Unless, of course, things are looking bad right now...

Keep an eye on your mg as well, as it can precipitate out with high alk.

 

[platax88]

thanks for the reply! Everything looks great, actually. I am dosing kalk via a kalk reactor for top off... i would say definately a gallon a day at least.

My concern is that if dont balance the levels first, i will end up with proper alk but low calcium. Thats why i figured that i can raise calcium to about 425 giving me a starting point of cal:425 alk: 4.5 and let them drop, staying balanced, ... to ~ cal:400 alk: 3.5. Once balanced start using the kalk reactor again

 

[crumbletop]

So you aren't dosing any other buffer or alk? Kalk is balanced Ca and Alk, and so you shouldn't see that imbalance unless ca is precipitating out.

 

[platax88]

I just started dosing kalk, so i think that it was imbalanced from before... I was not dosing anything then. Thats why i was wondering about bumping up ONLY ca so it is balanced, then let it drop on its won

 

[crumbletop]

You could do that. If the ca is where you want it, you could test and add just to keep it where it is right now, and let the alk drop over time. No sense in raising it right now just to allow it to drop again. Either way would be fine, though.

 

[wooglin]

Its been my experience that it is difficult to use only Kalk to replenish calcium and alkalinity. I use Kalk, and the two-part recipie. All three are dosed automaticly, the kalk as a part of my top off and the two part with a medical pump.

 

[jdieck]

Re: whats up with my alk

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9539109#post9539109 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by platax88
Hey guys...

My tank has a CA of 400 and Alk at 4.57.... I use a kalk reactor.

What should i do? I was thinking of bumping up the CA to 425-450 and then not dosing kalk till cal/alk drops to a better level. If i do that the two should remain balanced right?

Thanks for your help

Manually supplementing calcium while the reactor is Off line is OK, just remember to replace the reactor addition with fresh RO/DI water to replace evaporation.
There is a big chance that the required amount of Kalk water to maintain the Alkalinity should be less than the amount you are evaporating.
You can try a couple of things:
a) Reduce evaporation by covering the tank and or the sump
b) Use less Kalk powder in the reactor so it mixes less saturated, may require more frequent smaller loads
c) Do not stirr the reactor or stirr it only once a day or shorten the stirring period so the water undersatureates
d) Finally you can add a second top off with fresh RO/DI and put the reactor on an adjustable doser pump. The doser will add the volume required to maintain alkalinity and the top off will fill in with whatever remining evaporation will be.

 

[Big Goose]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9540997#post9540997 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by platax88
I just started dosing kalk, so i think that it was imbalanced from before... I was not dosing anything then. Thats why i was wondering about bumping up ONLY ca so it is balanced, then let it drop on its won

Did you use Proper PH or other "buffer"?