will this help raise alk?

[SALTWATERSIG]

i took my calcium reactor offline a couple of months back, installed a kalk reactor and everything was doing fine without cal rx. alk would be appx 9 and calcium appx 460. now im measuring alk of appx 8 and calcium of 400-420. if i bring cal rx back online and adjust it for a higher alk would that be the route to go? i originally took cal rx off because my ph kept getting lower and lower. my ph levels back then where 7.7 at nite ( with fuge lite on 24/7) to 8.05 during photo period . right now ph is 8.00 at nite and 8.2 during photo period.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The difference between 8 and 9 dKH seems pretty small, but if that is important to you, then somehow adding more each day will probably be necessary. A two part or the reactor, or more limewater somehow may all serve OK. More limewater will also help raise the pH, as will a two part to some extent. The reactor won't help that.

 

[SALTWATERSIG]

i am adding the lime water as my top off and recently (last week or so) i increased my top off from 3.5 gallons per day to 3.75 and again to 4 gallons per day since i noticed alk readings start to decrease. i'll have to check the ph reading from my kalk reactor (would it be possible that i need to add more kalkwasser to my reactor). i dont mind if ph dropped some but i would rather alk be stable and not continue downward.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Limewater reactors are often not producing saturated limewater, and that is one of my reasons I do not prefer them.

How often do you stir it?

replacing the solids with fresh lime may help if it is largely depleted.

 

[SALTWATERSIG]

i have a timer set to stir every 3 hours for appx 10 minutes.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Ok, that's not bad. If you have a conductivity meter you can check the potency of the effluent. A pH meter provides a more crude way. Using it, compare the pH of the effluent to truly saturated limewater slurry (say 2 teaspoons lime in a cup of RO/DI). A drop of 0.3 pH units is about a factor of 2 in potency.

 

[SALTWATERSIG]

i forgot to mention ....when i was adding 3.5 gallons of lime water , that was the same amount of evaporation that my tank was having, now with 4 gallons per day i have to take some water out of my sump every couple of days.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You may be able to increase evaporation with a fan blowing over the tank or sump. Taking water out is a pain and messes with salinity stability.

 

[SALTWATERSIG]

thats why i was thinking of putting cal reactor back online....no additional top off w/limewater and reactor should add alk i think.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, that is an OK plan. Adding a little two part is a second option that may also help maintain the pH.

 

[SALTWATERSIG]

yep ....already have a fan running. i will try cal reactor and let u know how it goes. thanks for your quick replies.