How to...

[pat]

I'm really hopping someone can help me out before something goes wrong.
I've just tested my alkalinity levels using the hagen test kit,the results of the reading was 24drops=240mg/l,i know this is high right???
I live in Regina and buffers are impossible to find,how can i bring my alkalinity levels in check?is there any home made recept i can use?
Thanks guys and girls

[Joe Reefer]

I think your test kit's units are in ppm, in which your alk is pretty much bang on. 240ppm = 4.8meq/l = 13.5dKH.

[pat]

AAAHHH Cool
Thanks

[mark]

There's lot additives that can be considered common (not specific to reef keeping) one can use. For an idea, go to the Product pull down menus from this calculator (http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html) you'll see stuff such as Baking Soda and Dow's Flake.

[Dave C]

Alk is pretty much bang on? I thought the desirable range was 2.5 - 4 meq/L or 7 - 11 dKH or 125 - 200 ppm. So 240ppm seems kind high to me... 20% above the upper desirable limit. Mine was around there too so I stopped using my ca reactor, no more kalk and let it drop until it was at 9dKH. While it was dropping I was manually dosing calcium to get my levels up over 400ppm. Now that I'm there with both I'm using the ca reactor & kalk and I'll monitor both.

[Ruth]

NSW generally has a reading of 8dkh so I agree yours is on the high side. Don't forget that you should really be testing for Alk, Calcium and magnesium. All three have to be balanced and I try to shoot for natural sea water levels of all 3. The above link is a good one for things you can use to bring your alk. down or there are various online retailers including some of our sponsors that will ship additives to you for a very reasonable price (I know as I have to ship everything for my tanks given where I live)

[vanreefer]

I Might also question the reliability of the Hagen test