My Alkalinity is High

[Josh23]

I just started adding Balls pickling lime to my tank two days ago and I checked my Ph, Alkalinity, nitrates, nitrites, Ammonia today and Im concerned about a couple results.
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
Ammonia 0
Ph. 8.3 (normal for my tank)

Alkalinity (KH) 190 mg/L which is high according to the the Hagen test book (normal is between 105-125 mg/L). Should I be concerned with this as the PH seems to be within normal limits.
What are you thoughts on this.

Thanks
Josh

[Canadian Man]

Josh your alk acording to hagen is perfect.
I am assuming it took you 19 drops to change from blue to yellow?

If this is correct your alk is 3.8 meq/l or 190 x .056=10.64 dkh.
Dont go by what the book says your range needs to be go by what is actually needs to be.
Acording to the book your tank alk needs to be 2.0meq/l or about 5dkh which is kinda low.

What you want to test is your calcium now.
It should be about 400mg/l to 440mg/l if it's in that range your good to go. :D

[Delphinus]

I am not familiar with the units mg/L. Try to see if you can find a conversion factor to dKH or meq/L (more commonly used units to express alkalinity).

Depends on what types of animals you wish to keep, but you want to shoot for alkalinity >3.0 meq/L (most people seem to make 4.0 meq/L, or about 12 dKH, their alkalinity target).

To convert from meq/L to dKH you multiply by 2.8.

But I don't know where mg/L fits into this measurement space ...

[Josh23]

I just tested my Ca and found that is was at 230 which is a 50 point increase since last week. Its moving up but I have a little to go before I hit 400.

Once I hit 400 do you think it would be possible keep some corals in the upper part of my tank even though it is a 50 gallon tank lit by 2 NOs.
If this is possible could you list a couple possibilities.
Ie. mushrooms etc.

Thanks
josh

[Delphinus]

Hi,

You could probably keep things like zoanthids and mushrooms right now if you want. They're not going to mind if your Ca isn't ~400 and your Alk is ~4.0 meq/L ...

[StirCrazy]

at 230ppm Ca your LPS and some types SPS will be fine also, the growth will stop or slowdown but they will still be ok.. I had a bunch ride out my Ca flus with levels as low as 180 ppm and by the looks of them you woul;d have never knew the levels were low.

having said that if you don't have any LPS/SPS now then it is probably better to let your levels settle befor you get them.. but for softies you should be good.

Steve

[Josh23]

Well I dont think Ill be getting into a hard corals.
As my 50 gallon tank only has 2 25 watt NO bulbs which restrict what I can keep as far as corals.
What im really looking for is some advice on what I can keep under the NOs.


Delphinus mentioned that I might be able to keep zoanthids and mushrooms. Is there anything else that can be added to this list.

Josh

[Canadian Man]

One thing to keep in mind josh is that if you are trying to raise your calcium only then adding kalk to do just the calcium is not a good idea.
Reason being that kalk adds even amounts of calcium and alk.
So if you calcium goes up 40mg/l or so then your alk goes up 1.0meq/l

you want to use a calcium only supplement to get your calcium to where you need it then the kalk will keep both levels in check for you.

[EmilyB]

Water changes with a good salt mix can bring things back into equilibrium. You don't have a Ca using bioload, so something is haywire with your measurements (test kits?).
:?

[Josh23]

Yeah Im using Kents turbo Ca along with the Kalk.
Im also doing water changes every couple weeks.
It seems to becoming along well.

Thanks for all your help
Josh

[Aquattro]

Josh, I would check those levels with a second kit. Calgary water is high in Ca to begin with and Turbo Calcium will boost levels quickly. I took my Ca from 340 to 420 in about 4 days.
Kalk will give you almost no increase in levels..it's purpose is to replace depleted alk/ca due to calcification in the tank. It doesn't sound like you have much using Ca.
Also, turbo calcium is designed more for a one time use to balance your Ca; it is high in chloride and can quickly give you to high a concentration of Cl.
A new tank will also use Ca quickly due to calcifying onto the sand. This will balance itself in time.
I think the best advise is to do a good water change every other week (or more) until it balances itself. It sounds like a young tank and you shouldn't be dumping all that stuff in there.
This is all based on my (very similar) struggle when I first started. YMMV