Raising Alk.

[hunggi74]

Hello everyone. My tank has Alk. at 7-7.2dKH according to Salifert test kit. I dose 15ml per day of both 2Part A&B. My magnesium is at 1460ppm and my cal is at 480ppm. Both are on the high side. My question is can I dose more of Part B (Alk.) and less of Part A to raise my Alk. and lower the mag. and cal. or do they both have to be in equal proportions? Ideally, I'd like my Alk. to be around 8dKH to give me some wiggle room up or down. Or should I be using another method to raise just my Alk? I should also mention that I got these results tonight before dosing and I do my biweekly water change tomorrow. Any advice is appreciated.

[craigwmiller]

With everything, comes a 'it depends' caveat

7 is the alk number I strive for, but I'm running Zeovit and that's where ideally I should be close to.

Can you dose things out of balance, yes. Majorly out of balance, no -- things will start to precipitate out if you are significantly out of balance and then you might start going the wrong direction.


My biggest question is: is there something that seems not healthy, or not 'right' in your tank that you are looking to solve? Or are you just trying to chase a certain number of Alk?

Also, have you compared your test kits with that from another reefer?

[hunggi74]

Thanks for the quick response. No nothing seems unhappy. Except one acan frag but the other four acan frags seem to be doing fine. My tank is LPS dominant if that helps any. I'll take my water over to a friends house to test as well. Maybe I am just chasing a number. But when you got only a certain amount of funds for corals you want to have the best possible environment for them so you're not wasting money and getting dirty looks from the wife
I was just told I could use BRS bulk additives to raise my alk and not affect my other two. Problem is I got almost 3/4 full bottles of C Balance to go through. Looks like baking soda time.

[The Guy]

are you dosing manual or using a doser?

[hunggi74]

Originally Posted by The Guy

are you dosing manual or using a doser?

Just manually every night.

[The Guy]

Originally Posted by hunggi74

Just manually every night.

Point of info, alk & cal should be dosed at different time slots. I was told by J&L to do one in the am and one in the pm, I'm using TLF 2part and dose Sundays & Thursdays at 15 ml for each manually and my levels pretty much right on. I check the mag level when I do my water changes and if any adjustments are required it's added with the new water.
Hope this helps. Cheers

[Wheelman76]

Well i agree there is no need to dose equal amounts of bulk Alk or Cal from BRS for example ,you are supposed to dose equal parts of C balance.

[Wheelman76]

When I first started in this hobby I was using C balance and was having the same problem initially with keeping things balanced. I called two little fishes and left a message , 30 minutes later Julian Sprung himself called me back from his cell phone ( pretty good customer service hey) lol. Anyway he told that it was important with C balance to use equal amounts of each part A and B as its not just Alk and Cal, but many other trace elements in there as well , and doing so would throw off the ionic balance. He told me to use soda ash or calcium chloride to adjust the levels where I wanted them , and then use C balance to maintain. Anyway I'm no expert ,just passing along what I was told from a well respected source.

[Myka]

^ That doesn't make a lot of sense. I'm not sure how long ago it was that he told you that. Most 2-part additives don't have trace elements in them, and those that do, certainly don't have a lot of trace elements. Nowadays most 2-part or 3-part additives have trace elements sold separately to add as well.

Anyway, the point is that scientifically calcium and alkalinity are taken up by corals and invertebrates at a ratio of 20 ppm of calcium per 1 meq/L (2.8 dKH) alkalinity. Trace elements are also taken up at other relative ratios and may or may not be added to the dosing regime by the manufacturer or the hobbyist. The trouble is that this all looks good on paper, but when it comes to the real world the numbers can be affected by lots of different things. However, theoretically, the ratio that the calcium depletes will be the same ratio as the trace elements in the calcium mix so if calcium is high then the associated elements should be high as well, same with the trace elements in the alkalinity mix being low if alkalinity is low assuming that the manufacturer or the hobbyist has added trace elements to the mixes.

For those interested in what "lots of different things" might be, Randy Holmes-Farley discusses some of the things here: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/ Keep in mind it was written 10 years ago, so some of the equipment he discusses is not common anymore.

[Wheelman76]

That was two years ago , here is what is in C balance