Alkalinity problems please help!!

[pablomay28]

Fellow reefers,

I have been having problems maintaining my alkalinity. I do not have much coral only 3 sps (2) monti caps small and a small birds nest allong with a some lps corals.

My current levels are
Mg 1440
Ca 490
Ph 8.3
dKH 7.6 (after dosing)

I have been dosing with seachem reef carbonate max dose 20ml every few days and very little difference if any. I currently use reef crystals and when freshly mixed the dKH is arround 8.6-9 with hanna checker. I have used red sea and API test all read the same. I have a RSM 250 and do weekly 10 gallon changes. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pablo

 

[sirrealism]

I can make this very easy for you. This is what I use and i have lots of sps in 5 tanks so buying alk in in a bottle would be crazy. When you read this understand that this the same thing in that bottle that you paid 7-20$ for which is insane. This makes 1 gallon of Alk and then you can dose it slowly until you find that sweet spot. I really dont know why everyone doesnt do this.
Spread baking soda (594 grams or about 2 1/4 cups) on a baking tray and heat in an ordinary oven at 300 °F for 1 hour to drive off water and carbon dioxide. Dissolve the residual solid in enough water to make 1 gallon total. This dissolution may require a fair amount of mixing. Warming it speeds the dissolution process. This solution will contain about 1,900 meq/L of alkalinity (5,300 dKH). I prefer to use baked baking soda rather than washing soda in this recipe as baking soda from a grocery store is always food grade, while washing soda may not have the same purity requirements. Arm & Hammer brand is a fine choice.

 

[sirrealism]

There is also DIYs for calc and mag that are a little more involved but for Alk this is just so simple.

 

[sirrealism]

Oh FYI the Alk is pretty strong so go slow when dosing it. I have a 93 cube with 4 large clams in it 11"-6" and several feet of SPS and I go through 1 gal of Alk every 2 weeks. where my DIY calc I go through about 1g every other month

 

[reefer gladness]

I see the problem a little differently. Your calcium is way too high - this has the effect of lowering alkalinity and causing precipitation of calcium carbonate. Dose less calcium and you won't be chasing alkalinity as much.

Here's a read for you: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/chemistry

FWIW, a kalk reactor is a pretty economical method of dosing calcium and maintaining alkalinity at the same time. I rarely need calcium or alkalinity supplements these days, when I do it's because I waited too long to replace the kalk in the reactor.

 

[pablomay28]

All,

Thanks for the replies I will try the arm and hammer and post the results.