Question about Alkalinity

[Brad Villeggiante]

My alkalinity is the only thing that suffers a bit in my tank. My Calc. and Mag. are where they are supposed to be but my Alk. usually runs around 5.6 dkh. I try to supplement it with a Alk. buffer everyday but sometimes I have a hard time getting it to around 7.

By not having my Alk. higher is this actually slowing the growth of my corals since the Calc. dosen't have as much Alk. to combine with?

Also what product do you recommend for raising Alk.? I can't have a Calc. reactor because I am in College and it dosen't fit my budget or my space in my room.

I use Kents Superbuffer-DKH which does an alright job of maintaining Alk. I have tried B-Ionic Alk. and it was horrible at keeping my Alk. Stable. I use Oceanic Salt and do not want to change as I do really like it.

[CAReefer]

I have used the Sea Chem buffer with great results. I would also think that your corals are suffering from the low Alk. Sorry I'm not more help.

CAReefer

[nyfireman3097]

well brad first thing that i did to help me out wit the same problem is add baking soda to ur WC water to get it up to whre you want it to be second thing to do is use b ionic add it to where u want ur alk to be then test the next day add what u need again and then test the next day again see hoe much a day you will need everyda so you dont have to test everyday i have a site that ill link oon here that tell you how much to add next option is calcium reactor once you get one tuned in things will stay inline and ur sps's will love you HTH
Nick

[Brad Villeggiante]

Good, I will check out that buffer.

[nyfireman3097]

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

[Brad Villeggiante]

If you could give me that link NY I would be very thankful

[nyfireman3097]

sent
Nick

[Brad Villeggiante]

So according to the calculations, with my Alk. being at 5.6 and my desired level being at 8.0 I need to add 46 ml of B-ionic. Then once I get the level to 8.0 I guess all I would have to do is measure it the next day to see what it dropped to then put the level it dropped to into the calculator with the desired level at 8.0 again and that should then tell me how much B-ionic I would have to add everyday to keep my levels around 8.0 dkh.

[nyfireman3097]

yeah but i would test it a few fays before determining everyday usage also if you have a dosing pump for it it would work best HTH
Nick

[Brad Villeggiante]

No dosing pump.

[nyfireman3097]

just makes things eaasier just add it throughout the day a 1/3 before work when u get home from work 1/3 then 1/3 before bedtime
Nick

[Diesel3443]

Brad make sure you do not bring the alk all the way up to 8 dkh in one day---you could lose some coral that way. IME dosing alk is not good enough unless on a dosing pump--not kept stable--- I had too many swings that were very detrimental. With your small tank the changes occur faster as well. Im Not saying you cannot do it, just saying that I could not. I now have a CaRX and cannot believe the difference, its been one week and my corals already look healthier.

[skeletor]

the b-ionic stuff starts to get expensive when you have to add a lot of it... If I need to bump Alk I use baking soda and washing soda mixed at 5:1.. mixing the two pretty much eliminates any pH change when you add it, most other buffers will effect pH so be careful adding to much at one time. I use the arm & hammer brand from my local supermarket...