Alk

[courtstig]

Hi I have been checking my parameters every week for about a month and my alkalinity keeps dropping .calcium is sky high and so is magnesium ph is 8. Any help is appreciated

 

[Spare time]

Are you dosing anything? What salt do you use? What are the levels? What test kits?

 

[courtstig]

Not dosing, fritz blue box salt, alk has been around 8 now it’s a bit lower ,calcium and magnesium are off the charts ,salifert test kits salinity is 1026

 

[Jekyl]

Alkalinity is the thing most people have to dose the most frequently. I keep mine around 8 btw.

 

[courtstig]

Alkalinity is the thing most people have to dose the most frequently. I keep mine around 8 btw.

What do you use?

 

[Jekyl]

What do you use?

For small changes simple baking soda can be used. For long term check into BRS 2 part or something similar. Calculators can be found on the BRS site.

 

[ekandler]

Try testing your newly mixed saltwater. I started with fritz but switched to Red Sea after getting some bad batches of salt, meaning it mixed at 1.026 salinity to terribly high or low alk, calc, mag parameters. Your salt could be your problem.

Other than that, think of alkalinity as a measure of how easily your corals can consume calcium to grow. Think of balanced alk at 8.5, so low alk will prevent corals from consuming calcium making calcium go up. High alkalinity increases their consumption, which drops calcium relative to alk.

there are lots of methods of dosing, most people use 2 part (soda ash for alk and calcium carbonate for calcium). BRS is the cheapest.

 

[Spare time]

Not dosing, fritz blue box salt, alk has been around 8 now it’s a bit lower ,calcium and magnesium are off the charts ,salifert test kits salinity is 1026

That seems a bit weird on calcium and alk. Maybe give the salt bags a bit of a shake before you mix next time.


Dosing alk is pretty common. It is not unsual for a tank to consume 1 or 2 KH a day

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It would be more useful to see the actual calcium. "Sky high" may be fine.

Use a second syringe of titrant if needed, and add the two values together.

 

[courtstig]

Was around 500 started dosing just part 2 of reef fusion yesterday got alk up to 10. Was down to 9 today and calcium is down to 450. I guess I’m going to have to start figuring out how much to dose

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Was around 500 started dosing just part 2 of reef fusion yesterday got alk up to 10. Was down to 9 today and calcium is down to 450. I guess I’m going to have to start figuring out how much to dose

Unless you are intentionally aiming to keep a high alk tank, I wouldn't dose alk or calcium at those levels.

These may be helpful, although the nitrate an phosphate recommendations are dated and should be higher

Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium: By Randy Holmes-Farley

[note: edited on 5/29/2022 to update the nitrate and phosphate sections with higher recommended levels.] One of the main roles of an aquarist with a coral reef aquarium is to ensure that the conditions are right for their tank inhabitants. There are many different attributes of the aquarium...

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