checking water levels alk is a little concerning to me

sergifed91 · Mar 14, 2019

I feel my alk is a little low from where I want it to be. spec
60 gallon tank
alk - 7
mg - 1290
ca - 420
po4 .02
ph - is either 8.0 or 8.2 I can't tell the difference with the api test kit.
ammonia - 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5.

I would like that up to 9 dkh.
since I have never dosed before what do I use and would it be best to add it with a water change or top off water. since i'm happy with every thing except for the alk level. are there any good video suggestions on you tube?
I will check on BRS 52 weeks of reefing.
any other channels recommended?

also how long after doing a water change should I test my alk, mg and ca?

Brad Miller · Mar 14, 2019

How old is your tank ?
Since you said you never dosed for alk before, it must not be too old....
As coral grow you will need to dose, Calcium, Alk and mag eventually.
BRS sells a starter package to get your feet wet, so to say.

pelphrey · Mar 14, 2019

7 is acceptable! You can use any of the 2 parts to raise it, just use one of the calculators either on the BRS site or google search reef calculator to find out how much to dose. I wouldn’t bring it up but half a point with a dosage though.

If the salt you use has elevated levels you could perform a couple water changes within the same week to bring it up.

I keep esv bionic alk, calcium and magnesium on hand at all times for any adjustments I need to make.

sergifed91 · Mar 14, 2019

Brad Miller said:
How old is your tank ?
Since you said you never dosed for alk before, it must not be too old....
As coral grow you will need to dose, Calcium, Alk and mag eventually.
BRS sells a starter package to get your feet wet, so to say.

It's not even a year old yet. 1 year in may.

Brad Miller · Mar 14, 2019

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/2lb-kalkwasser-starter-package-bulk-reef-supply.html

When I started dosing, alk was first, then calc, then mag if needed.
Above link is what I got to get started

sergifed91 · Mar 14, 2019

pelphrey said:
7 is acceptable! You can use any of the 2 parts to raise it, just use one of the calculators either on the BRS site or google search reef calculator to find out how much to dose. I wouldn’t bring it up but half a point with a dosage though.

If the salt you use has elevated levels you could perform a couple water changes within the same week to bring it up.

I keep esv bionic alk, calcium and magnesium on hand at all times for any adjustments I need to make.

I use live aquaria salt. I was using IO reef crystals. but for some reason probably a bad batch I was getting readings to low for a while with it.
this was with IO:
alk - has always been fine.
ca - 300 to 380 ppm
mg - 960 to 1180 ppm
ph - .2
nitrate 40

but I just also switch from distilled water to rodi. Im mixing it in a brute food safe trash can. still experimenting on where to put the circulation pump on it. but also testing the water before I add it to the tank.
those readings off the last wc. this is just the fresh salt water after mixing and waiting 2 hours.
date
3/10/2019
ph
8.2
mg
1320
ca
450
alk
10.5

Dkeller_nc · Mar 14, 2019

You can test your tank's water immediately after a water change, presuming that you've reasonable flow and the new water/old water will be rapidly mixed. You've not said what you're keeping in the tank. If it's fish only, the alkalinity makes very little difference. If it's soft corals like zoas, mushrooms and leathers, ditto - you'll want to keep the alkalinity at least at seawater levels simply for pH stability, but you can be pretty lackadaisical about testing/supplementation. If you're keeping "easy" to more challenging LPS corals like brains, acans, and the like, the alkalinity matters a little more, but again, if you're at seawater or above, I wouldn't be too concerned. Seawater alkalinity is roughly 6.5 dKH - 7.5 dKH, depending on location, btw.

SPS corals like acropora (or maybe I should say especially acropora), you will want the alkalinity to be rock solid stable, preferably about 8 dkH, but anywhere between 8 - 10 dKH is fairly common. The importance here is that the alkalinity be absolutely stable, and most SPS keepers find that water changes alone just don't cut it, so it's time to think about supplementation of some sort. All the way from the simplest, which is kalkwasser, through 2-part dosing of calcium and alkalinity solutions, to a full-blown calcium reactor. That last option is typically selected by those that have tanks that are packed with SPS corals and so have a very high calcium and alkalinity demand and/or those that choose not to employ water changes, and so couldn't tolerate the salinity rise and chloride/sulfate imbalance that will occur over time with 2-part dosing and no water changes.

As far as raising your alkalinity, the easiest way to do this is with 20% water change 2 or 3 days in a row with a salt mix with a slightly higher alkalinity than your target. However, I'd note that you'll want to test your change water after you've made it up; if you're using a salt mix with a really high alkalinity, such as Reef Crystals or Red Sea Coral Pro, you'll want to cut the % change back to avoid making too great of a change to your tank's alkalinity at once.

sergifed91 · Mar 14, 2019

Dkeller_nc said:
You can test your tank's water immediately after a water change, presuming that you've reasonable flow and the new water/old water will be rapidly mixed. You've not said what you're keeping in the tank. If it's fish only, the alkalinity makes very little difference. If it's soft corals like zoas, mushrooms and leathers, ditto - you'll want to keep the alkalinity at least at seawater levels simply for pH stability, but you can be pretty lackadaisical about testing/supplementation. If you're keeping "easy" to more challenging LPS corals like brains, acans, and the like, the alkalinity matters a little more, but again, if you're at seawater or above, I wouldn't be too concerned. Seawater alkalinity is roughly 6.5 dKH - 7.5 dKH, depending on location, btw.

SPS corals like acropora (or maybe I should say especially acropora), you will want the alkalinity to be rock solid stable, preferably about 8 dkH, but anywhere between 8 - 10 dKH is fairly common. The importance here is that the alkalinity be absolutely stable, and most SPS keepers find that water changes alone just don't cut it, so it's time to think about supplementation of some sort. All the way from the simplest, which is kalkwasser, through 2-part dosing of calcium and alkalinity solutions, to a full-blown calcium reactor. That last option is typically selected by those that have tanks that are packed with SPS corals and so have a very high calcium and alkalinity demand and/or those that choose not to employ water changes, and so couldn't tolerate the salinity rise and chloride/sulfate imbalance that will occur over time with 2-part dosing and no water changes.

As far as raising your alkalinity, the easiest way to do this is with 20% water change 2 or 3 days in a row with a salt mix with a slightly higher alkalinity than your target. However, I'd note that you'll want to test your change water after you've made it up; if you're using a salt mix with a really high alkalinity, such as Reef Crystals or Red Sea Coral Pro, you'll want to cut the % change back to avoid making too great of a change to your tank's alkalinity at once.

besides fish I am only keeping soft corals leathers, zoas, mushrooms. also torches and hammers.

Dkeller_nc · Mar 15, 2019

The torches and hammers will, of course, be using alkalinity and calcium in the tank water since they're stony corals. The other major consumer would be coralline algae, and perhaps a bit of abiotic precipitation as well. The good news here is that these corals are very forgiving with respect to alkalinity stability. That doesn't mean you can totally neglect it, of course, and as Brad notes, you will eventually have to start dosing in some manner as your corals grow and the coralline algae really starts to take off.

But to give you a calibration about this subject, SPS keepers generally are very concerned if their alkalinity fluctuates more than 0.5 dKH per week - concerned enough to take corrective action. That might be a bit OCD, but it points out the sensitivity of acros to water chemistry changes.

In contrast, I kept LPS for many years in the 1990s without ever testing for alkalinity - I just changed 20% of the water per week with Instant Ocean. Part of that was ignorance in the hobby about the relative importance of alkalinity, and I'd tell you that I wouldn't do that again in the modern era.

sergifed91 · Mar 15, 2019

Dkeller_nc said:
The torches and hammers will, of course, be using alkalinity and calcium in the tank water since they're stony corals. The other major consumer would be coralline algae, and perhaps a bit of abiotic precipitation as well. The good news here is that these corals are very forgiving with respect to alkalinity stability. That doesn't mean you can totally neglect it, of course, and as Brad notes, you will eventually have to start dosing in some manner as your corals grow and the coralline algae really starts to take off.

But to give you a calibration about this subject, SPS keepers generally are very concerned if their alkalinity fluctuates more than 0.5 dKH per week - concerned enough to take corrective action. That might be a bit OCD, but it points out the sensitivity of acros to water chemistry changes.

In contrast, I kept LPS for many years in the 1990s without ever testing for alkalinity - I just changed 20% of the water per week with Instant Ocean. Part of that was ignorance in the hobby about the relative importance of alkalinity, and I'd tell you that I wouldn't do that again in the modern era.

I would go with sps. put I haven't really seen any that I think look good to me. but that is me. I love the look of leathers. torches and zoa's.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 15, 2019

Both 7 and 9 dKH are fine. If you plan to raise it, I’d go slow as there’s no rush. Spread the dosing out over a week. I’d just use baking soda. [emoji3]

Mical · Mar 15, 2019

You mentioned you thought you had a bad batch of salt. I thought the same of a couple of brands before one thing I was never told originally, mix the salt in the bucket/bag before adding it to your mixing set up. Ingredients will separate in shipping and when sitting for any length of time. Since doing this my mixed salt/water comes pretty close to advertised specs.

sergifed91 · Mar 15, 2019

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Both 7 and 9 dKH are fine. If you plan to raise it, I’d go slow as there’s no rush. Spread the dosing out over a week. I’d just use baking soda. [emoji3]

when using baking soda. do I want to bake it first then add it in some rodi water and then into the tank. if I need to bake it. I was looking into that. I found several results on google and youtube. they were baki9ng at 400 for 30 minutes. another one 400 for an hour. 300 for an hour and 200 degrees for an hour. so if I need to bake it. for how long and at what temp?

ckalupa · Mar 18, 2019

What I do - 400 for 1 hour - spread it out across a cookie sheet evenly and thin as you can. Those talking 200 may be using 200C interchangeably sounding with F.

homer1475 · Mar 18, 2019

Google randy's DIY 2 part. Has all the information you need to know about DIY 2 part(DIY 2 part is waaaaaaaayyy cheaper then any you can buy).

I personally do not like baking the baking soda(soda ash), it raises my PH to much which causes precip. I prefer to use just baking soda, but requires nearly twice as much to be mixed into RO/DI for the same raise in DKH.