Raising ALK...reef carbonate + baking soda

[tubsy3]

Hi all,

My tank is recovering from a crash and these days everything seems stable again. I was using reef carbonate by seachem i beleive and added 2 caps of that stuff to my tank when I had low DKH. Within 2 days nearly all my sps died. I put what I could in my larger tank where thinks are going better.

This past weekend I had to get the ALK up again so I put in a cap only this time and now some of my zoas in that tank had their necks/stalks i dunno what you call em shrink pretty thin. Has anyone used this stuff? Is one cap raising it too fast? I will get the numbers later today on the bottle.


BTW the tank I am talking about is a 29g. Any help with DKH is GREATLY appreciated. As this is where i seem to always run into problems.

Thanks!
Chris

 

[wrassefan]

chris, are you mixing it with rodi water to dissolve it and then slowly adding to the tank? Are you testing to see what levels are?

 

[Rays]

Tubsy try this thread. It is used by many of us.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php#7

 

[tubsy3]

Tubsy try this thread. It is used by many of us.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php#7

Oh yea, I have this thread bookmarked haha. It jsut that when I first started my SW tank i bought this reef carbonate stuff so I was just using it until it was gone before starting the 3 part diy mixture.


wrassefan: No i havent been mixing the reefcarbonate with ro/di. it says 1capful (5ml per 80L) so 5ml per 20 gal. Each 5ml/80L will increase alkalinity by .25meq/L. How much should I be putting in? I get so confused in between meq/L and DKH haha. Should I just be mixing this carbonate stuff with top off water?