raising alk?

[HuuTa]

did my alk test and was at 7.8.went to lfs to look and figure that i bring a sample for testing also.my alk was at 5.since Saturday,i've raise it by 2 to bring up the alk to 7.My ? is this going too fast or is it Ok?i bought a new test kit to test with.everything else is fine

 

[frank180reef]

5 is pretty low, what is your rought bioload (heavily stocked SPS, ) rough idea of the density of your corals and how much u likely use.................
I dose 500 ml DAILY for alk and calc, but I have a lot of corals.

Do you dose alkalinity daily? how many gallons of water do u have ect........what was your calc and mag?

 

[HuuTa]

85g system.mix reef with a little of everything.pretty much fill the 55.i don't dose anything.cal is 430 and mag at 1300.I've been dosing the alk every day for the last 4 days trying to raise it by .5 each day.cal and mag is stable.corals is growing and happy.what i'm really asking is it safe to raise my alk by .5 per day or is this going too fast.i retest it last night and my alk is at 7.2,cal 430,mag at 1320.

 

[frank180reef]

I beleive that .5 per day is fine

if your 55 g is loaded you may want to dose daily................IMO; also I beleive your calc will drop when u raise ur alk up

hopefully others will pipe in also

 

[HuuTa]

thanks Frank

 

[63vette427]

Raising your alk by 0.5 per day is fine. You can raise it up by 1 per day but that's a little extreme where it was so low. I think you did it right by adding it slowly. Raising Alk too quickly can really do some harm to a lot of your corals..

If your tank is getting pretty full them i think Frank is right and may have to start daily dosing to keep up with them. Specially is you have SPS or even chalices for that matter..

 

[RadReefer]

Make sure you get a decent test kit as well, it sounds like yours was off quite a bit. I like to use Elos, they are pretty precise. Also, make sure that you are testing at around the same time every day, especially if you start dosing. I would test first, then add your 2 part additive, this will allow you to determine about how much Alk your corals are using daily and make it easier to titrate the dose of additive to attain your target Alk and Ca.

 

[HuuTa]

just retest and my alk drop from 8 to 7 in 24 hours.is this too much of a swing in one day or is it nornal.my cal went from 430 to 390.mag is steady at 1320.

 

[frank180reef]

that sounds like a lot, interesting science I guess

I would think you must/should dose daily or maybe even half twice a day

 

[HuuTa]

Frank, u dose 500 ml of alk everyday?

 

[RadReefer]

My Alk drops probably 1 point per day with no ill effects. Frank, are you dosing 2 part only?

 

[frank180reef]

yes I dose 500 ml every day, alk is 24/7. the calc is manual.....

What do u mean by 2 part only? I dose:

alk
calc
mag 1-2 times a week

 

[RadReefer]

I meant that you are not supplementing with Kalk top-off or anything. That's a ton of Alk. What type of doser do you have?