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Advice? Alkalinity levels are high

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Armydog, Jun 14, 2015.

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  1. Jun 14, 2015 #1
    Armydog

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    Ok so i tested my levels tonight

    Cal: 410

    Mg: 1430

    Ph 8.3

    Nitrate: 0

    Nitrite: 0

    Dkh: off the charts high like 20

    Trying to figure out why my alk is so high when everything else is fine.

    Bad test kit? I have the red sea pro test kit for mag, ca, and alk

    I did add ph buffer to raise my ph a bit because the calcium reactor seems to lower it.

    All the corals look good except for on leather.

    Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
     
  2. Jun 14, 2015 #2
    blackx-runner Cedar Rapids, IA

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    I would think if Alk were really off the charts you would have a lot of pissed off corals right now. pH buffer, depending on what you use, can raise alk, but I would think you would have to add quite a bit to get there.

    Your calcium reactor is certainly lowering your pH.I'd look at other ways to offset the low pH from the calcium reactor besides using a buffer. I ran kalk while using a Ca reactor and I think it helped. I also ran a dual chamber reactor which I believe does a better job of utilizing all the CO2 so it won't have as big an effect on the pH output. I think there are other methods to help degass the any excess CO2. That is what you are wanting to do to get the pH back up again.
     
  3. Jun 14, 2015 #3
    Armydog

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    Im pretty sure it was that buffer.... i added it like everyother day to raise the ph (dumb on my part)......


    Im just gonna go back to how i was doing it before to many problems.... i was trying to make everything a little easier and inturn made it worse.....

    Maybe a kalk stirrer...

    Or if i have to i read you can dose a little lime water to raise ph to counter act the calcium reactor lowering the ph... but that raises the alk also
     
  4. Jun 14, 2015 #4
    xroads La Porte City, IA

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    I agree, if you had alk of 20, everything would be dead. Retest, or borrow a test kit.

    Nothing you can do to bring it down besides water changes.
     
  5. Jun 14, 2015 #5
    Armydog

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    I tested the water going in from the mix tank and its 8dkh

    Should i just dose kalk with the litermeter when needed
     
  6. Jun 14, 2015 #6
    jeremy Davenport, IA

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    How low is ph? I have had alk at 20 for a couple weeks and evert hinges was pissed but nothing died. It was all softies. I just quit dosing and did water changes and brought it down over a few weeks.

    Until I bought an apex I never checked ph. I didn't have any problems. Maybe run air line outside from skimmer. I know when my windows are open my ph goes up to 8.5.
     
  7. Jun 14, 2015 #7
    blackx-runner Cedar Rapids, IA

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    Kalk (limewater) works well. It does raise alk, but also adds calcium in balanced proportions. You just need to adjust the output of the Ca reactor so it maintains the desired levels while running the kalk.

    Or go back to what you were doing before. Sometimes the simplest method is the best. It seems like you have had nothing but problems with your experiment with the Ca reactor.
     
  8. Jun 14, 2015 #8
    Armydog

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    Yeah not having the best luck at all.

    I have it up for sale lol just lowered the price to $275 which is $25 under what i paid and it has a new regulator ect that i bought on it.....

    Ill keep it running till it either sells or i figure this thing out...
     
  9. Jun 14, 2015 #9
    mpivit Dubuque

    mpivit Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    I'm going to guess bad test. My alk got to 14-15ish a couple times and absolutely devastated my montis and Birdsnests. Corals like frogspawns and torches even receded noticeably.

    Because you added a buffer, no doubt it may be high, if it is, I would shut down any additives you are dosing and let the tank settle out a bit. It's funny but when my tank ran with low levels I never lost anything. High alk in the other hand f'ed with everything.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 24, 2015
  10. Jun 14, 2015 #10
    mpivit Dubuque

    mpivit Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    I hated my reactor for a long time until I figured it out. Keep the ph around 6.5 and adjust the drip to keep up with demand.
    Right now I would shut it down until alk comes down then restart at about 2 drips per second and go up or down from there.

    I have mainly sps and my reactor looks like a string of pearls going into the tank. Before I went to sps and got an acrylic tank I used limewater in my topoff and it was the easiest and most stable my tank ever was. The problem is if evap is not fast enough you can't keep up with your tanks alk demands. I wouldn't give up on the reactor yet, but I know where you are coming from.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 24, 2015
  11. Jun 14, 2015 #11
    HarleyHawk

    HarleyHawk Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    It seems like you are getting some very good advise Donny, The only thing that I was told from many reefers that I have learned from is don't chase your ph It will drive you nuts
     
  12. Jun 14, 2015 #12
    Armydog

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    Im just confused why its just the alk thats messed up and not more. I always thought when alk was messed up cal or ph was also.

    Im increased water changes to 45 liters a day from 25 liters.

    Im gonna add another pump to the liter meter to dose kalk in very small amounts to increase the ph. Maybe .02 daily to start idk
    --- Auto-Merged, Jun 14, 2015 ---
    Im going back to sps and lps dominant tank so this is another reason i got it.

    Is there a chamber add on for korallin reactors?
    --- Auto-Merged, Jun 14, 2015, Original Post: Jun 14, 2015 ---
    Still gonna have all of my zoas though in the frag tanks and fillins in the dt
     
  13. Jun 14, 2015 #13
    Armydog

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    Ph goes from 8.32 down to 7.8 in 1-2 days so i just assume it will go down further so i added the buffer to bring it back up
    --- Auto-Merged, Jun 14, 2015 ---
    Like i said all of my corals look good except that one leather which is the reason i tested
     
  14. Jun 14, 2015 #14
    FishBrain New London

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    7.8 is on the lower side but perfectly acceptable. Like Jeremy said run the air intake to your skimmer to outside air. The fresh air will bring your ph back up. That's what I have done for years. For safety reasons I put a small carbon filter I made on the outside intake. That way It will filter any pesticides or herbicides a neighbor might spray. Also I think the test is most likely bad. If your DKH were that high it would be causing calcium to precipitate out of the water column.

    Bill
     
  15. Jun 15, 2015 #15
    jeremy Davenport, IA

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    You could run a refugium with opposite light cycle of your display. That would help also. If you have room for one.
     
  16. Jun 15, 2015 #16
    Bud West Des Moines, IA

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    So was your 20 dKH reading an error then? You're at 8dKH now? That's low

    I have BigD's old Kalk reactor, bought it along with his whole setup when he tore down, been sitting on the shelf. It's a pretty nice one.

    As for Kalk I don't know that I would dose that with the liter meter but rather I would calculate your daily drop and dose the appropriate amount.

    Your water change, top off, and kalk should all be mutually exclusive, ideally. Your kalk addition will detract from your ATO needs depending on how much you need to dose throughout the day.

    Some do kalk in the top off and that's fine as long as you know how much you evap daily and can calculate how much you need to dose and mix the right amount in. Or, if you max out on concentration you just saturate the kalk solution and run that in your ATO and the supplement with 2 part (that's what @beckerj3@beckerj3 does, for instance)
     
  17. Jun 15, 2015 #17
    abower Ryan, Ia

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    Stay away from pH products. They cause more problems than good. I believe purple up can also shoot the moon with alk. I used to us the pH buffer to raise my pH on water changes because fresh mix would be around 7.8. I'd add tsp after tsp. Never changed the pH. Just shot the alk up to 20 or so. Then it bound up with the calcium (from reading) and left a white residue in the container. Pretty much waisted that water change.

    Take those pH buffers, take the lid off and place in fridge. Discard after 90 days and say I will never buy stupid stuff again. It's apparently baking soda from what a few forums have noted.
     
  18. Jun 15, 2015 #18
    Armydog

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    The tank dkh was somewhere around 20 then the new saltwater in the storage container was 8dkh.

    I used to do kalk in my ato but stopped when i got the calcium reactor. Now the ato is just rodi water.

    I have no more ph buffer lol so wont be buying more either.

    Ill have to test again today to see what its at now
     
  19. Jun 15, 2015 #19
    Armydog

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    @FishBrain@FishBrain i purchased the ph booster for the air intake of the skimmer from the filterguys today so we will see if that helps.

    I was mainly thinking if i dosed a small amounts of kalk with a doser controlled by my reef angel that maybe that would help keep the ph stable. Or am i wrong to think that?
     
  20. Jun 15, 2015 #20
    Armydog

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    So after some more reading im going to lower the amount coming out of the reactor. I think then it will even out.

    With what yall said and what i have read i need to stop chasing the ph and stabilize the reactor.

    Sure wish someone that used a calcium reactor lived closer...
     
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