Raising Alkalinity

ioevanc

ioevanc

New member
Hello

I am trying to raise my Alkalinity to proper levels. Currently my water parameters are:

Tank size is 90 gal.
Temp 78F
pH: 8.36 during the day 8.20 during night +- 10%
dKH: 6.06 or 2.36 meg /L
Calcium: 450
Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 3,Phosphate - 0.13

The ph is measured with Apex probe so I know it's accurate, I also measured with Salifert test kit.
The other parameters Were measured with Salifert test kits. I also measured the Phosphate and Alkalinity with both Salifert and Hanna checker and got pretty much the same result.

I'm trying to get Alkalinity to at least 7 or 8 dKH.
The Alk was lower around 5.3dKH a few days ago. What I did was slowly started adding Brightwell Aquatics Alkalin8.3 Buffer. This raised the Alkalinity slightly to where its at right now. Also I started adding Kalkwasser with my Top Of water yesterday. I mixed 2 tsp of Kalk in 5 gal of Ro/Di water.

So I have few questions. Should I continue dosing Kalk and adding the Alkalin8.3 Buffer? How is this going to effect the pH, Calcium and Alk further?
I noticed that after the Kalk and KH buffer the PH rose up at least .10 overall. Will continuing adding thsese further raise the pH?
Am I doing this correctly? Basically I don't want to mess things up to destabilize the water chemistry balance. Any help is greaty appreciated.

Thanks
 
ColaAddict

ColaAddict

New member
Brenda's right, you should test your mag. my pH and alk went out of wack once and I couldn't figure out why. I also used to never check my mag. One of the mod's here, Jeni, suggested I check my mag. When I checked, it was low. I slowly raised my mag, which normalized the pH and alk. mag and cal are the two big things that affect your pH/alk, the corals and especially if you have alot of coraline, your mag will get used up fast.
 
ioevanc

ioevanc

New member
SaylorsReef said:
What is your Magnesium level?
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ColaAddict said:
Brenda's right, you should test your mag. my pH and alk went out of wack once and I couldn't figure out why. I also used to never check my mag. One of the mod's here, Jeni, suggested I check my mag. When I checked, it was low. I slowly raised my mag, which normalized the pH and alk. mag and cal are the two big things that affect your pH/alk, the corals and especially if you have alot of coraline, your mag will get used up fast.
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I just re-tested my water paramenters and they are about the same as above. I got my magnesium Salifert test kit and tested 1320ppm, is this ok or should it be a bit more?
So, how do I properly raise the dKH? Will using Brightwell Aauatics Alkalin8.3 DkH buffer do it?

Thanks
 
ColaAddict

ColaAddict

New member
I use 2 part alk and calcium, using a dosing equipment. I can easily tweek it, just by adding or decreasing the ml/day on the doser depending on my test results/coral consumption
 
EricTheRed

EricTheRed

No, I'm not a communist..
ioevanc said:
. Also I started adding Kalkwasser with my Top Of water yesterday. I mixed 2 tsp of Kalk in 5 gal of Ro/Di water.
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Hopefully the OP's alkalinity issue has ben resolved, since the original post was from 6 months ago.

For what it's worth, here's my 2c...
2 tsp of kalk per 5G of rodi won't do anything for you. Kalk is saturated at 2 tsp per gallon and most people start with 1 tsp per gallon to get a base-line feel for how the kalk will support your tank's ca and alk needs. Personally, I'm dosing 9 tsp per 5G to maintain steady parameters in my 90G.
Heck, since it's cooling down and the tank doesn't evaporate as much, I'm considering adding vinegar to my kalk so I can supersaturate the suspension, which could bring me up to 13.5 tsp per 5G of rodi.
 
skunkmere

skunkmere

Member
i use 1tsp with 15ml of vinegar to a 5g jug. it keeps my 20g tank @ 9dkh. once i added two and it killed most of my coral.
 
EricTheRed

EricTheRed

No, I'm not a communist..
poidog said:
how did it kill your coral? I use 10 tsb per 5 gal !
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Yeah, I use 9 tsp per gallon.

Recommended Kalkwasser Starting Points :
Fish only with live rock: ½ Teaspoon per gallon of fresh water
A few corals: 1 Teaspoon per gallon of fresh water
Mix of SPS and LPS: 2 Teaspoons per gallon of fresh water
 
Lil BamBam

Lil BamBam

Premium member
I use BRS kalk for my 75gal.. Only 4 tsp with 15ml of vinegar per 5 gal ro/di water. I stay around alk 8 or 9 {API) CAL 420.
 
EricTheRed

EricTheRed

No, I'm not a communist..
Lil BamBam said:
I use BRS kalk for my 75gal.. Only 4 tsp with 15ml of vinegar per 5 gal ro/di water. I stay around alk 8 or 9 {API) CAL 420.
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A lot of factors contribute to the amount each tank would need to keep a stable balance, such as evaporation rate and coral demand.

I'm curious about why you add the vinegar? Are you adding it as a carbon source for nitrate reduction or something related to the kalk? Also, how do you like the BRS kalk? I'm thinking about trying it out. The kind I'm using now seems to leave a lot of sediment at the bottom of my jug.
 
Lil BamBam

Lil BamBam

Premium member
Eric, this is my first time using kalk for my tank as I was using too much part A&B to meet demand. Levels kept going up and down, was getting fed up doing it. Talked to a few members and Skunkmere was the last one to help me over the phone with my issues.. Thank you! But the kalk from BRS has NO sediment on bottom of my jug : ) Members from this form can say that my tank looks much happier now and growing insane rates from the last time they seen it.

The vinegar was added as an addition to the kalk for more use out it. More HP on the kalk.. LOL!! But it’s also used as a carbon source. Will have to find some links that helped me determine on why to do it. This is being used with my DIY ATO.

The funny part is that I don’t understand why people get the sediment on the bottom and use 10 tsp for 5gal of water? I used 8 tsp and almost nuked my tank : (

But started slow afterwards with 2 tsp and still going to up the dose to 6 tsp to see how the tank does.

My tank is will covered with SPS and softies
 
EricTheRed

EricTheRed

No, I'm not a communist..
Lil BamBam said:
Eric, this is my first time using kalk for my tank as I was using too much part A&B to meet demand. Levels kept going up and down, was getting fed up doing it. Talked to a few members and Skunkmere was the last one to help me over the phone with my issues.. Thank you! But the kalk from BRS has NO sediment on bottom of my jug : ) Members from this form can say that my tank looks much happier now and growing insane rates from the last time they seen it.

The vinegar was added as an addition to the kalk for more use out it. More HP on the kalk.. LOL!! But it’s also used as a carbon source. Will have to find some links that helped me determine on why to do it. This is being used with my DIY ATO.

The funny part is that I don’t understand why people get the sediment on the bottom and use 10 tsp for 5gal of water? I used 8 tsp and almost nuked my tank : (

But started slow afterwards with 2 tsp and still going to up the dose to 6 tsp to see how the tank does.

My tank is will covered with SPS and softies
Click to expand...
Great to hear it helped you. As far as I'm concerned, kalk is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I used to buy 2-part additives (expensive), then I made my own (not as bad) and then I found kalk (which is so cheap it's practically free!) The best part is that your ca & alk stay extremely stable and you no longer have to dose the tank everyday, which I found to be a total PITA!


As long as your ca and alk are where you want them, then there's no need to increase the amount of kalc you're using. Keep in mind that as your stony corals grow you'll need to increase your kalk because they will be using more of it.

The use of vinegar w/ kalk is two-fold. The vinegar will lower the pH of the limewater, just as it would if you were dosing your tank with vinegar. Also, the vinegar can increase the potency of the kalk which will allow supersaturation for a high demand tank.

As an example:
Saturation occurs with 2 teaspoons of kalk per gallon of rodi.
However, 3 teaspoons of kalk will disolve in 1G of rodi if 45ml of vinegar is added. It is not possible to dissolve any more kalk than this.

Adding vinegar to kalk will be of interest primarily to two groups of aquarists: those who can’t quite get enough limewater into their systems, and those who find the system pH going higher than desired when they dose limewater.

It may also be of interest to a third group — individuals who find that their systems tend to accumulate nitrate. The added organic carbon serves as a fuel for denitrification.

In your case, you are adding vinegar to a less than saturated amount of kalk for the purpose of getting more out of it. I found some old research I did on this topic and found that vinegar has the potential to increase potency by up to 36%.

So in your case; using 2 tsp of kalk plus vinegar would be the same as someone using 2.72 tsp of kalk without vinegar. When you tried 8 tsp (assuming you were also using vinegar) it would have been the equivalent of using 10.88 tsp without vinegar, and that's hardly more than I or poidog are using. Adding vinegar for the sole purpose of increasing its potency doesn't accomplish much, unless you need to supersature the suspension to get high levels of calcium for a high demand tank. (And if that's the case, it's probably time to invest in a calcium reactor) IMHO, I would only add the vinegar if the kalk was raising my pH too much or I wanted to use it for denitrification.

Can you please clarify what happened when you almost nuked your tank when you tried 8 tsp? What happened? Did your pH spike or was your alk too high? I'm really curious to know what happened. You're the 2nd person who's mentioned this happening...
 
Lil BamBam

Lil BamBam

Premium member
Eric,

It seems you have the chemistry down for kalk and there is no need for links.. Yes, you are right about not increasing the dosage as I have the sweet spot already. But we all know how fast that can change as corals start to grow : )

Now regarding the vinegar.. It does all things listed above: lower PH, increase of potency in kalk, carbon dosing for denitrification and also some what prevents lines from getting clogged.

But keep in mind that I'm not doing the recommended dosage for vinegar or plan to increase any time soon. This was just a test and a little of carbon dosing wont hurt : ) The amount added might not be enough to see any results anyways :noidea:

When I did my 1st test was just 8 tsp of kalk with NO vinegar. I thought my demand was going to be high and was wrong BIG TIME. Lesson learned and was walked through afterwards. Everything in the tank was all closed and not happy!! It could have been a big ALK swing or PH levels to high. Didn't want to wait long enough to find out and acted fast with a w/c (15gal mixed) as this was premixed a day before for any issues with my tank. Note: W/C was done in sections to avoid a bigger issue with swings going down.

Look for these in Youtube as they might be useful for beginners with kalk

"How To Use the King of All Saltwater Additives Safely and Effectively"
"Dosing Kalk using Toms AquaLifter and the ReefKeeper Lite"

We should make sticky for Kalk :thumb::thumb:
 
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