raising alkalinity

kratos1028

kratos1028

Active member
I dose my tank with c balance part A and part B for calcium and alk. My calcium is currently reading around 460ppm which is where I want it to stay and my Alk is at 7. How do I raise just my alkalinity? The instructions say to dose Part A and B at the same time. Can I just dose part B to raise just the alkalinity?

I would need to dose 85ml of c balance part B to raise it to 9. How should I add that to prevent minimal pH swings?
 
Yes, you can. You'll have troubles keeping both your CA and Alk where you want them; as soon as the CA hits around 450, it becomes near impossible to keep it from precipitating with the Alk (at ideal levels). CA is fine at around even 450, and you're Alk won't suffer as a result. :)
 
I dose much higher alkalinity than calcium. you don't have to dose 2 part equally, actually most of the time, you will dose more alk than calcium, espeically if you have alot of stony corals.
 
I haven't done a water change for about 3 months. Maybe that is contributing to the higher calcium and low alkalinity? I will get my magnesium tested at my lfs soon. I don't have a test kit for mag.

Can I just dose part B for alk and not dose Part A for calcium or will I have to put in some Part A?

How should I dose the 85 ml of alk and over how long to raise it to 9?
 
You are due for a partial water change, but yeah, you can dose just either the part A or part B. you don't have to dose both.
 
Over how long of a period should I add part B? I just added 15 ml. Still need to add another 70ml but I will do a water change first and see where everything stands after that.
 
alk of 7 is not bad. raise it slowly. just a few ML's at a time or you can stress/kill your corals. I keep my alk between 7-8 dkh. I use a doser to dose 80ml of alk throughout the day, over the course of 24 hours.
 
Funlad3 said:
Yes, you can. You'll have troubles keeping both your CA and Alk where you want them; as soon as the CA hits around 450, it becomes near impossible to keep it from precipitating with the Alk (at ideal levels). CA is fine at around even 450, and you're Alk won't suffer as a result. :)
Click to expand...

If you keep your Mg high then you can supersaturate Ca and Alk without precipitation, if that's your plan.
 
Thanks! I just did my water change and will recheck the levels in a couple of hours once everything settles and dose accordingly. I thought I had to dose the 2 part in equal amounts everytime which is why I was worried. If I dosed more calcium, it won't have gone pretty high but since I can't dose them individually, no more worrying.
 
Just checked my alk and it went from 7 to 11 after a 15 gallon water change with IO salt on my 65 gallon tank. That doesn't sound right. I will check it again later on tonight.
 
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