brick-brothers

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So I been trying to bring down my alk. Right now is at 11 something. (I'm still asleep) lol My cal is at 500. My ph is steady at 8.34. My mag is around 1100. I know its low, but I dont want to does if its going to raise my alk. I've been doing 20% water changes every weekend for the past month. What else should I do?
 

KathyC

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You'll only get it down through water changes, as mentioned increase the volume of them.

Correction - alk is acceptable at 7-8, so you are on the high side.

Does your test kit measure Ca past 500 (some don't)

What is your PH?
 
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E.intheC

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I've heard that some batches of certain salts (like reef crystals, red sea coral pro, and Coralife were recently testing at high alk levels (like 14 or higher in some cases) so be careful. I'd test a batch of fresh saltwater before doing a water change.
 

brick-brothers

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I've been using oceanic sea salt for years now. Maybe its time to re-check it. thanks

I've heard that some batches of certain salts (like reef crystals, red sea coral pro, and Coralife were recently testing at high alk levels (like 14 or higher in some cases) so be careful. I'd test a batch of fresh saltwater before doing a water change.
 

pecan2phat

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Oceanic salt test out at about 540 ppm for calcium, that and your reactor is bringing your levels over NSW levels. I bet that you were compensating on your reactor to bring the alkalinty up due to Oceanic having a low alkalinity.
Just keep your reactor off and do nothing except for your maintenance water changes.
11 DKH is not harmful. Some European hobbyist keeps their alkalinity in the 12 to 13 DKH range, I keep my alkalinity at about 11 DKH also and there are no burnt SPS tips. Your levels will eventually come down from coral intake, corraline growth and if you change out the salt brand.
 

tomtoothdoc

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tagging along.....curious about this myself.
i've read that many people keep their cal higher than 500.....especially ones with cal reactor and sps.....i'm in the process of setting up a cal. reactor myself. and if i understand it correctly, the alk will be elevated proportionately to the cal. and i think my cal. reactor instruction manual says just measure the cal. and don't worry about the alk......perhaps i misunderstood?
how long have you had the cal. rxtor running? do you have a lot of sps.....to use up the cal you're putting in?
 

pecan2phat

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It was always conceived that alkalinity over 10 DKH resulted in burnt tips on SPS. I have not experienced this.
Truthfully my ideal range would be 9 DKH & 420 ppm on the calcium but I don't have the patience to constantly adjust the calcium reactor and kalk reactor. the kalk reactor supplements the calcium reactor but my purpose was to keep the PH at suitable levels. The domino effect is that it can elevate your other levels. After trying to fine tune both reactors for months, I gave up and this was a few years ago. So my end result is a pretty constant 11.2 DKH & 470 ppm calcium.
I think that someone had said that a calcium reactor is mis-named and is really an alkalinty reactor.
In regards to calcium, I would try to keep it under 500 ppm. If you go too much over 560 - 580 ppm, you will experience a white out :lol2:
 

brick-brothers

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yea I just started using my cal reactor. I wasnt trying to have my cal at 500 on purpose. It just happen. So if yall saying that my cal is good at 500 and my alk is good at 11, then I should be in the clear. I would just have to raise my mag, correct?
 

AlohaTropics

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Ca Alk Mg and Ph all haves direct correlation. From my studies, keeping Ca over 450 is considered supersaturated. Balanced Ca at NSW alk 7dkh is about 390ppm. NSW is normally supersaturated at 450ppm. But the correlation is directly related to pH. When ph levels increase, the ability to retain levels of ca drops. At a higher ph calcium will precipitate more and more.

So if your Ca is above 450 and your ph is above 8.2 then your really wasting money because what your dosing is turning into calcium carbonate precipitation and THAT is helping to drive your alk up.

Just my .02

A really educational read on all of this can be found in the reefkeeping.com chemistry archives. It's title a "simplified understanding of the relationship between Ca, Mg, and Alk". Highly recommended read.


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pecan2phat

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yea I just started using my cal reactor. I wasnt trying to have my cal at 500 on purpose. It just happen. So if yall saying that my cal is good at 500 and my alk is good at 11, then I should be in the clear. I would just have to raise my mag, correct?

Unless you have an SPS dominated tank or just a plethora of clams, I would let the levels drop through water changes from another brand of salt.
Watch your alkalinity though, it'll drop faster then your calcium.
 

brick-brothers

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Thanks for the info

Ca Alk Mg and Ph all haves direct correlation. From my studies, keeping Ca over 450 is considered supersaturated. Balanced Ca at NSW alk 7dkh is about 390ppm. NSW is normally supersaturated at 450ppm. But the correlation is directly related to pH. When ph levels increase, the ability to retain levels of ca drops. At a higher ph calcium will precipitate more and more.

So if your Ca is above 450 and your ph is above 8.2 then your really wasting money because what your dosing is turning into calcium carbonate precipitation and THAT is helping to drive your alk up.

Just my .02

A really educational read on all of this can be found in the reefkeeping.com chemistry archives. It's title a "simplified understanding of the relationship between Ca, Mg, and Alk". Highly recommended read.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs
 

motortrendz

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yea I just started using my cal reactor. I wasnt trying to have my cal at 500 on purpose. It just happen. So if yall saying that my cal is good at 500 and my alk is good at 11, then I should be in the clear. I would just have to raise my mag, correct?

remember your test kit doesnt go above 500 so who knows the real number that your actually at...keep that in mind
 

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