Low Alk

[Aaron Stillwell]

Hello. My Alk is getting lower and lower. Using reef Crystal salt.also adding all in reef. How can I safely raise? Doing water change every 2 weeks. Salt is 1.025. PH is around 8.12.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wildcrazyjoker81]

So IMO this exact situation is the problem with all for reef long term. Alk uptake will always be more than calcium/mag and the majority of trace. So with all for reef you would just need to dose more to get the alk back up, but keep an eye out as it will elevate everything else as well. I personally would just add in some soda ash or straight alkalinity supplement to get it back up to around 8ish dkh.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[Aaron Stillwell]

Thank you. What product do you recommend?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gatortailale]

Randy Holmes-Farley article. https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php

 

ESV Bionic is what I use in addition to dripping Kalk.  The ESV says to always dose in equal parts.  Once you read Randy's article it makes sense why dose equal parts to raise alk.

 

https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.htm  "Reef aquarists take great advantage of the 1:1 matching of calcium and alkalinity demand in reef aquaria by using additives that supply calcium and alkalinity in this same ratio. In this way, over- or under-dosing of such balanced calcium and alkalinity additives should not result in skewing the aquarium water's chemistry toward too much calcium and too little alkalinity, or too much alkalinity and too little calcium. On the other hand, independent additions of calcium and alkalinity, even with careful and frequent measurement, often lead to such imbalances."

[ReefdUp]

What are your calcium and magnesium levels? 

[DFR]

On 3/13/2024 at 1:56 PM, Aaron Stillwell said:

Thank you. What product do you recommend?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure if you ever got this sorted out.  But is your calcium also trending down?  If so, just increase your dosage of AFR.  If only your alkalinity is dropping, increase it with any “alk” supplement.  
 

I also use AFR.  I do not have issues with one compound being consumed more than another, but I have BRS 3-part that I could use to bring up either if my ratio were to go out of whack.