dschflier January 22, 2008 Share January 22, 2008 My tank looks good. My corals are opening up but I am a bit worried about my Alkalinity. I am looking for some suggestions. On Dec 7th calcium 525ppm DKH 8.3 salinity 1.024 temp 80 January 3rd calc 480 DKH 8.6 salinity 1.025 temp 80 Jan 9th calc 480 DKH 8.0 salinity temp77 Jan 20th calc 440 DKH 7.4 salinity 1.026 temp79.4 jan 21st calc 440 DKH 7.0 salinity 1.025 temp 79.4 I am using a Kalk stirrer and that is all I had been putting in to my tank. I added a bit of Kent Marine Pro buffer yesterday but only like 20 ml. I wanted to wait and get opinions. I am not sure if this is 1) not a big deal 2) something to be concerned about and start making some small changes or 3) big problem and I should start worrying. I estimate my tank has about 340 gallons of water. I would say I have a relatively light SPS load but they are growing. Let me know what you think. My concern is primarily with the DKH of 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller January 22, 2008 Share January 22, 2008 Does all your evaporation replenishment go thru the kalk reactor? How often do you recharge your kalk reactor? scotch or burbon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhoch January 22, 2008 Share January 22, 2008 I would much rather see things ballanced dkh ~8-10 and calcium ~400. Add some baking powder to get the dkh up. Once ballanced then deal with the questions chip is asking. Realize with that volume of water you probably have some serious Coralline growth which is also eating up calcium Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller January 22, 2008 Share January 22, 2008 I would much rather see things ballanced dkh ~8-10 and calcium ~400. Add some baking powder to get the dkh up. Once ballanced then deal with the questions chip is asking. Realize with that volume of water you probably have some serious Coralline growth which is also eating up calcium Dave I was kidding about the scotch or burbon Dave, I've been doing to many TOTM interviews. Not sure what water volume has to do with coraline growth but answers to the first two questions might shed some light onto possible reasons of droping as opposed to simply being "low". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Grenier January 22, 2008 Share January 22, 2008 I was kidding about the scotch or burbon Dave Dam! I just poured a 5th in my tank to see if that would help! Curse you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dschflier January 22, 2008 Author Share January 22, 2008 Does all your evaporation replenishment go thru the kalk reactor? How often do you recharge your kalk reactor? scotch or burbon? Yes all of my evaporation is replensed thru the Kalk stirrer. I change all of the Kalk about once every 6 weeks and I add more about every week or 2 weeks. I had noticed that it was running a bit clear the other day and so I added more. The scotch or burbon question has always been a tough one for me. The pressure is high especially considering I prefer beer or wine. If my tank ever becomes a TOTM(I have a very long way to go for that) I promise to have my answer ready. I thought that my Alkalinity and Calcium should move together if the only dosing being done is through Kalkwasser. I started adding backing soda. I also have a bunch of Alk additives which I have gotten over the years from when I bought peoples setups. I suppose those would work just the same as baking soda. Is this assumption a correct one? I do have a good deal of coraline growth but I still figured that they would just both decrease together. I have a calcium reactor waiting to be used but have never started using it. I was considering installing more fans and my dehumidifier to the setup to allow more evaporation which in turn would give more Kalk. I will be testing daily to see how my Alkalinity moves. This was much easier when I never tested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gastone January 22, 2008 Share January 22, 2008 (edited) I think one would have to take into account the salinity first. That's quite a bit of sway. I would first stabilize the SG before I took any more readings. How are you topping off (ATO, doser, etc)? Once that is taken care of you can use this: http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html to adjust/balance the calcium/alk. Then give the kalkwasser a couple of days to see how it does maintaining levels. If you don't have a lot of sps, clams in your system the kalk should have no problem maintaining your levels. Garrett. BTW, this guy http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/totm/index.php is a friend of mine. He has since upgraded to a 90. It is chock full of SPS and clams (including a monster derasa). He only uses kalk... no 2 part, and no calcium reactor. He keeps his alk around 14dkh this way. Edited January 22, 2008 by gastone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rrubberbandman January 22, 2008 Share January 22, 2008 Dam! I just poured a 5th in my tank to see if that would help! Curse you! Whats burbon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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