Raising Alkalinity

[MissG55]

Hi everyone,
I was bad and last weekend did not do my usual water change as i had stock going in and my rescape and eunice worm incident.
I did a little extra this weekend and tested all my parameters as usual.
This is what i got:
S.G 1.025
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5
P.H - last night 8.2, this morning 8.1(using probe) although my salifert test kit said 7.7 this morning
Phosphate - 0.015
Calcium - 440
Mag - 1290
Alk - 5dkh

I know my alkalinity is low - should be aiming for about 8 right?
Also my magnesium is a little low i think and as for my PH I am really confused.

I have been reading about adding bicarb and buffers and adding reactors and am now even more confused so i thought i would turn to the masters...... help!!!

My tank is 280l 30 - 35kg live rock and stocked with softies, a few LPS and SPS, snails, 4 shrimp, YW goby, clown, wrasse, citron goby.

 

[-Nemo-]

pH: it changes thoroughout the day. pH will be lower at night and right after the lights come on in the morning and will slowly raise throughout the day. It is generally advisable to test the pH after the lights have been on for several hours to get a more accurate reading.

As for your kH and magnesium, your magnesium is fine where it is now, although it would probably benefit you to raise your kH a slightest. I would first do your normal water change and then re-test and see where they go.

 

[woody88]

Your alk is HIGH imo. If alk is that high then your kh will be high. Say around 14-15 DKH.

Natural ocean water has a kh of around 8-10 which is what I aim for.

I'd recommend a large wc with a decent pro reef salt mix.

That's just my opinion and others may disagree but it works for me.

To buffer ph and kh/alk I used to use aragamilk before I started mixing my own salt water with a good brand.

I've just checked my kh/alk salifert test kit and looked at the table.
An alk of 5 is roughly 15 DKH which is way too high.

 

[MissG55]

Now i am really confused. Maybe i am being really silly!
I am using the tropic Marin KH Alkalinity test. I used 5 drops before the sample turned orange which according to the table was 5dkh.
I thought this was what needed to be at 8ish.
It was at 5 a day after my water change using red sea coral reef pro salt mix.
Should i have asked about raising my KH?
I have only just started with LPS, SPS and am still learning!
Thanks and sorry for being a pain.

 

[MissG55]

pH: it changes thoroughout the day. pH will be lower at night and right after the lights come on in the morning and will slowly raise throughout the day. It is generally advisable to test the pH after the lights have been on for several hours to get a more accurate reading.

Thanks Nemo - just re-tested Ph and my probe was reading 8.3 and the salifert test kit was 8.2/3

 

[woody88]

Now i am really confused. Maybe i am being really silly!
I am using the tropic Marin KH Alkalinity test. I used 5 drops before the sample turned orange which according to the table was 5dkh.
I thought this was what needed to be at 8ish.
It was at 5 a day after my water change using red sea coral reef pro salt mix.
Should i have asked about raising my KH?
I have only just started with LPS, SPS and am still learning!
Thanks and sorry for being a pain.

On the salifert test kit table the higher the alk the higher the kh.

For kh to be at 8 alk will be at around 2.83 which according to salifert is the same as natural sea water.

I use tropic Marin pro reef salt and my ph, kh/alk have all been bang on!

I'm just going by my test kit but it might be worth getting other opinions just to be sure!

 

[MissG55]

Now i am really confused. Maybe i am being really silly!
I am using the tropic Marin KH Alkalinity test. I used 5 drops before the sample turned orange which according to the table was 5dkh.
I thought this was what needed to be at 8ish.
It was at 5 a day after my water change using red sea coral reef pro salt mix.
Should i have asked about raising my KH?
I have only just started with LPS, SPS and am still learning!
Thanks and sorry for being a pain.

On the salifert test kit table the higher the alk the higher the kh.

For kh to be at 8 alk will be at around 2.83 which according to salifert is the same as natural sea water.

I use tropic Marin pro reef salt and my ph, kh/alk have all been bang on!

I'm just going by my test kit but it might be worth getting other opinions just to be sure!

Right i think i have spotted my mistake, The table i am reading off is very confusing and me still being quite new am being a bit of a dunce!

The table says mval/l CaC03 - 1.783 which is 5 dkh. (what i am at now)
I can see now that 8dkh is 2.853 CaC03 (is this what i am aiming for?)

dkh = kh
alk is CaC03
So i should have said how do i raise my Kh?

 

[woody88]

Yep that sounds more like it.

If you use a pro reef salt it should buffer the ph and kh.

Or you can use a buffer. I used aragamilk originally and gave great results within 24 hours. Only prob is you have to buffer bi daily for a while and perform regular wc.

I would aim for around 8 dKH around 2-3 alk.

 

[MissG55]

Yep that sounds more like it.

If you use a pro reef salt it should buffer the ph and kh.

Or you can use a buffer. I used aragamilk originally and gave great results within 24 hours. Only prob is you have to buffer bi daily for a while and perform regular wc.

I would aim for around 8 dKH around 2-3 alk.

phew!!!!!!
Thank you very much woody for persevering with me.
Will look into aragmilk and i am sure there will then be many more questions!