alkalinity and ph

jordan2496

jordan2496

Member
hopefully someone here can help me solve this problem because it has started to make me crazy. my tank set up is a 55 gallon display 10 gallon sump/regugium, skimmer, 80lbs of live rock total, 2 inches of "live sand" 350 watts of LEDS, and a good amount of lps and soft coral. mostly large frags. anyways, the issue is my alkalinity and ph. I'll give a specific example, I added 1oz of nature reef at 12am last night. it brought my Dkh from 9 to 12. yes I'm aware of the easing it slow but it's dropping so fast there is no other way I can keep up. by 12pm it was already down to 7dkh...my ph has a tendency to also lower which I assume to be from the alkalinity. I would need to add about 3 ounces of alkalinity plus each day just to stay in between 9-12...that just diesent seem right to me. also I usually use kalk in my top off but I am not right now due to high calcium ( around 490-500).
 
R

robertmathern1

Member
whats your magnesium levels? I think Imforbis is on the correct path with precipitation. What it sounds like to me. Do you see any buildup on your skimmer line and such?
 
R

robertmathern1

Member
Check mag levels if you get mag in check in will prevent the calcium ions and carbonate ions (ALK) from binding and precipitating out of the water.
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
I had the same issue awhile back, and I was dosing alk 3x as much as cal, trying to keep alk above 7 dKH. Here's what I learned:

Natural sea water has an alkalinity level of 7 dKH, and calcium level of 410-420 ppm. If one of these elements gets too high, it drives the other down. Getting the calcium level down to a normal level will help stabilize alkalinity, and vice versa. It's not likely low magnesium, as your calcium level is remaining high, and you didn't mention accumulation of calcium carbonate on your equipment. However, it's a very good idea to keep a check on mag levels. Long story short... once I got my calcium level down to where it should be, it became much easier to maintain a higher level of alkalinity. When I checked it yesterday (just before dosing calcium), Alkalinity was 9.07 dKH and calcium was 412ppm. I now have my dosing pump adding equal amounts of alk and cal, which is how it's supposed to be.

Solution: keep dosing alkalinity to maintain a level above 7 dKH. Stop dosing calcium until your calcium level falls within NSW range. Once your alkalinity and calcium have reached equilibrium, you can gradually raise your alk level if desired.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
50% water change with a quality salt will sort out any problems with your chemistry and will reduce nitrate nd phosphate buildup and clean out detritus.

Get that magnesium test kit and keep it at about 1350ppm. It's probably a magnesium issue.

Brightwell products sells a powdered kalk bag for about $20 that contains all, CA, mg, and strontium.
 
jordan2496

jordan2496

Member
thanks for all the input. you guys are great, I did a 50% water change yesterday actually...my toadstools have not opened up since..
ammonia:0
nitrites:0
nitrates:10ppm
alk: all over the place
cal: 500
ph swings from 8.0 to 8.4
specific gravity: 1.024
do you guys think the Dkh is keepin them from opening? everything else including my sps seem to be doing very well.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
What brand salt are you using? It could be a bad batch of salt.

Mix up a half gallon or so and run a calcium, all and mg test on it. It could be that your batch of salt wasn't completely mixed at the wholesaler, which has been the case for many people that can't get their parameters under control.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
jordan2496 said:
thanks for all the input. you guys are great, I did a 50% water change yesterday actually...my toadstools have not opened up since..
ammonia:0
nitrites:0
nitrates:10ppm
alk: all over the place
cal: 500
ph swings from 8.0 to 8.4
specific gravity: 1.024
do you guys think the Dkh is keepin them from opening? everything else including my sps seem to be doing very well.
Click to expand...
Can you define "all over the place"? Does it change every time you test?
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
1.) always test ph and alk just before lights out.

2). Google the dr. Randy Holmes-Farley imporved diy two part. read and study. You could implement also.

my .02
 
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