Proper water changes, by far, is the best solution to level out your Alk. It will do it safely, especially for a newb to reefs.
How are you mixing up your changeout water?
Improper water changes will affect Alk, because your co2/o2 relation will be off. Make certain to be mixing up your change water for at least 24 hrs. before a change.
You do not always need to use a buffer if your demads are low, water changes will do this for you. However, this is a small percentage of tanks.
Alkalinity is the measurement of available buffer in your water. It is related to calcium directly. Buffer is what prevents pH swings. That is all it does.
My suggestion is to do some water changes over the next couple of weeks, say 1 evey couple of days for 2 weeks, and do it with propely mixed water. Somewhere around 15% each time should do the trick.
Buy yourself a kit specifically to test calcium and alkalinity. Do not get test strips. If you have them throw them out. They are unreliable and will not give you results you can rely on and they are to ambiguous.
Once you level it out, I suggest using b-ionic 2 part buffer system (alk and calc) as it is easy to dose and maintain levels with this product, but always test before dosing anything ever.
