Alkalinity To High!!

mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
well i finally took peoples advice here and bought some SALIFERT test kits and as soon as i did i realized that my calcium was low 315 im raising it slowly now
and my alkalinity was at 13.4 dkh
not good
i did the test 3 times and every time the same thing
but i thought that alkalinity and PH were in close relation to each other and if so why would i be reading at 8.3 and have my dkh so high
by the way right now im using API to do my PH but i have a digital PH meter coming with 7.01-10.01 calibration fluid so i may just wait till i get it here to be able to make a positive reading it will be here in a few days
so does anyone think it will be ok till then?
 
weberian

weberian

Member
ZONE 3: Alkalinity too high – and Ca under 400 ppm
I would advise correcting this problem by adding a calcium chloride supplement until you have moved [your calcium up to 400 ppm]. Almost any brand of calcium chloride will do (Kent Turbo Calcium, Kent Liquid Calcium, ESV, etc.). Certain other calcium supplements may also be OK (such as just the calcium component of the two-part calcium and alkalinity additive systems), but you do not want to add any alkalinity. You CANNOT use limewater or a calcium carbonate/carbon dioxide reactor to correct this problem.
Copied and edited from "Chemistry and the Aquarium" by Randy Holmes-Farley.
 
mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
Originally Posted by Kynekke
Just to be sure... did you divide the number of drops in half to get your alkalinity?
i use the conversion table that salfert has with the kit because my readings are as follows
0.16ml=13.4 kh value in dkH=4.80 meq/L alkalinity
im just going by what the direction say
 
mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
Originally Posted by Weberian
ZONE 3: Alkalinity too high – and Ca under 400 ppm
I would advise correcting this problem by adding a calcium chloride supplement until you have moved [your calcium up to 400 ppm]. Almost any brand of calcium chloride will do (Kent Turbo Calcium, Kent Liquid Calcium, ESV, etc.). Certain other calcium supplements may also be OK (such as just the calcium component of the two-part calcium and alkalinity additive systems), but you do not want to add any alkalinity. You CANNOT use limewater or a calcium carbonate/carbon dioxide reactor to correct this problem.
Copied and edited from "Chemistry and the Aquarium" by Randy Holmes-Farley.
right now i only have "KENT" coralvite and essential elements as supplements and im raising calcium with coralvite and putting in essential elements every two weeks
this is probably a stupid question but as calcium goes up does the alkalinity go down?
 
weberian

weberian

Member
I don't know if it "drives" it down, but the way I interpret the article is that Ca and alk will then be balanced, and then they will both drop down together remaining balanced.
Either way, directly or indirectly, it will bring your alk down eventually.
I have a 30 gal display and 20 gal sump, and I change about 6-8 gal every two weeks. I'm dripping 2 liter of kalk/RO every evening between 6-11:30 pm. Going on a month with this method - seems to be working for me.
I don't know what Kent coralvite is, but you can bet I'm going to look it up.
 
weberian

weberian

Member
It's a vitamin and mineral supplement. Not what you want to use to raise calcium. You need to use one of the ones listed above (Kent Turbo Calcium, etc.)
 
mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
Originally Posted by Weberian
That's Buffer, the opposite of what you need.

ok i wont but im ordering my calcium
anything else i need please let me know (this is getting really expensive!!)(they should make a face with it crying because money is just floating away from him
)
ps.
sorry for asking you questions on 2 deferent threads
 
weberian

weberian

Member
No prob. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't enjoy it. To be honest, I didn't realize I was on two threads with you - sorry.
I think for me, balancing my calcium and alkalinity probably helped somewhat in getting rid of nuisance cyano. So maybe it will help in cleaning up your situation.
 
mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
Originally Posted by Weberian
No prob. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't enjoy it. To be honest, I didn't realize I was on two threads with you - sorry.
I think for me, balancing my calcium and alkalinity probably helped somewhat in getting rid of nuisance cyano. So maybe it will help in cleaning up your situation.
been doing some reading on other threads about the "balancing act" and have ordered my chemicals and the rest of my test kits
 
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