trippclark
Member
I've been having my biggest aquarium challenge in years the past 6 weeks trying to get my water chemistry right, and during this time have done many, many small water changes (about 5% every 2 days; totalling 70+ gallons in my 60 gallon system). Originally the problem was high Alkalinity (15!!!) and Calcium that just would not go above 360. Through many water changes, daily testing, dosing of Kent Liquid Calcium and dripping Kalk in my top off water, the Calcium finally came up to over 400 and has stayed between 420 and 440 for the past week. :joy: The other end of the see-saw, Alkalinity dropped, however, below the desired range of 8 - 11 and is now stuck between 5-6.
So . . . I started adding and Kent Pro Buffer dKH. First I added 30ml per day and then 60. Alkalinity, however, refuses to stay above 6, but PH is above the desired 8.3 (not quite 8.6 -- my next reading on the scale but close). I suspect that continued heavy dosing of the Pro Buffer dKH will push PH above desired levels before it "fixes" the low Alk. So, is there any other way to raise ALK without also raising PH, other than continuing the frequent water changes?