How to lower alkalinity?

[matt2364]

I just got my calcium reactor set up about a week ago. My calcium is around 410 and alkalinity is 14.1. I am wondering if there is any way to get my calcium higher and alkalinity lower? I hear that 450 calcium and 11.5 alkalinity is ideal for a reef tank.
Please do not answer with anything about supplements. I am trying to get away from dosing.
Thanks in advance.

 

[veni vidi vici]

This should help you out Matt.
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/reactor.html

 

[trippkid]

I just set mine to handle keeping the Alk where it needs to be and the Ca follows, as long as you are 380 or better you are fine. I would either turn the reactor off(just shut off the CO2 for a couple of days) or increase the drip count coming from the effluent line, since you are already pretty high in alk, I would probably just turn it off for now, and let the Alk drop naturally. My alk is solid at 9.3 DKH, as long as Ca is above 390 I don't worry about it.
When you start it back up, two things could help(just do one of them at a time though, so you don't get too far out of whack), either like I said increasing the drip rate(keeping all other adjustments the same as they were), or keeping the drip the same and adding more or less CO2 to get your desired results. I use a controller, so I don't really rely on bubble count, sorry can't give you a number if that is how you are controlling it. Good luck, with some tweaking you should be able to dial it in and get a feel for what adjustments are doing what.
Matt

 

[matt2364]

I have a Milwaukee PH controller that keeps track of the PH inside of the reactor. Since I have this, I guess I do not need to worry about the bubble count. Forgot about that. I will just lower the effluent drip rate as low as it will go and see what happens.

 

[trippkid]

It is going to raise your Alk if you don't change the amount of CO2 in the reactor, what you need to do is adjust your controller for a slightly higher Ph in the reactor, keep the drip rate the same. Like I said, I would do one adjustment at a time to see what effect it is having on your parameters. You need to speed up the flow some if you want to lower the Alk, but like I said too, the best thing now would be to just turn off the CO2 for now, keep the pump going feeding the reactor, keep the drip count, until the Alk gets to where you want to keep it at, then fire up the CO2, and adjust from there. You could end up with possibly higher Alk with the way you are saying.
Matt

 

[matt2364]

Thanks again for the advice trippkid. I just checked and the alkalinity is 13.1 so I am going to turn the reactor back on and try to keep it around this level. I have not tested the calcium yet, but I think it is around 380. Do you know if there is a certain type of media I could put in my reator that would be higher in calcium than alkalinity?

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by matt2364
http:///forum/post/2865702
Thanks again for the advice trippkid. I just checked and the alkalinity is 13.1 so I am going to turn the reactor back on and try to keep it around this level. I have not tested the calcium yet, but I think it is around 380. Do you know if there is a certain type of media I could put in my reator that would be higher in calcium than alkalinity?
Dolomite but I wouldn't suggest using it exclusively or you may overdo Magnesium.
In my opinion you should just continue with what you're doing. Normally the Alkalinity will slowly decrease over time because it is consumed slightly faster than Calcium. Eventually you will have to dose small amounts of Carbonate to maintain a balance.

 

[trippkid]

Agree, just get it going and stablized and see where it is lacking and pick up the slack with either the Alk or Ca with two part accordingly. 380 is not bad and if you would bring it up with Part A(Ca part) to where you want it and then the CaRx should be able to maintain it there, 400-425ppm is all you really need. Good luck with it, just remember to take it slow with adjustments, and test to see what is actually happening.
Matt