KH/Alk questions??

[vwbortoni]

First of all I want to thank you guys for all your help. I have a question about "Carbonate Hardness / Alkalinity".
What is it? Is this what buffers my tank? Is this what helps in growth of coraline algea?
I bought a salifert test kit for KH/Alk. I did the test and got the following results: 6.7 dKH or 2.4meq/L
The kit says that natural sea water is at 8 dKH or 2.9meq/L
I have a FOWLR tank, I have a cleaner shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimps, some snails, and some blue and red hermits.
I want to raise the level. To what level should I increase it? And with what product? This is what I have:
1) NatuReef's Hardness Plus which goes with
2) NatuReef's Alkalinity Plus
3) Kent Marine Pro*Buffer dKH
I also have
4) NatuReef's Liquid Calcite
But I don't know what it is used for.
I ask because I once added Iron Plus to my tank and got a massive algea bloom. So I don't want to add anything without asking you guys.
Help!

 

[bang guy]

For a fish only I recommend maintaining ALK strictly with water changes.
Alk is mostly a measure of the Carbonate level of the water. Carbonate is used in combination with Calcium by skeleton building organisms to produce Calcium Carbonate.
If you are going to add a buffer to increase ALK you should also add Calcium. Two part additives like B-Ionic are reasonably priced for fish only tanks or small reef tanks.