Raising alkalinity

[tidepool]

My alkalinity seems to be on the low side like 7.6 - 7.8. I heard it should at least be 8.0. My calcium is at 500+. I use b-ionic A and b.Now one of these is for the calcium and the other for alkalinity, has anyone ever tried using just the A or the B by themselves or do these have to be used in tandum?

 

[bradsmack]

Using Kalkwasser, a calcium supplement as well as CombiSan, together i have found is the best way to keep your Alkalinity up. It should be anywhere between 9-14, mine is at 14! If you raise your alk to high, you could then cause a crash in your alk, and your Ph will go crazy! Get a test kit!

 

[q]

Your Ca is on the high side which will push the alk down. I would just use the alk portion and raise it to a respectiabe level. By then your Ca should be below 450 and you can start adding both again. Just watch you levels and adjust your doses as needed.
I don't know any detailed info about B-ionic but if the directions don't tell you that you can't add only one then I would go ahead. It might be cheeper though to just buy some buffer from the store rather than using up the B-ionic.
Using kalk will maintain your levels as it is an ionicly balanced liquid which is also true of B-ionic and all other two part additives. It will however be adding Ca which you don't need to add as your Ca is too high now. The problem isn't so much that you are not adding buffer rather that the ratios you are adding to your tank are not equal or the consumption is not equal. All you need to do is find the balance.

 

[tidepool]

Yeah, I think your right about just adding the alk side of the b-ionic equation. I do add the amounts equally so the consumption rate is the issue.I Talked to the owner of my lfs who is very succsesful with his in-store reef tanks. He said not too worry about pushing the Alk too high because it'll just fall again, and as long as things are doing well in my tank now not to sweat it.Its best to have stability not some text book optimum levels.

 

[adrian]

Yes, its a bad idea to go chasing optimal numbers. I have added one part of b ionic several times in the past to boost either Ca or Alk, but I would prefer to use a supplement designed to boost these levels. Reef builder works well for boosting alk. You may try to cut back on the amount of b ionic your adding daily and see if the levels dont balance out in time. Remember kalk and two parters are made to maintain levels, not too boost them, and therefore they dont have the concentration needed to boost these levels while still keeping up with calcification rates. HTH