Alk Getting low...

I realised and edited my post


Steve

 

I think there is a definite difference between knowledge and experience, don't you?

 

bumping because I got in the way- sorry

Steve

 

Ohh most defiantly, I don't consider myself experienced at all nor did I mean to implie that I was. I'm having a heck of a time trying to keep my alk and cal in check with each other even with daily dosing, I have the knowlage to know what to do but I lack the expeierence for it to go smothly.;D

well I can tell you how it goes for me, once you get your cal up, like Bogie said, your alk will decrease so you will want to get that back up once your cal is where you want it.

 

Ok, now i'm undersrtanding what will happen when i raise my calcium by 20ppm, but my alk is already below 7dkh, so i take it firstly i need to raise my alk to 9 or 10 then add 20ppm calcium, and do this alternatley until calcium reaches desired level, to raise the alk i take it baking soda would be the best, easiest, cheapest way to go, and will all this adding different things be ok in my tank?

 

Take your Baking Soda and lay it on a baking sheet . Through it in the oven at about 200F for 1.5 hours. This will bake off all the CO2 and turn sodium Bicarbonate (Baking soda) into Sodium Carbonate. This will require less additive to raise the ALK.

J

 

Just to try and clear up the sulfate issue.

"Water changes can help mitigate the (sulfate) rise. If at least 30% is changed monthly, or 1% daily, using Epsom salts alone as a magnesium supplement may be acceptable; otherwise the sulfate buildup is likely too large to be optimal."

Do-It-Yourself Magnesium Supplements for the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Thing is if you ever get behind, have a busy month or two and don't get your water changed out as much as you would like you are building up the sulfate levels. It's not difficult to use a sulfate/chloride combination, so why not? JMO

 

I've never heard of someone loosing coral or fish and been able to attribute it to Sulfates. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

J

 

I mean no offense, I probably have a lot less experience in the hobby but there are so many "mysterious" deaths/crashes/problems that happen, on a weekly basis almost, that to me it seems like a very easy thing to try and keep in balance even if nothing has ever been attributed to excess sulfates directly.

Waiting until you can attribute something to an imbalance of any kind might be too late, not to mention not many hobbyists would ever be capable, or have the interest in really digging into every single casualty in their tanks to determine the root cause. If it were something that was exorbitantly expensive or difficult to do I would completely agree but when the solution to preventing even a theoretical problem is so easy I don't know why any risk needs to be taken.

I guess it depends on your risk-aversion-level. Mine's pretty high considering the amount of money/time I've invested already and I've only been in this less than a year.

 

The build up would take years. That is why I suggested that is was not something to worry about. With regular water changes and