Raising kh and ph

[daney90]

I have heard that baking soda is a good way to raise ph and KH. My question is how long do i need to drip the mixed water? Right now ph is 7.9 and KH is at 6.

Thanks

 

[Phranque]

What's your calcium, and what kind of corals do you have?

What kind of salt are you using, and what salinity are you at?

 

[Daniel Fishy]

Advanced aquarist.com chemistry alk and calcium by Randy Holmes is a great resource to help with this and very informative. Easy way is a two part additive of calcium and alk cause they both balance out.

 

[Phranque]

I use Randy's recipe to mix my own 2-part, which works really well. The reason I asked those questions was to make sure that calc & alk were in balance, and if the salinity is low, upping it will also bring up the concentration of elements along with the pH.

 

[daney90]

What's your calcium, and what kind of corals do you have?

What kind of salt are you using, and what salinity are you at?

Im using reef crystals. And I keep up with my water change every week. My salinity is a bit high at 1.025 but my calcium is only 380.

I don't have much corals just yet but im planning to add More in the future as soon as my parameters are fine.

 

[Phranque]

1.025 isn't high at all.... I keep mine at 1.026, as do many others.

Your readings certainly aren't bad, just on the lower end. You can easily maintain soft corals (mushrooms, leathers, zoas, palys, etc) and many LPS with those numbers. First, I would bring up your salinity..... that will give you a little bit higher concentration of minerals just through your pwc's and should naturally rase your pH a bit.

If you want to get into SPS, then, yes, you will want to bring them up with either Kalkwasser or 2-part. If you decide to go with 2-part, this is what I use.....MUCH cheaper than store-bought:

An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

You'd want to use recipe #1 since your pH is lower, and I wouldn't worry about making the magnesium third part..... You will easily maintain that with your pwc's.

Are you using RODI water?

 

[Daniel Fishy]

Your salinity is fine I keep mine at .25. When you add corals softies and lps will use more alkalinity then calcium sps will use more calcium. I have to dose more alk then calcium because I'm heavy on lps. Just test and you will figure out how much to dose to keep it stable. Keep records it really helps especially if you keep adding corals which we all love to do!

 

[daney90]

Thanks again for y'all inputs. I only have soft corals in my Tank right now but I want to start adding Lps and eventually sps. However, I wasn't sure if Lps would grow in my tank considering my ph, KH and calcium thats why I gotta ask before buying the corals w

 

[daney90]

Yes, im using ro/di water for my tank. I'll raise my salinity next time when I do my water change and ohh yess i keep records on my tests and put it in the computer

 

[daney90]

Randy holmes' DIY 2-part is a really brilliant idea and very cost effective but I'm having a hard time looking for calcium chloride dihydrate and Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate here in Toronto. Any other suggestions on what to use to raise ph, kh, and calc?

Dana

 

[LaWoWee]

B-ionic 2 part is what i use

 

[daney90]

Can anyone help me figure out how much part1 and part2 I need to put in my tank. I started putting 1ml of each on the first day, tested the next day and nothing happened. I then added 2ml of each and tested the next day and no change...

day 1
dosed 1ml part1(alk) and 1 ml Ca
result: no change

day 2
dosed 2ml part 1 and 2ml Ca
result: no change

day 3
dosed 3m part 1 and 4ml ca
result: no change

day 4
dosed 5ml of part 1 and 6ml Ca
result: no change

Today is day5 and as I stated above there's still no change. How much do I alk and ca do I need to put in my tank.

Ca=380
KH=7
ph=8

EDIt: I'm using the Bionic 2 part

 

[LaWoWee]

What brand? What do the directions say? I dose 10ml each of b ionic in my 40gal

 

[daney90]

I have the B-ionic as suggested by you lol!!

 

[LaWoWee]

Haha. Nice! Its good stuff. I always keep my 2 parts equal. Try dosing 10 ml each part. I used to dose 5ml in my 20gal with success. You have about 3x that volume so 10ml wouldnt hurt.

 

[daney90]

Alright I'll do what you said 10ml. Will let you know what my results tomorrow.

thanks

 

[Animal-Chin]

10 mls would be for a 40 gallon tank, what size is your tank? Its 1ml per 4 gallons so if you have a 60 gallon it would be 15mls of each per day until you get your results.

They alk bottle has directions on the side for how to do it..