Alkalinity?

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sango

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jan 18, 2005
Messages
396
Location
Brandon Fl
What would be a good range for alkalinity? Plus I was wondering if low alkalinity would cause a fish to scratch? I know it might be ich, but the lfs told me that that might be the reason he is scratching. TIA
 
I keep my tank at 1.023 or as close to that as possible a good range is anywhere between 1.020 and 1.024 is pretty safe. The pet stores run their's a little lower probably to save on salt. As for the ich I can't help you there I don't really know too much about it.
 
high 9 to 11 is good......
IMO the LFS has no idea what he is talking about. In my FOWLR I dont use any thing to bring up the alk or cal and they stay low and all fish are fine. Never heard of low alk causing them to scratch.
That LFS either has no idea what there doing or he is telling you a lie so his live stock seems fine.
Time to find a new LFS... good luck..

Joemama aaahhh Dude your talking SG/Salinity something totally different.
 
My alk was below 8. Now its close to 9. He told me that the low ph and alk would cause him stress and that might cause him to scratch.. I know it does not sound right, but I wanted to beleive him cause I dont want ich...lol
 
could be velvet or other parasites also. Doesn't have to be the dreaded "I" word.
 
I would be more worried about Velvet than ich, thats what by Blue Tang started doing, scratching and no signs of a parasite but BAM, it hit like a ton of bricks and my fish started dropping like flies, Keep an eye on him and you may want to get ready to set up a qt tank if he is scratching pretty often, not saying that this is whats you have but it's a possibility, If he's scratching it's for a reason and it more than likely isnt good.
 
I dont think its velvet. He is not breathing hard and I dont see any gold spots. He does not scratch often
 
In order to keep your Alk up you need to know where your Ca is and what your water comes out of the bucket at. Some salts come out of the bucket with rediculous low alk. Others come out fine. Simply changing salts may help if that's the case. If your tank is USING the Ca/Alk then dosing is the solution. I'm using B-Ionic because that's pretty idiot proof, but others swear by Kalk. You could use the Seachem product, it is all a matter of preference. The Alk and Ca are balanced though and to dose one without testing/dosing the other could drive the other out of wack. While your alk should be between 9 & 11, your Ca should be between 400-450 (though I suppose a bit lower probably isn't a huge problem on the Ca).

How's that fish doing?
 
wow thanks for all the info.. but i hear that adding chemicals all the time is a bad thing
 
I guess it depends on why your Alk is so low. A lot of people dose alk/ca but if your tank isn't using it then there's probably something else wrong.

You should post all of your water parameters so that we can look at the interaction of one thing against another. Try to post your Ca, Alk, PH, SG, salt mix you use, Mag if you can get a result from LFS or have a test kit handy. GPH flow rate of your PH.

How long has the tank been up for? Hopefully your parameters will provide a clue.
 
wow thanks for all the info.. but i hear that adding chemicals all the time is a bad thing
 
sorry about that... PH 8 nitrite 0 nitrate 10 amm 0 sg is at 1.023. My PH is a maxijet 1200. and my pump is 7 GPH.
 
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