Hi all, I started using Red Sea pro alkalinity test kit, I presume when using it you take total volume of test liquid used to give you the alkalinity reading from the chart provided ? Bit confusing! It is showing a reading of 7.0 dkh which I hope is ok for my reef tank!
Alkalinity
- Thread starter Doddy
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ants86
Aquarium Advice Regular
Yes, that's right. You look at how much of the liquid in the syringe you used right when the solution turns color, then compare that volume to the chart to see what the corresponding dKH is. Definitely not the easiest test to use, but supposedly one of the more accurate ones out there for the price range.
ants86
Aquarium Advice Regular
The generally accepted range for reefs is 8-12 dkh, so 7 is a bit low.
ants86
Aquarium Advice Regular
How's that working for you? I'm having some issues with low alkalinity too.
Sniperhank
Giant Clam Addict
Rule #1 about things like this, don't chase numbers if it isn't causing problems. Dosing usually adds to issues or masks what is truly going on. Water changes should keep things equalized in normal situations...it takes an extremely SPS heavy tank to cause drops to require dosing.
jeffaquarius
Aquarium Advice Addict
Alkalinity and Calcium are in a circus and they have a good team work. They entertain us with something what we call a "balancing act". If one of them goes down the other goes up. In other words if you raise your alk you will expect your calc to go down and vise versa. That's why they advise you not to chase it but rather just compromise which level you prefer them to be balanced.
Breakthecycle2
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Take my tank for example. It was 430ish a few weeks ago with an ALK of 11. Over the weekend the calcium was 290 and ALk was 7 or slightly less. I did an 18 gallon water change (120 total water volume) and started dosing with a 2 part calcium and alk buffer. Today alk is back up to 10 and calcium is 300. I have a lot of coral growth along with a ton of coraline algae.
jeffaquarius
Aquarium Advice Addict
That's the right way to do it. Calcium is understood to be consumed and normally goes down overtime and so is alkalinity. Any of the two will not go up by itself. If you had dosed to raise your Alkalinity without the Part 2, your calc would have gone down some more. If you had dosed to raise calc without checking the other, your Alkalinity would have gone down some more. In short, make sure one of the 2 is on the upper level before dosing the other. If both are low then you have to compensate each other to reach the acceptable level. However before you do, it is very important that your magnesium is within 1300 ppm.
Breakthecycle2
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Mine is at 1200 tested today.
jeffaquarius
Aquarium Advice Addict
Calcium relies on both mag and alkalinity.
Edit: That is, if you are dosing in order for calcium to have a good effect. Otherwise, you need more dosing than necessary or precipetation will occur.
Breakthecycle2
Aquarium Advice FINatic
So Should I try to bring it up or its ok as it?
jeffaquarius
Aquarium Advice Addict
The ideal mag is between 1280 and 1320. The higher the better. You will have difficulty in raising alk or calcium with 1200 mag
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