Alk question

[Yonkers28]

I have a sps dominate tank
My calcium is 450
Mag is 1400
Salt 1.026
And alk is 7
I use all Red Sea test kits
I also used API test kit for alk( just to double check)
I dose 90 ml a day of alk
My question is how can I raise my alk to 9dhk ??
Is it possible o need to dose more ??
I use Esv 2 part and I have a 80 g tank

 

[ecvernon]

You could raise your alk to the preferred level by manually dosing more and using a calculator to tell you how much to dose to reach those levels. Then use your dosing pumps to maintain those levels.

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html

 

[Yonkers28]

I'm using brs for dosing.
Is there any other way or product to use to increase alk. It's costing $$$ to keep buying esv

 

[ecvernon]

If you are using the bulk reef supply two part alk, calcium, and magnesium just use there calculator to find out how much to manually dose

 

[d5332]

wait, you have alk at 7 and you want to raise it to 9 ajajajajaja

omg, I hope the self pro-claimed experts do not see your post, 9 is evil in their book. ajajajjajajaa

 

[Yonkers28]

Why is that?

 

[d5332]

Because my alk is at 9 and was told its too high lol

In addition to that, the "experts" said sps requires alk at 7

Like I said, self pro-claimed "experts"

Why is that?

 

[ming]

I actually aim for about 7dKH alk (supposedly natural sea water, but it can fluctuate depending on where its collected), but I see no issues at 9dKH. About 11dKH is where my SPS tips would burn, but I've heard others keep their SPS at 11dKH, so each tank may be different.

 

[duke62]

Because my alk is at 9 and was told its too high lol

In addition to that, the "experts" said sps requires alk at 7

Like I said, self pro-claimed "experts"

Well see that is your problem you don't listen to what people say you just get yourself crazy and read what you want to read. If you go back and re-read your post you will see that people wrote if you carbon dose your Alk needs to be low not all SPS tanks. I don't carbon dose and my Alk is at 9. If I was to carbon dose I would slowly drop my Alk to 7 7.5

 

[ecvernon]

I keep mine at 8 with no problem and all my sps seems happier at that number. If you are carbon dosing that's where the recommended alkalinity number is different.

Read this thread OP. some good information on there
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/chemistry/144208-how-dosing-help.html

 

[Yonkers28]

Ok all my sps are happy and growing
Ill keep what I'm doing and just keep it at 7
But I wish I didn't have to dose so much lol

 

[Lostinthedark]

To actually answer your question, a cheap and easy way to raise your ALK would be to use baking soda. Read up on Randy's 2 part. There's a lot of great information there. I keep my Alk at 9-9.5 only because I want it mid range in the safety zone in case something goes amiss before I catch it.

 

[greenstreet.1]

Had the same problem but was trying to bring mine up to 8.5 was using esv alk but did not go up that much no matter how much I dosed. Spoke to a great member once again thank you BOOMER. Started using baking soda as I was recommended to now my alk is at 8.5.

 

[Yonkers28]

@greenstreets yup at one point I was dosing 140 ml a day and it didn't go up
Ill read up on the baking soda.

 

[greenstreet.1]

It works just mix with ro water first don't dump it in

 

[Yonkers28]

Ill read up on it tonite

 

[ecvernon]

At 140 ml daily does that maintain your alk at 7 dkh? If so all you have to do is use the calculator to figure out how much solution is needed to get to your target alkalinity. Once there keep dosing 140 ml daily to maintain it.

 

[Boomer]

I find this somewhat amusing, Ok, very amusing

In addition to that, the "experts" said sps requires alk at 7

The Alk on coral reefs is much lower than that, 6.3 dKH, so how is it then they can grow ...lol

 

[ReefnQueens]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

 

[SteveZ15]

I was told and I read a link that was posted to answer a similar question I asked..There was a alk# in relation the cal# to find the balance..I was also trying to raise my alk to at least nine but it woldnt go up unless I dosed part one by alot more but it still would drop..My alk stays 7.8-8 and my cals 450 they really dont move much and I dose 25ml for a 40gal half sps half lps.Il look to find the chart ill post it.