How do I lower my akalinity?

[tnn1567]

Did some titration and found that the akalinity is too high. Do you think if I increase the calcium reactor CO2, will it lower my akalinity?

 

[nobody]

How high is too high?

Putting more CO2 in the reactor will actually increase Alk, because it dissolves more Ca media. I would turn off the CO2 and wait for Alk to come down.

 

[Ashlar]

If it's super high, water changes.. otherwise, stop supplementation and let it drop naturally.

 

[Soji John]

Alkalinity is a measure of the buffering capability of the water. Ideally you want this to be as high as possible since it prevents your pH from dropping.

The only dowside is that Ca and alklinity are inversely related.

If you Ca is too low then you may be interested in lowering your alk but otherwise you should leave it alone.

This is my understanding of alkalinity. You all chime in if this is incorrect.

Regards,

-soji

 

[Rick]

@tnn1567 wrote:

I agree, if you are not having a calcium snowstorm in your tank it will probably be fine. Just stop adding anymore buffer at this time. And watch your calcium levels closely, that high level of alk. may make your calcium level drop. It would better if the alk. level just dropped slowly less of a shock than a quick drop. The level you have, watch it closely when you get it near where you want it, start back to normal buffering. You don't want to let it get away and have it swing way back to the other end of the scale.

 

[commandertekki]

just to update since it was me who did the test...

Ca 440ppm
alk 11.2dKH

Salifert test kits

 

[ToddLaCo]

@commandertekki wrote:

This looks about perfect.
The Alk is definately right on target, and the calcium is good but don't go any higher. 400 is my target range for calcium and I wish I could keep my alk at 11.

I was pretty sure about the alk of 11 being good, but I just pulled out my "Marine Aquarium Reference" by Martin Moe and it states that the optimum Alk is 6 meq/l. 6 meq/l comes to 11.2 dKH. Your perfect.

 

[tnn1567]

That is awesome. I was trying to figure how to lower since Phillip told me it's too high. Well, we both thought it was too high. As for calcium, we add calcium hydroxide to the tank weekly since ph is hard to keep up at 7.9. According to the test kit, it's 8.3 but the pinpoint says it's 7.9. We have calibrated it so many times.

 

[Rick]

@commandertekki wrote:

You keep it like that and your corals will grow right before your eyes. :shock:

 

[ToddLaCo]

@tnn1567 wrote:

You are probably safe with regards to your PH.

Unfortunately, pretty much all hobby grade test kits and meters are just that, "Hobby Grade". I can't speak to the accuracy of digital meters since I have never owned any until about a month ago when I bought my first TDS meter and Hanna PH meter. I am not hearing the best things about American Marine (Pinpoint) or Milwaukee meters in my recent research. Some of the input is from very reputable sources also. It looks like you have to spend in excess of $200.00 to get a quality product at least for PH monitoring, but that is probably not necessary for most hobbiests unless you have some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket. If you decide on a test kit using regents, pre-measured dry kits are the most accurate. User error has much less effect on this type of test.

Sorry for the rant. I would say that whichever method, and brand of tester you ultimately feel the most comfortable with, you should use one kind/brand for consistency and strive for a stable measurement (within acceptable parameters) with that test kit or meter.

 

[Ashlar]

Don't forget, too, that typically, our ph drops in the fall / winter when we button up our houses. Just for curiosity sake, you might want to open a window near the tank and place a fan near it. See if the tank ph comes up.

 

[ToddLaCo]

Good call on relieving the co2 buildup in the house Scott. That completely slipped my mind.

 

[BigMonkeyBoy]

Tri I had the same issue with my PH falling but dkh at 11 and ph kept going down to 7.8 I added a kalk reactor to my tank and now my ph is 8.2 constant.