Is kalk the answer?

S

Sherita

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I am having trouble keeping the alk in my tank where I want it. I do dose daily with B-ionic 2 part, tank params are:

salinity 35ppt
ph 8.0
ca 420
mg 1400
dkh- swings daily between 9 and 8

tank in question is my 72g with a 20g sump, reverse lighting in fuge. Tank is primarily softy/lps dominated. I do not run a ca reactor.

So, would adding kalk via the topoff method help me out with the swings in my alk or is there another route I should be looking at? Suggestions or ideas? This is starting to drive me nuts.
 
I have basically no SPS either so very little Calcium consumption, so I use this mixed in my top off water and it works great when you figure out how much to add to keep it balanced.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/1-gallon-bulk-soda-ash-sodium-carbonate-for-aquariums.html
 
How much did you start with and how many gallons a day do you evap from your tank? I use a 4g topoff, normally lose around 2g a day. I already have soda ash here, but didn't even think about adding it to my topoff water (duh).

Did you mix it up first then add to the water, or?
 
I lose around 2-3 gallon a day that's off my display, frag tank and sump so around 200 gal total. I use an Ato that pulls from a 5 gallon jug of Rodi that I pre mix about 1/4 cup of ash in each time. I do 20 gallon water changes every 2 weeks so you have to figure that in also. Best to just use the calculators on bulk reef to know for sure
 
What are you aiming for in your alkalinity? I have a soft coral/LPS tank (60g /20g sump) and I only dose alkalinty and it's around 8 to 9dkH, and I add calcium to the top off. This works for my tank because it doesn't use up as much calcium. An Alk reading of 8 to 9 is not bad, while 9 to 10 might be better. But I wouldn't worry too much about small fluctuations or precise steady numbers. Just try to keep everything within "parameters" and don't try to constantly adjust dosing to make it what <u>you </u>think it should be. If all your corals are doing well, they're growing, they look healthy... then they are probably fine with the parameters you have which look to be all pretty within the basic parameters. Alkalinty, calcium and magnesium need to be in balance so whenever you start trying to change one of them, the others will change.

Personal example: My magensium dropped in my SPS tank so I started to raise it over a week... my alk was 8, calcium 360. Once I raised the magnesium my alk jumped to 12 and calcium went to 480, so I had to stop dosing alk & calcium to avoid issues.

Whenver you do need to make adjustments be sure to make the adjustments slowly and overtime and test regularly.

Hope this helps.
 
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