Alkalinity too high 6/25/08
Hi crew,
<Hello!>
I am sorry if this is a repeat but I read and read and couldn't make sense in my head.
<That you tried is more than enough! Many thanks!>
My alkalinity is 4.5mEq/L and my PH is 8.0 I also have the white powder (precipitate) on my substrate and pretty much everywhere. In my reading I saw the precipitate is very bad so I quit reading and asked the question what do I do. How do I get rid of the precipitate.
Will dissolve, settle out with time, so long as more isn't created.>
I created this problem by doing a water change with tap water, conditioner, Oceanic salt, and Marine buffer.
<There's the problem: If your tap water is like the rest of the worlds', it is fairly hard. Salt mix has buffers, and you added more. This was just a high-calcium, high-alkalinity soup. I'd recommend testing your tap water before you use it again, and keeping an eye on your mixed salt to see if buffering it really is necessary.>
My ammonia and Nitrates were high so I did the water change and now they are back to 0 but I have this problem. My tank is a 57 gallon tall, Aqua Clear 70 filter, heater set at 77F, about 10 pounds of live rock, two seahorses, a skunk cleaner, one harlequin shrimp, two chocolate chip sea
stars (one being eaten and one in the refugium for later), one feather duster, a
toadstool leather coral, and several hermit crabs and snails. My tests are
Ammonia-0, Nitite-10, Nitrate-0, PH-8.0. Any help would be so appreciated.
<How long has this aquarium been running? If you have ammonia and nitrite there should not be livestock in the tank! Nitrogen cycling needs to be established before stocking.>
I have only been doing the aquarium for 4 months and this is my first bump in the road.
<Read up on wetwebmedia.com re salt water mixing, do water changes as recommended. Problem will correct. Benjamin>

Consistently High dKH In My Nano Reef Tank – 06/02/08
Hi crew :D
<<Howdy Carolyn>>
Sorry to keep emailing with questions, but your advice is just so darn good!
<<Okay…flattery “will” get you somewhere>>
Am slightly concerned about the dKH level in my reef tank – it’s consistently reading around 14-14.4 using the Salifert dKH/alkalinity profi test.
<<Mmm…a bit high, yes…but do verify with a new/another brand test kit>>
Calcium is 400ppm, so I don't want to risk messing with the chemistry too much...
<<I would allow this to fall a bit>>
What I need to know is if this high dKH will be a problem in the long run?
<<It is not likely to have a malaffect on your tanks inhabitants of its own, but along with the high Calcium load, you may be running the risk of a precipitous event…and this “would” be a problem for your tanks inhabitants>>
I live in an area with very hard water (so high pH anyway, DI/RO doesn't seem to get it down), and as it’s a nano I do frequent small water changes (approx. 5% volume every other day)...
<<Mmm, these frequent additions are probably a big part of the Alkalinity problem…especially in a very small volume of water. Aside from the fact that newly mixed saltwater is irritating to marine life (the every-other-day additions are probably very annoying to your tank inhabitants), the frequent additions of this still chemically active medium is not allowing your tank to find its own chemical balance. I would suggest you reduce the water changes to no more than 5% every two weeks…give this a try for a while and see how things go>>
Thanks for your help in advance :D,
Carolyn
<<Happy to assist. EricR>>

Re: Consistently High dKH In My Nano Reef Tank - 06/02/08
Thanks Eric :D,
<<Quite welcome, Carolyn>>
As usual, very helpful answer!
<<Ah…am pleased you think so>>
The only reason for the many many water changes is that there was a bit of a crash a week ago which lost us two fish and a shrimp :(
<<I see>>
The tanks only 70l, and the skimmer broke overnight, nitrite peaked... end result sadly inevitable.
<<Mmm, I would expect the loss of the skimmer through the night to be more of an issue with lessened oxygen content…not a resultant “spike” in Nitrite. I think there may be other factors involved>>
Nitrite now 0.15-0.2ppm, testing daily
<<As a result of not having the skimmer running? Strange… Is this a new (too new) tank? Another possibility is the Nitrite is being introduced through your salt mix and/or make-up water>>
(ammonia 0ppm, nitrate 5-10ppm)…will keep a close eye on things and limit water changes as recommended... On behalf of all my aquatic beasties many thanks!
<<Unless this tank is grossly overstocked, I think there are other factors at play here other than a broken skimmer…as already mentioned. Do make sure the Nitrite is not being introduced from a source outside the tank. Regards, Eric Russell>>

Dropping KH in Marine Tank 4/23/08
Hey there, I have a 55G Salt tank, with fish, inverts and some soft corals. Tank has been running for a year and a half now, and everything has been going pretty good considering this is my first attempt at keeping a salt tank. I have noticed lately though that my KH has dropped.........it has been reading between 6 & 7 the past couple months. I started adding Kent's DKH Buffer, and it is not helping. My calcium was reading 300-320,and I was adding Seachem Reef Complete
<I'd ditch the Kent's product and look into SeaChem's line instead... better, more complementary>
to get the calcium numbers up above 400 as I was thinking about getting a clam for the tank. Now everything has been put on hold until I figure out what's up. Could adding the extra calcium be bring my KH down?
<Mmm, possibly>
I read that it possible that my Magnesium may be low? I have a Mag test kit & Mag additive on the way just in case.
<A good idea to check>
Also, I was battling nitrates for a long time, but since installing new lights & adding a HOB fuge the nitrates have dropped to 0. Could the new growth on my soft corals (and algae), also cause a KH drop?
<Of a certainty, yes. This is the most likely "source" here>
Appreciate it very much if you could help me out. Regards Eric
<Do take a re-read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/xeniidarts.htm
scroll down to the sections/tray on biomineral, alkalinity... Bob Fenner>

pH Buffer, Burned Livestock, Marine 4/13/08
I have a BIOCUBE 14 system with a few live rocks, two clown fish, one six line wrasse, a banded coral shrimp, two red leg crabs and two snails. I also have a daisy polyp colony (purple with green dot) and a green mushroom coral.
<OK, plenty of fish for this tank, stop here!>
I was checking water parameters, Ammonia 0, nitrite 0 nitrate 0, phosphate 0 alkalinity 3.5 and ph 8.0. I wanted to boost the PH a bit and added Seachem ph buffer, 2 little spoonfuls as per directions.
<OK>
I simply sprinkled it on the water surface.
10 minutes later, I observed that my daisy polyps had closed completely, my mushroom corals were secreting mucus ands areas of red coralline began to turn orange......did I do something wrong??? Ken
<Hmm, yes. Directions state one tablespoon per 20 gal., necessitating at most two teaspoons for your system, once the rock is accounted for. The directions also state to mix with freshwater then add to your tank. This is your error. By not mixing first, the granules fell onto your livestock, essentially giving them a chemical burn. Give it time, the livestock you list are fairly resilient. Good luck, Scott V.>

KH Issues 3/26/08
Hi, thanks for taking time to read this in advance.
<Hello, you are welcome.>
I have a 75 gallon reef tank mostly soft coral under 310 watts VHO actinic, and 300 Watts 10k Metal Halide lighting. Tank is doing great and I recently added a Aqua-c calcium reactor. My problem is that my KH is actually decreasing, along with ph.
<Not good.>
Currently it is too low at 7KH and calcium at 380ppm. Ph has steadily decreased over last week in the tank to about 7.9 with pinpoint probe. I stopped using the reactor and went back to Kalkwasser drip for now as things were getting dangerously out of whack.
<It is good to have this to fall back on.>
I have laboriously tested the ph and KH of effluent and experimented with the CO2 bubble rate. Currently from what I have read mostly on this website is that you want KH of effluent around 16 and ph about 6.8.
<The PH is fine, the effluent KH can possibly be higher, it is not set in stone.>
The calcium level in the tank is remaining constant. Always about 380ppm or so. I am not dosing any other product at all with reactor use. Not sure what could be causing the KH to decrease. Is it more likely I am somehow depressing the KH with addition of too rich an effluent (some kind or over saturation/precipitation) or that I am just not getting rich enough effluent for the growth in the tank?
<Likely the latter.>
Also I have noticed that you don’t like the CaribSea ARM product which I use. Just ordered some Knop Korallith.
<A better way to go in my opinion.>
I will use that product from now on. Maybe my results are from the inconsistency of the ARM media.
<The media can certainly make a difference.>
What is your take on all this mess? My ph problem is also of concern, I tried running effluent through my protein skimmer to "blow off" the co2. Perhaps that also contributed to depressing the KH by precipitating out the calcium carbonate. I’d like to think I should be able to achieve 400pmm calcium, 10 DKH and about 8.0-8.2 on my ph with this reactor.
<You should.>
Just need some advice before I proceed to crash my tank with it. Thanks for your help.
<You may want to consider adding an Alkalinity additive to get your numbers balanced, then tune the reactor to keep them there. Also, be sure to test your Magnesium level in your tank, low Mg can make it tough to achieve the proper KH. I would work out the KH issue and then check your PH, go from there. Welcome, good luck, Scott V.>

Water Chemistry Help!  Mg... KH interaction, fixing  3/15/08
Good Day Crew!!
<Hello again.>
As suggested we bought a magnesium test kit and tested our magnesium...it was around 1000 yesterday and I’m not sure if I am just having a hard time understanding or reading the directions on the tech-m bottle from Kent, but it says " test magnesium in aquarium, then add tech-m at the rate of 1ml per gallon aquarium capacity per day to bring the level to between 1250-1350ppm, this will raise the level by 18.3 ppm per day”. Fine...so does that really mean that for my 180gal I have to add 180ml? Seems like A LOT....?!
<Yes, one ml per gallon is correct as per Kent’s directions, it does take quite a bit of this product to get the magnesium up to an acceptable level, less of it to keep it there.>
Not sure, anyways I only had 70ml left so I put it in slowly yesterday (around 1:30pm) our levels were: dKH 14,phosphates 0, nitrates 30 (water changes needed more frequently to lower right?),
<Yes, to aid the reduction of KH also.>
calcium 360, magnesium 1000, ph 8.2, total Alk 5.5 mEq/l.
<Test your mixed up water for these levels also to be sure the levels are more balanced (lower KH, higher Ca and Mg).>
After I tested I added the equiv of 100gal of the tropic marine calcium powder, topped up my sump ( right now its just tap water but we have an R.O unit...is going to be installed when we move in 1.5 months) added the 70ml of magnesium and that’s it.
<Test your tap water for nitrate also, if it is the source then water changes will do you no good in that regard.>
This morning around 10:30am I tested again... magnesium 1000, total Alk 5meq/l, calcium 340ppm, dKH 16, nitrates 30ppm, ph 8.2 and then changed to 8.1 by the end of testing.
This morning I fed the tank some Cyclops, rotifers, brine shrimp (all 3 of those mentioned were frozen) and a small amount of phyto (bottled).
Any suggestions to make things equal out?
<You need some water changes to bring down the KH. With a good quality salt this should also raise you Ca a bit, as well as Mg. Do test your makeup water, I do suspect the tap water could be making your KH numbers so high.>
I’m having a hard time interpreting the results, kind of late but we're just really starting to get into the testing and real understanding of water chemistry..... and yes, the purple up is gone!!!
<Great! Keep reading and testing, you will get the hang of things with vigilance and time/experience. You are not too far off here. The magnesium definitely needs to come up, 1250 or a bit more. Also, bring your KH down, as well as the nitrate. Good luck, Scott V.>

High Alk -01/30/2008
Hi,
Your website is so resourceful; I should thank you guys for all the efforts.
I am sure you should have heard this question quite a few times. I also saw it in your website, but just wonder if my situation is different.
My alk is at 13 DKH, Ph at 8.1. My Ca is 400-450PPM. I add Seachem Total to raise Calcium.
<What is "Seachem Total? Does it have an alk booster with the calcium? If so, switch from this to a calcium supplement without alk booster (such as calcium chloride).>
I need to reduce my alk. Is there an easier way to do this?
<Maintain your calcium without adding to the alk, and just wait...>
the other answers but I am not able to add Ph buffer because it keeps raising my Alkalinity.
<So stop adding the Ph buffer.>
Also my PS (ASM G1) is skimming more or looses it sometimes. Is it because of the Ca that I am adding through Seachem? Because they were a problem with the AquaC products. Why would my PS overflow from time to time?
<It happens... water protein composition/concentration can vary at different times.>
The only thing that I added extra from the time it was working normal to the time it started to overflow is ass Seachem Total to raise Ca. Is that the reason or just my luck?
<A calcium/alk supplement is very unlikely to affect your skimmer.>
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Kash
<Best,
Sara M.>

High Alkalinity 1/16/07
Hi,
<Hello Kash.>
This is my first question to WWM.
<Welcome to WWM.>
I had a 60G before and I moved to a 90G with 10-15G sump (water level). After moving I had to get some salt water from my LFS who uses tropical marin salt. After everything I took a reading of my Ph, Alk, CA after a week's operation. I added some Right now Bacteria. So I didn't use a skimmer for a week. Ph was falling 7.6 to 7.8, Alk was at 16dkh and Ca was at 400PPM.
Ammonia and series were 0. Phosphate was low. I read online and thought there could be a lot of CO2 in my system and so I turned on my skimmer (ASM) and removed the collection cup. The aeration was left for 3 hours and my Ph came back to normal. 8.0 to 8.2.
<OK>
The system has been running for a week and the skimmate was high for the first week which is expected.
<Yes.>
But the Alk is still at 16dkh and Ca is at 400-450PPM. Can I do something to get this Alk back to normal condition?
<You can wait it out, supplementing the Ca as the alkalinity comes down. The better choice would be water changes to bring your levels back to normal. Do test the alkalinity of your make up water, it should not be that high without adding additional supplements. Good luck, Scott V.>
Regards,
Kash

pH woes, need a calcium reactor adjustment? -12/14/07
Hi guys,
This is my first time asking you questions, so I hope I haven't overlooked the answer in the research I've already done. If that's the case, then I apologize.
<Apology accepted :)>
Right then, here we go.........
At work, I'm in charge of our coral system. I'm having some trouble with a low pH and have officially ran out of ideas! I'll try and give you as much info as I can.
The total system volume is 1500 litres, and because of the position of it, it's basically set up as you would have a reef system at home (weir at one end, sump within the stand underneath). The tank itself has approx 200kg of live rock with the corals on colour coded stands amongst the rock.
The sump contains some fine filter wool to remove particulate matter, a bag of UltraLith, aqua C protein skimmer, phosphate reactor, and calcium reactor.
<The calcium reactor might be the problem (or part of the problem). Try adjusting the CO2 flow rate. Please see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/calcreactors.htm>
I'm in the process of organizing Miracle Mud in there too.
Over the last week or so I've got some fairly constant (as constant as you can get using additives!) water chemistry.
S.G.: 1.025
NH3: 0
N02: 0
N03: <5
dKH: 11
P04: <0.03
Ca: 450
Mg: 1375
Now forgive me if I'm wrong (hopefully I'm not!), but I would expect a reasonably good pH with those results,
<Huh? Why? You can have all those same parameters within pH range.>
yet when I come in in the mornings the pH is around 7.95, rising up too about 8.05 at the end of the lighting period when I go home again.
Do you think it could be any of the following?
a) the fact that there is no sandy substrate in the tank,
<nope>
b) lack of water movement
<This is a possible cause if consequently you have poor aeration.>
c) lack of other inhabitants (fishes, etc.)
<The opposite would be more likely-- if you had too many inhabitants, that could raise CO2 which can drop pH.>
Thanks in advance!
<Adjust your calcium reactor (carefully!) and see what happens...>
R.B.
<Good luck,
Sara M.>

Mr Alkalinity.. the trickster  10/19/07
Good afternoon crew :-)
<Good morrow to you Dunne>
I was hoping you could shed some light on this. I do not have an issue just a topic I am not completely understanding.
<Okay>
I have a 75 gallon tank with mostly softies and a couple LPS. My calcium is constantly at 450ppm daily and decreases very slowly. My Alk however each day drops from 9.6dkh to about 8.5 dKH daily.
<Measured about the same time of day? You are aware of the effects of lowered DO, higher CO2, the cessation of photosynthesis, continuous respiration?>
Each night, when I add top off water, I add buff and bring the tank back to 9.6.
<Mmm, I would not do this nightly>
I do weekly water changed and my new water has an alk of 8.6dkh. I add buff to the new water, aerate for 24-48 hrs and proceed with water change
I have solid coralline growth, which tells me I am doing ok with my parameters. I know there is a unique bond
<Not unique>
between calc and alk and proportionately with a 20ppm drop in calc there should be around a 1meq/l drop in alk.
<Generally something like this, but not necessarily, no>
My alk seems to drop but my calcium stays the same.
Other then the coralline and inverts calcium consuming life is minimal.
I do not see any precipitate.
A calcium reactor is a great tool to stabilize Alk however I do not need to add calcium to the system. Are there systems used to only stabilize alk?
<Mmm, yes... means of adding, boosting alkalinity... the addition of carbonates, bicarbonates mostly... Like you're doing... but...>
I was thinking maybe automating the top off and drip about a gallon each day.
Dunne
<Try it and see... I don't think you will have trouble in any case. Bob Fenner>

Re: Mr Alkalinity.. the trickster  10/19/07
Thank you for your response!!!
<Welcome>
I have read about the effects of DO and C02. I have a Salifert DO test kit coming in the mail today, ordered last week.. along with a refractometer... Cant wait!! This was my first thought and immediately ordered the kit.
If you don't mind why is it bad to add the water in the evening?
<Not the water, the buffer on a daily basis... if this is part of the make-up water... no worries>
I'm clearly wrong and would like to fix it asp.
<Mmm, not so sure there is really much to "fix" here>
Thank you for pointing out. My thought process was if my Alk is dropping through the day and at its lowest in the evening my PH may have a larger variance with the low Alk at night when the lights go out.
<Yes... of a certainty>
I should clarify that by evening I mean roughly 5ish in the afternoon.
The lights are still on. They go out at 8pm.
<I see. BobF>

Lowering alk?  3/23/07
Hello guys,
  I've spent many evenings reading through your FAQs.  Found a wealth of information including ways to help raise alk, but I haven't found any thing about lowering it.
<Mmm...>
  It seems that I have an unusual problem.  I first started testing the alk about 2 1/2 months ago.  At that time it was over 18 dKH.  It is slowly coming down on it's own.
<As it will>
Very slowly.  Still at about 15.  I know that you say the desired range is around 8 - 12, and beyond that I've been told that the lower end of that range tends to be better for SPS,
<Mmmm... disagree. Best balanced with biomineral content, other factors>
(which I do have) so I just wanted to see if you have any suggestions of ways to help bring that down a little faster.  
  Thank you
  Roger
<Best accomplished through regular water changes with water of lower alkaline content... And do "check the checker" (your test kit) here... just to be sure. Bob Fenner>

High Calcium and Suspect Salt Mix – 03/15/07
I have been battling high calcium 550 to 650 for the past month doing constant water changes but seeing no drop.
<<Mmm, have you validated the accuracy of the test kit?  Perhaps trying a fresh kit and/or different brand (Salifert, Seachem, Hach)>>
Noticed my toadstool, zoanthids, and 4 week old xenia slowly shrivel up over last week.  I couldn't understand with a ph of 8.4, dKH 10, nitrates .10, alk (now I can't remember, but I do remember it was a good range),
<<dKH is your alkalinity reading.  The acceptable range is generally 8 – 10 dKH, though with your calcium level you are better of letting this drop to 7- 8 until you can identify the problem and make corrections>>
phos. 1,
<<Pretty high phosphate level, I would strive to get this reading down to .02 or less>>
why, with so many water changes, the calcium was sky high?
<<Likely the source water or salt mix>>
Decided to test my R/O water with Instant Ocean salt mix (kept in a 50 gal. Rubbermaid container) and it, too, reads 550-600.
<<I’m hearing more and more of concerns/problems re this brand of salt mix...very disconcerting considering this has been my absolute favorite and most recommended brand for three decades...>>
The only thing I add to my R/O water (that I buy from Wal-Mart Culligan machine) is Seachem buffer 8.3, (I just started that) before I add the Instant ocean mix.
<<Hmm...I wouldn’t think it would matter, but try omitting the buffer and see what your test reads.  Also, test the water from your R/O unit “before” adding the salt mix to rule out a bad membrane/high calcium levels from the source water>>
This is the first time I've ever had a problem with high calcium.  Snowstorm galore!
<<Indeed, yikes!>>
However, I had added some calcium to my tank a few weeks ago, but since then have done water changes that should have brought it down.
<<Not with a calcium reading of 600 mg in your change water>>
Could I have gotten a bad batch of Instant Ocean?  (I order from Drs. Foster & Smith the 160 gal. bucket.)    
<<Maybe so...I’ve had some questionable samples myself lately...and makes me suspicious re the ever-dropping “sale-price” of this product lately>>
I have also been battling green algae and red hair algae.
<<Your high phosphate reading isn’t helping here>>
I bought two more powerheads to help with the algae.  Blew off some of the live rock with turkey baster, and made a storm out of that.  (geez)  Seems like after I did that, the algae blooms were worse and the corals started looking bad.
<<Hmm...do you have any purposeful chemical filtration?  Adding a small canister filter with carbon and Poly-Filter will help...you should probably also consider utilizing an iron-based phosphate remover to get your phosphate level down (the Poly-Filter will help with this too)>>
The live rock looks like it has sand lightly sprinkled on it and my snails and one cleaner shrimp has died and as I said before, the few soft corals I have do not look well at all.
<<All a result of the chemical imbalances your tank is experiencing>>
Fish are doing fine.  I feed them twice a day, but only enough for them to be able to eat within 1 min.  My tank is a 100 gal., 6 mos. old, with wet/dry trickle system - bio balls having been replaced with live rock, Super Skimmer by Coralife,
<<Do make sure this skimmer is working well>>
5 powerheads, 1" of live sand, although, with all the vacuuming off the top of the sand due to all the algae, I doubt there is even an inch left!   1 Blue Hippo, 1 yellow tang, 1 Midas Blenny, 2 clowns, 1 PJ cardinal, some snails, 1 turbo snail.  Things just seem to be out of control.  Almost out of salt, so just ordered another bucket.  I hope that will test out better than the one I just finished with the high calcium.
<<Do let me know>>
I have no idea how to lower my calcium other than water changes and not adding anymore calcium or iodine, and just stick to straight out water changes, although, when my replacement water tests out of the calcium level of 550 +, I can't even do that.
<<Agreed...>>
Any help would be greatly appreciated...I have read so much on your website, that I am dizzy.  I've read everything on calcium, alk, phosphate, and different salts to use, all the algae sites.  I need some personal help.  Thank you ever so much...what we any of us do without this site?  I've tried the chat site, but seems like too much guess work going on there... a lot of people like me trying to help people like me!  (Oh Geez!)  ha-ha  Sometimes I've been lucky to get a pro, but not of late.  Thanks for your help...  Linda in GA       
<<Well Linda, at this point I would try a different salt mix (Seachem, Tropic-Marin) to get things back in balance...and quickly!  And do also employ the chemical filtration I have suggested.  Make these changes and then give me a shout back if need be.  EricR in SC>>

Alkalinity Trouble   3/7/07
Hi, I could use some good advice and you've been very helpful in the past.
I'm having an alkalinity problem, it's too high - 17dKH or 6 meg/L, my PH is steady at 8.3-8.4.  I was reading a ton of FAQ's on your site and realized that I haven't tested my premixed salt water for a while so when I did that I noticed the alkalinity was even higher (19.2 dKH or 6.75 megs/L) than in my tank, I pre mix the IO salt
<Instant Ocean? What does your source water itself read?>
water in a separate tank with a powerhead and a heater at 80 degrees and let it sit for 3-7 days before making water changes.
<Good>
At this point I am assuming that the problem is coming from the IO salt mix,
<Mmm, not by itself, no>
my main question: is it feasible that this instant ocean mix has changed since I bought it 2 months ago?
<No... not in this way>
Have you heard of inconsistencies like this with instant ocean before?
<Unfortunately yes... in recent times>
I am assuming that I should run out an buy another bag, mix up some and test it ASAP and if it tests fine proceed with a 50% water change?
Potentially unrelated but today I had a juvenile percula jump out of the tank, I was not there to save her. (depressing) but this is what lead me to test everything within the tank and the alkalinity was the only thing off.  My other juvenile perc is fine?  Could the alkalinity be the problem with that or is this a rare unfortunate occurrence with fish in general?
<This species, and most all others... can/will "jump" out w/ little provocation. I don't think the salt is at play here>
I apologize for the long question(s).
Tank tests:
ammonia 0.0
nitrite 0.0
nitrate 3 ppm
phosphate 0.0
calcium 370
Ph 8.3
salinity 1.025 (kept a bit higher because of a bubble tipped anemone)
Thank you
Shawn
<Your tap/source water... and test kit... I'd be testing them here. Bob Fenner>

Re: Alkalinity Trouble  - 3/7/07
Thank you for your quick reply,
I should have included that info before but the RO water I use tested at 2.2 dKH, 0.80 meg/L.  I used the same test kit as was used to test the tank and make up water.  How would you recommend testing the test kit itself?  Is it as simple as buying a new kit?
Shawn
<Better to have the LFS use theirs. BobF>

Re: Alkalinity Trouble  3/13/07
I have gotten to the bottom of my boggle.  The local fish store that I purchased the kit at had just received a shipment of kits, I took my kit and a sample of my water to the store.
<Good...>
  They tested my water and it tested fine, 8 dKH. They then used my kit and it again tested extremely high, they also tested a couple of their other test kits that they had received at the same it and found a similar problem with all of them.  It looks like it was a bad batch of test kits.  They were siefert
<Salifert likely>
alkalinity tests.  
Thank you for your advise
<advice>
, just wanted to let you know what the resolution was.
<Thank you for this follow-up. Bob Fenner>

Re: Frustrated Over Alkalinity Readings – 02/22/07
Sorry again I emailed you an incomplete message.
<<Ahh, ok...I was just trying to sort through/make sense of it.  I will delete the first correspondence then, and address your questions here>>
I am doing water testing and my alkalinity test read that .4ml of my titrate means that I have a reading of 6meq/l.
<<This is too high.  Alkalinity in a reef system should be in the range of 2.5 meq/l to 4 meq/l >>
Which makes no sense to me?
<<...?>>
I am working to 6-8dKH
<<8dKH should be your “minimum”...in my opinion>>
and the test kit suggests that I reach 4-5 meq/l.  Then when I convert that I get something like 16dKH.
<<Mmm, no...would actually be a range of 11.2-14 dKH>
Could you set me straight?
<<I shall try [grin].  The test kit is actually “more” correct re the proper desired alkalinity reading than you are here.  Look at it this way...  1 meq/l = 2.8 dKH.  Thus, the often suggested alkalinity target range of 2.5 to 4 meq/l converts to 7 to 11.2 dKH; though most authors agree a slightly higher dKH of 8 – 12 is fine/recommended>>
Thanks a ton, Cathy
<<Happy to assist...do let me know if this is not yet clear.  EricR>>

Re: Frustrated Over Alkalinity Readings – 02/23/07
Thanks so much.
<<A pleasure to share>>
I am having difficulty maintaining calcium and alkalinity.
<<I wonder Cathy...do you understand the correlation between the two?  If you are dosing supplements to establish/maintain these elements I suspect this is where your problems lie.  Without more specific data I'm at a loss to provide meaningful assistance re but will tell you this...most any system of about 150 gallons or less...unless very heavily stocked with calcifying organisms...can easily maintain its balance of earth/bio-mineral elements through generous frequent partial water changes with a quality synthetic salt mix>>
The advice you offer is priceless.
<<Hmm...you keep talking like that I may have to ask the boss for more money (just kidding Big-B! [grin])>>
Thanks again,
Cathy
<<If I can be of further assistance you know where to find me.  Eric Russell>>

R2: Frustrated Over Alkalinity Readings – 02/26/07
That makes perfect sense.  I have been overdosing with Kalkwasser and buffer for alkalinity and that probably depleted my magnesium.
<<Overuse/abuse of the buffer will depress calcium as well>>
I always buy Reef Crystals with the proper calcium...and everything.  I should have been trusting it all along.
<<Indeed...frequent partial water changes should fix/maintain your necessary bio-mineral elements>>
I am surprised I did not figure this out a year ago.
<<[grin]>>
Although, I have continually lost a few corals every once in a while.
<<Clues>>
I have a very stressed tank right now and will slowly replace with just correct change of water.
<<Mmm, perhaps a 40% water change to get things going is needed here>>
One more question if I may.
<<Certainly>>
I have to raise pH with buffer since my water is at about a 7.8 after the Reef Crystals are added.
<<Strange that it would be so low...though I have seen some worrisome queries of late concerning the Aquarium Systems salt mixes>>
I have two types of buffer.  SeaChem and Kent Super Buffer.  Do you have a preference?
<<I surely do...the Seachem products are my definite choice.  And a couple things worth mentioning re making up seawater...try adding the buffer to the water "before" adding the salt mix...and do be sure you are adding the salt to the water, and not the other way round...>>
Thanks again,
Cathy
<<Is a pleasure>>
And please do ask for that raise!
<<Hee-hee!  We're all volunteers here...your continued success is reward enough.  Eric Russell>>