low Alk, trying to get it back up

[bongobrian]

Quick question. A couple weeks ago I added some reef advantange calcium and I got the dreaded "snow storm" effect in my tank. I used to have perfect Ca and Alk levels, but now my alk is hanging around 1.7 meq/l and I'm not sure how to get it back up. My Ca is still at 450ppm which is kinda confusing to me.... I thought it should be higher if the alk was so low??? anyway, how should I get my alk back up? I've been adding some extra reef builder which gets the alk up to about 3.2, but after 24 hours it drops back down to 1.7. Should I just keep adding builder until the alk gets up and stays up? or is there a better way to do it? gracias.

[kevinpo]

Here is a link http://www.hawkfish.org/infoctr/homebuffer.htm
I used this solution and it worked great. I always have CA @480ppm but my alk was 2.5-3 meq/L after adding this mixture it went to 6.5 meq/L. It also caused the PH to rise .1 from 8.05 to 8.15.

HTH,
Kevin

[eses]

You can also buy a aquarium product called Kent Superbuffer DK/h; the stuff is basically baking soda, but it works rather well too if your not comfortable using household products in your aquarium.

[bongobrian]

I have SeaChem Marine Buffer... will that work as well? I forget to mention, my ph is around 8.4-8.6

[mrok12]

Bongo,
If the reef builder is bringing your alk up to 3.2 from 1.7 but then the alk is falling off again there is something else going on. 1)Your Ph is probably taking the dive at night and the alk is being used to compensate 2) Maybe the tank is over fed? Fish poop also uses up alkalinty to aviod changes in ph. I use the same product and I add it daily. I use 4.5 tsp to 65 gallon to maintain an alk of 10-12 DKH. Try using the formula on the label to determine how much it will take to raise the alk by 1 meq and add it every other day for a week and then test the water. You may have to add it daily. The key here is your ph is stable, whick is most likely due to the alkalinity being used as the buffer. Try it out for a week and let me know, I have been through the same thing.

MROK12

[mrok12]

I called preuss about your dilema. Call tommorow and talk to brian in saltwater dept. He helped me with this same scenario. I did what you were asking about, I just kept adding the reef builder until the alk came back up. If you do use a supper buffer DKH by kent it would be best to add in the am. Adding a refugium will also help in that it will keep ph from falling to far at night if you fill it with macro algea. by the way did you ever make it to the tropicorium?

MROK12

[bongobrian]

mrok- thanks, what you said makes a lot of sense about the alk being used as buffer. I'm pretty sure when I tested my ph last time it was at night and it was at 8.6ppm. I never had to use reef builder more than once a week to maintain my levels. It seems like if I use 2 tsp right now it brings 1.7 up to 3.2. Should I get my alk up using reef builder and then use some of my marine buffer?? I do have a refugium set up with LOTS of macro algea in it. I'm constantly harvesting it out of there. Dude, I havn't gotten over to Tropicorium yet... hopefully I will soon now that my classes are over. Hey thanks for the advice as always!

[mrok12]

Do you keep any sps? any clams? Did you recently add anything. When I started adding sps and clams the alk took a dive because they were using it up. The ca dumped too. I add reefbuilder daily at night and Reef calcium in the am as well as kalk drip at night. I never used a super buffer because my ph is aleays 8.4-8.6 and I did not want to over shoot or raise the alk too fast. This is the same reason I use nothing with the prefix "TURBO" Thing in nature change slowly so I adjust the parameters in a way I feel is diligent and safe. Tropicorium is cool, you must go. I'm going tommorow!!!!!

MROK12