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Author Topic: Alkalinity(dKH)  (Read 370 times)

Teric

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Alkalinity(dKH)
« on: July 26, 2010, 02:09:15 PM »
Does anyone have trouble keeping up their alkalinity? I have to dose about every other day to keep the alkalinity up. The past few weeks, I've been dosing to keep it around 10 dKH. If I don't dose, then it drops between 5-7 dKH. Since I've been keeping the alkalinity up, I've seen tremendous growth in my sps. I run only a skimmer in my sump, no reactors at all. My calcium has always been high, typically over 500ppm.
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Hosser

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Re: Alkalinity(dKH)
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2010, 06:14:36 PM »
I know we have talked about this in chat quite a bit and isnt there a correlation between higher calcium and lower DKH? Chemistry part of water is my weakness.....Im just gonna tag along on this one.
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Teric

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Re: Alkalinity(dKH)
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2010, 08:38:50 PM »
From what I have read, there is a direct relationship between calcium and alkalinity. I kind of understand it like you have a bowl that holds 100 marbles and there are only 2 colors of marbles so if you add like 5 green, then you will lose 5 red.

Its weird though, since I've been dosing alkalinity the calcium has remained high or at least normal in my tank over 500ppm.
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Ganrin

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Re: Alkalinity(dKH)
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2010, 09:29:47 PM »
The quick answer to the initial question is yes, I frequently have alkalinity on the lower side of the prefered range, 2-2.5 meq/L (5.6-7 dkh). My calcium tends to run between 400 and 500, and my magnesium 1200- 1600. I dosed the mg high because there are reports of high mg, dosed with Kent tech m, aiding in the control of unwanted hair algae. Since my pH, ca, and mg levels are all within desired parameters, and my alkalinity is just slightly low, I dont usually worry too much about it.

If you want a read on Alkalinity specifically, here is one of Randy Holmes-Farley's articles.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/2/chemistry/view?searchterm=alkalinity
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Mitchreef

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Re: Alkalinity(dKH)
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2010, 09:19:10 PM »
I don't understand how everything buffers together, but when I was starting out I was told that you will never have stability without having a Magnesium inventory. I just know that when I started dosing and testing Mg then everything else got real easy to control.
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Teric

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Re: Alkalinity(dKH)
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2010, 10:11:45 PM »
From what I understand of mag is that it should be like 3 times that of calcium.
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Hosser

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Re: Alkalinity(dKH)
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2010, 08:04:58 PM »
Thanks for the posts in this thread.....I cant wait to apply this.
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Mitchreef

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Re: Alkalinity(dKH)
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2010, 08:59:28 PM »
I try to stay at about 1500 on my Mg. It makes the macros grow better and increases their nutrient scavenging ability.
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