Help! Alk is at 15....

[burtbollinger]

My alk is at 15-16...the CA is @ 360....been trying to raise Ca for days without much success? Should I be freaking out about the Alk? Everything looks healthy and is wide open....zoas, clams, and SPS.

 

Please advise...

 

Is it dangerous to add more than the bottle recommended amount of CA per day?

[Ryan_H]

that's about as high as i would let my alkalinity get without being worried. a water change or two should help, and adding as much as 2.5x the dose of calcium product shouldn't be a problem (unless it's kent turbo calcium or some form of kalkwasser, which is very strong and would cause massive pH spikes).

[bdare]

You really only want to bring up Ca by 100ppm per day.

 

Try using this calculator to figure out how much you should dose to achieve the desiered result.

http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

 

DEFINITELY STOP adding PH buffer to your tank. Depending on the salt you're using the Alk should come down in a few water changes. Do you know what the alk is of freshly mixed water?

[Ryan_H]

You really only want to bring up Ca by 100ppm per day.

 

Try using this calculator to figure out how much you should dose to achieve the desiered result.

http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

 

DEFINITELY STOP adding PH buffer to your tank. Depending on the salt you're using the Alk should come down in a few water changes. Do you know what the alk is of freshly mixed water?

 

most products raise calcium by 20 ppm per dose, so 2.5 doses or 50 ppm would be just fine

[bdare]

most products raise calcium by 20 ppm per dose, so 2.5 doses or 50 ppm would be just fine

 

Yeah... that seems much more precise than using a calculator.

[Ryan_H]

Yeah... that seems much more precise than using a calculator.

 

my point was that 2.5 times dose was not more than 100 ppm. the calculator is great and i use it myself quite frequently