Few questions

[Barker]

I have 6.5g bowfront tank that I recently did a re-scape on and added non-living sand to so I did a full test and I come back with:

PH:8.0

Calcium: 520-540(added two drops instead of one and too lazy to retest unless I need to)

Phosphates:0(FINALLY...or for now)

Nitrites: less than 0.3(lowest my test goes)

Ammonia: 0

Alk: 5

 

My nitrates are reading at 0 but my question about those is can I use a freshwater test for them? My saltwater kit didn't come with Nitrates test.

 

I have read to add baking soda to the tank to raise the Alk but I have some Seachem Marine buffer that will raise the PH to 8.3 and won't go over and will also raise the Alk1 meq/L at a dose of 1 teaspoon per 20g. Which would be better to use?

 

And why is my calcium so high? I don't dose any calcium. I use RO water. I don't know what kind of salt as it was mixed at the LFS this time. But he only carries Instant Ocean and Coralife. Normally I use Coralife but was out.

 

Any ideas? Thanks.

[Sergeant-G]

alk and calcium work very closley together if one is out of balance most of the time they both are. I use the Kent marine buffer to raise my alk to about 10. I had the same problem but now things are in check.

[lakshwadeep]

You should not need a marine buffer. Read this article about Ca/alk problems:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

[bdare]

I'm guessing the high Ca is because you are using Oceanic salt. If not, what salt are you using? Check out this thread and see if your salt is listed here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1287118

 

Buffer will work as an alk supplement. Just make sure you only use it when you need to increase you alk and DO NOT use it just to increase Ph. Personally, I use baked baking soda for Alk supplements. You can add 2 cups to a gallon of RO/DI and then use this calculator to figure out how much you need to add:

www.2partcalculator.com