Alk issue

Matt Kiely

Well-Known Member
BRS Member
So lately i have been struggling to get my all to showup on a test kit so i went and bought a new test kit figuring there was a chance i was using a bad test kit well turns out that both kits were reading zero... so i checked my calcium and it was around 225ppm i added the proper amount of calcium to get myself back into the 450ppm range so my question is will my alk start showing up on my test kits or do i now need to start dosing alk to get it back up im so confused haha btw corals all look good minus a bubble coral that recently died off
 
If you only adjust calcium I believe it will just precipitate out if alkalinity is not right. They are closely related so without the buffering capacity of alkalinity your calcium cannot be that high.

I would suggest adding baking soda to get alkalinity up before adding more/any calcium.
 
You're going to have to dose alkalinity separately. It will remain low if you just dose calcium (I am assuming you're dosing calcium chloride). Probably best to dose alk a little bit at a time, maybe over the course of a whole day. I had a tank crash when I brought my alkalinity up from very low in one dose.
 
Like Serwobow said. You don’t want a judge jump. 1 dKh per day for alkalinity is your desired change.

Get that up over several days. Maybe get a two part over the counter at your LFS to slowly move your alk and calc up.
 
I’d do a lot of small water changes to bring everything back to normal levels 10% or so a day. Calcium and carbonate aren’t the only things in saltwater that’ll be depleted if your levels got that low.
 
Which Alk test kit did you buy?
It is impossible to have 0 Alk reading.

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throw buffer in daily to get your alk up. i wouldnt worry too much about how fast you raise it, sensitive stuff would already be dead i think. Add buffer daily until you are over 8 dkh.

going forward i would dose the two(calc/alk) together. if you are bad with dosing two part(most people are) get a calcium reactor or add kalk to your topoff water, its a no brainer really...actually do the kalk for a while and see if you are stable. you wouldnt need a reactor for a while......
 
Im using salifert test kits

You got 0 reading of Alk?
You should have a at least 4 to 5 dkh from any saltwater.
Test a newly mix saltwater to see if the test kit is ok.


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When you add the KH indicator, you should get a blue solution. If the Alk is 0, as soon as you add one drop of of the reagent, it will turn pink immediately. Is this the case? Or the test solution remain blue after you added the whole 1 mL of reagent?
I think either you have bad test kits or did the test incorrectly.


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I got a brand new test kit and it stays blue even after i add the 1 ml of reagent thats why i don’t understand whats going on new test kit and old that isnt expired i get the same reading
 
Great... i stopped dosing alk for the time being to see if i can get it to come down i will test again when i get home to see where im at
 
Water change solves many problems, especially for problems that have not yet identified.
Why some people online keep promoting no water change method? That is because salt mixes carry very low profit, cost more to store and ship. Since everyone wants free shipping these days.
On the other hand, those dosing reagents cost pennies to make, do not take up a lot of room, cheap to ship and most important, they carry extremely high profit margins.



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