Water Alkalinity

Almondsaz

Almondsaz

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May 26, 2007
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Need some help. I just did a water test and my results are:

Salt 1.025
Alk 12.8 DKH
Phos .1
Calcium 460
PH 8.1 (but my probe reads 7.98 and was just calibrated)
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20

I used to run the phos reactor but stopped about 2 weeks ago. Due for a 20% water change this weekend.

Becuase the PH has been low, bought Reef Buffer (by Seachem) that raises PH up to 8.3 max. I believe that per the label one of the side effects can be increased carbonate alk.

Do I just let it ride until the weekend when I do my 20% water change? Or do I need to do something right now?????

Thanks:1zhelp:
 
An alk level that high won't do any damage, its just quick changes in alkalinity that might cause problems. Do your planned water change, check to see if it comes down a bit and you should be fine. Also corals and coraline algae will bring down the alk level naturally.
 
Agreed... nothing to worry about there. It's not overly high, as the upper end of the recommended range is 12 dKH. It should come down on it's own within a couple of days, depending on the type / numbers of corals and the amount of coralline algae in your tank.
 
THanks for the help, might move up the water change to sometime this week before the weekend. It is frustrating to see my probe give me one reading and the test kit (API) give another. I had just calibrated the probe.
 
I'd believe the probe. Like Niko once said the test kits we use a hobby kits. I read that statement to be they are accurate but not scientific quality accurate. It is surprising though that there was that much of a difference.

Being a devils advocate I am assuming you used a quality calibration solution. However if you really want to be a scientist you should talk with Amp he gave me a home made solution to calibrate my refractometer. Maybe he has a home made solution that you can use for your probe. He stated that his solutions are what he uses when he wants to check the accuracy of his test kits.
 
Don't be too concerned about the difference in pH between the probe and the test kit. The probe's accuracy is about +/- 0.05 pH units; 7.98 really rounds up to 8.0. The difference then is between 8.0 and 8.1, and that's about the limit of accuracy of any test kit.
 
THanks all.
 
You can afford to let you Ca and definitely Alk fall a bit... if your alk gets much higher it's going to start interfering with the calcification of stony corals if you have any. Whatever dosing scheme you are following I would throttle back just a hair to let your Alk fall below 11dkh.
 
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