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Old Glory
01/15/2014, 03:30 PM
Hi I have a 180 gallon tank with a 100 gallon stock tank filled half way with live rock as a sump and a 75 gallon fuge. With al the rock (over 200 lbs) I estmate my water volume at 220 gallons.

I need to raise my Alk from 2.5 to 4. I used an online dose calculator but I am not sure what to do with the results. It said to use 17.5 teaspoon of Reef Builder to raie the Alk to 4 based on the values above. It say says to mix with RO water but does not say how much. Then states do not add to the tank all at once.

My questions are is this the correct dosage?

How much RO water to use?

How do I add to tank; over how long a period?


I do not have a doser.

Thanks!!!

disc1
01/15/2014, 05:32 PM
Hi I have a 180 gallon tank with a 100 gallon stock tank filled half way with live rock as a sump and a 75 gallon fuge. With al the rock (over 200 lbs) I estmate my water volume at 220 gallons.

I need to raise my Alk from 2.5 to 4. I used an online dose calculator but I am not sure what to do with the results. It said to use 17.5 teaspoon of Reef Builder to raie the Alk to 4 based on the values above. It say says to mix with RO water but does not say how much. Then states do not add to the tank all at once.

Maybe it's the teacher coming out in me. But I hate seeing numbers without units. I'm assuming you mean 2.5 going to 4 meq/L. Hopefully those aren't dkH numbers.




My questions are is this the correct dosage?

If that's what the calculator says.


How much RO water to use?
Enough to dissolve the reef builder and less than enough to overflow the tank or seriously impact salinity. It really doesn't matter.


How do I add to tank; over how long a period?


Just dissolve in RODI water and add it slowly in a high flow area. If it makes clouds when it hits the water you might be pouring it in a little too fast.

You're making a pretty big change in alkalinity. I don't like to go more than about 1dkH per day, so I'd spread that out over 4 or 5 days.



I do not have a doser.

Thanks!!!


4 meq/L is getting a little high on the alkalinity scale. Any particular reason you're going so high?

Old Glory
01/15/2014, 08:04 PM
Thank you for the reply. That was what I was told was the correct level.

disc1
01/15/2014, 08:42 PM
Thank you for the reply. That was what I was told was the correct level.

It depends on what you're keeping, but for most things 3.0 - 3.5 meq/L would be a better range to shoot for.

downbeach
01/16/2014, 06:07 AM
I prefer to keep my parameters close to NSW, so 2.5 meg/l is a good number. I'm not looking for accelerated growth, don't have to dose as much, and prefer to keep any abiotic precipitation to a minimum.

Here are a couple good articles:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php

d2mini
01/16/2014, 07:17 AM
I would also like to add that you should check your calcium levels, too if you haven't already. You don't want to throw things out of balancing by drastically changing the value of one and not the other. Check Magnesium too. If Mag gets too low it can prevent the uptake of alk/calc.

Old Glory
01/16/2014, 06:12 PM
I would also like to add that you should check your calcium levels, too if you haven't already. You don't want to throw things out of balancing by drastically changing the value of one and not the other. Check Magnesium too. If Mag gets too low it can prevent the uptake of alk/calc.

My calcium was at 400 Thursday. I don't have a Magnesium test kit. I do regular water changes with red sea pro reef salt so I was hoping that kept it up.

d2mini
01/16/2014, 09:46 PM
My calcium was at 400 Thursday. I don't have a Magnesium test kit. I do regular water changes with red sea pro reef salt so I was hoping that kept it up.

Good. Make sure that whatever you want your alk to be at, you get your calc to the equivalent level.

As for mag, you can hope, but usually at some point people will see a dip.
And it's usually found when you can't figure out why you can't get their alk to raise even with additional dosing. At least that's what happens with me sometimes. ;)

It's a worthwhile test kit to get.
Not only to make sure it stays at least as high as NSW, but people also fine that keeping it a bit higher can help keep algae problems at bay.
And at the very least you can rule it out as being a problem if it tests ok.

Old Glory
01/18/2014, 06:36 AM
Thanks for all your help!