Testing and levels should I start dosing or leave it be?

[atrox]

I have a 40 breeder set up now going on six months and is lightly stocked with corals that are all lps. I am using io reef crystals and my water tests at 460 ca on salifert, mag is 1350 on salifert, and alk on hanna checker is reading at 134 ppm. After taking the alk reading and dividing by 17.86 alk is 7.5 dkh. At this point all corals are doing well, but would they do better with alk in the 8 to 9 dkh range? I got a good deal on gallon jugs of c-balance 2 part, but I don't want to dose if my base line alk is reading to low. This chemistry thing is daunting but I want these animals to thrive. So should I bring alk up and dose or just stick to my 5 gallon wc once a week? Thanks in advance for help.

[Reef Frog]

It sounds like you're doing fine as things are. 2 part dosing could probably wait until you add more corals or the ones you already own add some growth.

FYI. I'm not saying you need to dose ALK, but it can be added independently of calcium supplement (your post kind of indicated you believe that to be the case). There's no rule against that!

[thegrun]

I would give the alkalinity a slight boost up to 8 dKh, but 7.5 is fine. If you boost the alkalinity to 8.0 with your water changes it may hold at the 8.0 mark until you add more corals, or a single weekly adjustment of 0.5 dKh may be needed, but either way it dosen't seem like daily dosing is needed yet. I don't like to boost the alkalinity more than 0.5 dKh a day, so if your tank starts to need more than a 0.5 weekly boost that would be the time to either swith to kalk as a top off or start daily dosing.

[atrox]

As I understand it I should not dose just the alk from the two part, but I should use baking soda? I read something about putting the bs in the oven but am unsure about this.

[thegrun]

I don't see any reason why you couldn't dose just the alkalinity part. That said, using baking soda is going to be using the same chemicals at a fraction of the cost. If your pH is low or just about where you want it, bake the baking soda at 350 degrees for an hour before mixing it with RO/DI water. If your pH is already high you don't need to bake the baking soda.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Either way (two part alk portion or baking soda) is fine. :)

[atrox]

What would you all suggest as an ideal alk level? Also thank all of you for the informative responses.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Unless it is an ultralow nutrient tank, I'd aim for somewhere in the 7-11 dKH (2.5-4 meq/L) range. Aiming for the middle somewhere might help avoid getting outside of the range by mistake. :)

This has more:

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.htm

[tmz]

FWIW, I keep mine at 160ppm per the hanah checker , ie 160 x ..056 =8.96dkh . 7.5 is fine .IMO but I like it a bit higher for a margin to avoid dropping too low ;my corals doe weel at that level.

[atrox]

FWIW, I keep mine at 160ppm per the hanah checker , ie 160 x ..056 =8.96dkh . 7.5 is fine .IMO but I like it a bit higher for a margin to avoid dropping too low ;my corals doe weel at that level.

Good to know and I like the idea of having a margin just in case.