alkalinity ?'s

[merlin0883]

In my 55gal, most corals doing well. have the 260watt pc. have sea whip, corky finger gorgonian/whip, open brain, xenia, finger leather, spaghetti leather, big toadstool, red and black sun polyps, many shrooms, 3 types zoas, clove polyps, kenya tree, 3 kinds star polyps, and candy cane. LPS and shrooms do extremely well, zoas grow, but slowly, and whips do excellent. toadstool, xenia, kenya tree, and finger leather dying slowly. no ammonia, nitrite, and very small nitrate (5-10ppm). But my KH, or carbon hardness, is about 25. test kit says to get it 8-12 for marine invertebrates. could this potentially be the reason that my softies are not doing so hot, except for the spaghetti leather, which is thriving? any thoughts on anything to do with this could help much. also, i have heard that pH, alkalinity, and calcium are all related. My pH about 8.3. I don't have a calcium test kit, but am getting one this weekend. any info on how they are related and how to change one without changing the others could help too. Basically, been in the hobby a little over a year, and ignored alkalinity, Ca+, and pH. Now trying to step up my game to really have a gorgeous tank with a greater variety of corals, except for SPS, at least, until I get halides. Thanks

[erikharrison]

You need to do a big fat water change and try to get the hardness down. Are you dosing?

[merlin0883]

after water changes, which usually about once a week, i add one cap caralvite, one cap iodine, and one cap purple up. after about 2 water changes of dosing, the third water change i dose nothing, then start up again on the fourth. i don't add anything specifically to raise alkalinity.

[erikharrison]

Double check your water with a LFS. Your alk is way out of whack. If it is that high, water changes are your best bet. If your kit proves accurate you need to derive where the source of the high alk is coming from.

[merlin0883]

did a 10 gallon water change. brought alkalinity from 25 down to 20. did another 10 gallon change, brought it from 20 down to 16. my kit says it should be 8-12. is this accurate? what precisely is the optimal reading? 10??? I think the source is from using tap water on seldom occasions. my tap water is 27. i did not ever test it for alkalinity, always tested it for nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and phosphates. so i thought i was cool using it in a big water change. would use 15 gallons ro and 5 gallons tap. guess i was wrong to do so. but now i have tested it and know better than to use it. why would have it almost killed the softies, and left the lps, shrooms, zoas, and whips alone? why would it not harm the spaghetti leather, but did the xenia, kenya, and finger? also, i think that my test kit is good. it's new, and the 10 gallon water changes brought it down about as much as i thought that it would.

[erikharrison]

http://www.championlighting.com/product.php?productid=17914&cat=373&page=1

[Fish4life]

man, i want high alkalinity. with that bioload your alkalinity probably isn't 25. Take a sample to the store or buy a different kit to confirm/negate the current kits reading.

[erikharrison]

Merlin, here is a fantastic article.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/calcalkmar.htm

[Bill S]

Seriously, test your kit. I had one (Alk kit) that had bad reagents. It was CONFIRMED by the manufacturer.

[merlin0883]

Merlin, here is a fantastic article.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/calcalkmar.htm
Thanks dude. I can always count on you to come up with good info. Don't know if ur way smart, if u been in this hobby a long time, or if you just spend way too much time on here, but u usually have a good idea about what's up, and usually find the kind of info that i'm looking for. Cool

[erikharrison]

Ha, I am just good at research. I read and read and read. Thanks for the compliment. I am a newbie, just into salt for a little over a year. :)

[merlin0883]

^^^^