Ca, dKH, PH Balance?

[GaryP]

Since you aren't doing any SPS your alkalinity is really OK where its at. I wouldn't mess with it to much. If you were doing SPS corals I would say to slowly increase it to a dKH of about 10. Your mushrooms don't really need it and one frogspawn isn't going to use much.

[NaCl_H2O]

Eddie, dKH = 8 is fine, some push it towards 10-12. There is a fairly wide range of "Acceptable" levels. Gary's advice is good to use a buffer - adding just Baking Soda alone can be VERY dangerous, esp. if you are not experienced in the dramatic effect an overdose can cause.

If you choose to add a buffer, do so slowly and test per the instructions. In reality, given the low bio-load you have, regular water changes of 15-20% every two weeks may be all you need to maintain acceptable levels.

[eddie]

thanks, I doing atleast 20% water changes every week to 2 weeks.. my thinking might be wrong but I would just like to get into a higher KH parameter while there are no fish and sps and get it maintained at that higher lever for a while.. thanks for the info everyone.

[matt]

If your ph is 8.2 in the morning, you can safely add some baking soda; it won't drop your ph that dramatically. You don't say how big your tank is, but try adding maybe a teaspoon or so dissolved in R.O. water for every 50 gallons of tank volume; you can do that each day until your dkh gets up into the 9-10 range, then let it go for a while and see what happens.