High Alk & Low pH

[Whoyah]

I need some help balancing a tank. The Alk is 12.8 dkh (4.57 meq/L), ph 7.8, Cal 450, Mg 1400. I would like to raise the pH to 8.2 and lower Alk to 9-10. The only thing in the tank is about 30 lbs of LR. The tank is not lighted and all the water is about 3 weeks old.

[Reptoreef]

Try dosing kalkwasser... should balance what ca/alk levels you are at while raising your PH... another thing is making sure that there is adequate ventilation in the room(open windows, fans, etc). You're not using a calcium reactor yet... are ya???
BTW dosing too much kalkwasser will raise PH to dangerous levels. I dose with evaporation a kalkwasser solution(lime/ro water) with a ph(supersaturated... not a slurry) of 12.5 .

[Whoyah]

I added a air drive sponge filter yesterday in hopes of aerating the water to change the alk. No change. The windows and doors have been open alot lately, mid 70's here.

Kalk, hunh. I thought that would increase the Alk. I knew it would bump up the pH. I will give it a shot.

[Reptoreef]

Kalkwasser will supersaturate to a limit of about 12.5 PH... that dosed with evaporation or for some during the lights out hours, is naturally balanced in the amounts of Ca/alk and should only help to stablize your current levels as long as you keep up on the reactors/dosers kalk saturation ph level...AND... you dose for evaporation... ONLY!!! I run a calcium and a kalkwasser reactor so with the both of them ca is generally given in a good manner for the amount calcium demand I have and with the co2 vs the kalk... a nicely balanced PH is the total benefit.

[Whoyah]

OK, using Kalk the pH is now up to 8.25 however the Alk is still very high, 12.8. Should I be worried about the Alk level? Cal is at 475.

[Reptoreef]

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html ...Looks like a good balance to me.... here's a link to a calculator to help you... I've got it in my favorites.

[Whoyah]

OK I won't worry about it. I fixed your link too. You had something extra on the end. That same page is under the reference forum also. Very handy.