Do i need to raise alkalinity?

[T33BLACK]

I've been testing my numbers with a salifert kit for the past few months and have been dosing all for Reef everything seems to be doing fine although I still have zero nitrates and zero phosphates which puzzles me even though I've gotten rid of all my hair algae for the most part and feed all the time. My question is my alkalinity is always at 6.7 do I need to worry about getting it higher and dose more all for Reef ?I'm just worried my other numbers would go up too high if that's possible?

Calc 480
Mag 1350
Alk 6.7
Phos 0
Nitrate. 5
Ph 8.15
Salinity 1.026

 

[Jamie9]

You should get your alk higher (assuming you have coral) and THEN dial in your AFR dose. Don’t try to use AFR to raise your Alk, do it with salt via water change or by dosing another additive (Kalk or other options).

 

[Yates273]

From my understanding you’re supposed to get your numbers in check before you start dosing AFR. You won’t raise your alk by adding more AFR. I use baking soda

 

[T33BLACK]

I do have a mixed reef lots of euphyllia too. I've always used reef crystals for as long as I can remember and I do water changes pretty regularly. So it is okay for me to continue using the all for Reef but also add some kalk

 

[T33BLACK]

I usually do my water change the next day everything tests good. Then I dose the all for reef until my next water change maybe a month later or so. The alk just goes down to 6.7 so fast. Would adding the kalk to my auto top off be sufficient?

 

[rtparty]

Dosing more AFR will increase alkalinity. It will also increase everything else it doses

Adding kalkwasser to your topoff is a horrible way to implement kalkwasser IMO but it too will raise calcium along with alkalinity. However, it will also spike pH and is not a good additive to raise alkalinity and calcium.

If you want to raise just alkalinity, dose some sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or sodium carbonate aka soda ash aka baked baking soda

I’d personally increase water changes to twice a month minimum as this will help keep calcium in check with AFR dosing.

 

[T33BLACK]

Ok thanks maybe I'll try the baking soda and add some water changes. Was hoping to not have to do so many water changes with the all for reef. Maybe a dumb question but if i do weekly water changes why bother with the all for reef. Either i buy more salt or spend the money on all for reef

 

[Jamie9]

Ok thanks maybe I'll try the baking soda and add some water changes. Was hoping to not have to do so many water changes with the all for reef. Maybe a dumb question but if i do weekly water changes why bother with the all for reef. Either i buy more salt or spend the money on all for reef

At least for me, once I got my Alk to where it should be, AFR maintained it afterwards. I still do some water changes for other reasons, but ai don’t need them for Alk.

 

[T33BLACK]

At least for me, once I got my Alk to where it should be, AFR maintained it afterwards. I still do some water changes for other reasons, but ai don’t need them for Alk.

Ok thanks good to know im gonna try to raise it and see if it maintains.

 

[rtparty]

Ok thanks maybe I'll try the baking soda and add some water changes. Was hoping to not have to do so many water changes with the all for reef. Maybe a dumb question but if i do weekly water changes why bother with the all for reef. Either i buy more salt or spend the money on all for reef

Weekly water changes may be enough to keep alkalinity and calcium in range. They may also keep trace elements in range but not usually. AFR is designed to replenish the big three plus like 17 other trace elements.

There are a dozen good reasons to do water changes. I can’t think of any good reasons to not do them

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'd personally just increase the AFR. If you boost alk to 8 dKH with AFR, everything else will be perfectly fine.

You will only get a 9 ppm boost to calcium and much less than a 1 ppm boost to magnesium. Both will be fine.

If you use just AFR, as I do, I'd stop measuring either calcium or magnesium, and as rtparty suggests, just do some normal regular water changes and everything will be fine.

 

[T33BLACK]

I'd personally just increase the AFR. If you boost alk to 8 dKH with AFR, everything else will be perfectly fine.

You will only get a 9 ppm boost to calcium and much less than a 1 ppm boost to magnesium. Both will be fine.

If you use just AFR, as I do, I'd stop measuring either calcium or magnesium, and as rtparty suggests, just do some normal regular water changes and everything will be fine.

Gonna give this a try thanks

 

[NeutronMan]

I'd personally just increase the AFR. If you boost alk to 8 dKH with AFR, everything else will be perfectly fine.

You will only get a 9 ppm boost to calcium and much less than a 1 ppm boost to magnesium. Both will be fine.

If you use just AFR, as I do, I'd stop measuring either calcium or magnesium, and as rtparty suggests, just do some normal regular water changes and everything will be fine.

This is what I do.

 

[eroyceus]

I have the same question but different emphasis: my alk has been trending along at around 7.5 based on light kalkwasser dosing. Looking at advice on this board and elsewhere I’m now targeting around 8.3. I am preparing over months for sps so now track with trident acm and increased kalkwasser. Consumption of the latter is apparently around 3 liters per day (300 gal) with lots of soft and lps coral. I say apparently because I’m still dialing it in. The range is often given as 7-11 but that’s a huge range. What’s recommended in prep for sps?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I have the same question but different emphasis: my alk has been trending along at around 7.5 based on light kalkwasser dosing. Looking at advice on this board and elsewhere I’m now targeting around 8.3. I am preparing over months for sps so now track with trident acm and increased kalkwasser. Consumption of the latter is apparently around 3 liters per day (300 gal) with lots of soft and lps coral. I say apparently because I’m still dialing it in. The range is often given as 7-11 but that’s a huge range. What’s recommended in prep for sps?

Both 7.5 dKH and 8.3 dKH are perfectly fine for any aquarium. Folks have different opinions about what is "best", but the range you quote is the range I typically recommend and it works for SPS. A steady alk (say, 0.5 dKH or less variation day to day) is more important, IMO, than the exact alk.

 

[MidWestReef'n]

I use AFR and started with low Alk. I raised my alk steadily over the course of a week or two. Its held fairly steady since getting it into the 8.0-8.3 range. A few times I have notice it dropped down into 7.6-7.8 range, but as for cal and mag they stay in a good range. Also wanted to add that I do weekly water changes around 15 percent, as well as I dose reef moonshiners, but both are just the method I use because it keeps my higher end sps happy.

 

[surfingwel]

Ive used aquaforest hp plus/ kh pro for a quick adjustment recently

Also realized my dosing line from component 3 in 1 had buildup and was partially clogged which is why I had to adjust my params but worked like a charm

 

[Baylott224]

I used aqua forest kh + to raise alkalinity luckily my calcium was already about 480 so I used aft to bottlemaintain that. Kh + by aquaforest works good though they have a calcium + formula too. And very cheap for a small