Main water parameters

Okay Hennie I red through those threads and thanks alot again

My pleasure :)

-can I just continue adjusting my alk and ph with your "koeksoda" method and use those dosages that is prescribed?

Yes, although the dosages would depend on the size of the tank, and on the calcium / alkalinity demand. With no, or only a few, corals you should only need to add quite small quantities. Test the alkalinity, then don't add any buffer, kalk, calcium or anything else for 48 hours. Test the alkalinity again, and that will give you an indication of your tank's alkalinity demand.

-what is the two part additive you talk about that I should do after 4 weeks,

It's actually a 3-part additive, formulated by Dr. Randy Holmes-Farley in the USA. It consists of calcium chloride, koeksoda and a mixture of magnesium chloride and magnesium sulphate (Engelse sout). It is described in An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

-is your alk best nearer to 7 or to 10?

Natural sea water has an alkalinity of about 7. It is better to keep a tank's alkalinity around 8-9, but it's still perfectly OK at 7

-How should I add the bicarbsoda mixture,and how does a dripper work and how much at a time etc

The two (3...) part components are in liquid form, and are just poured into a high-flow area of the sump (preferably), although never at the same time. I don't have time to check now, but if you search the MASApedia you should find more indo. Else just do a search of the forum, using words such as kalk dripper, etc.

Hennie
 
OKay sounds quite easy,so ill use a half doasge then,so can I just add the kalk mix into my sump all at once
 
OKay cool wil have a look at that,how long must I take to put it in,can anyone give me some of the most comonly found reasons for a high ph as my friends ph is at 8.8,what is the max it can be
 
OKay sounds quite easy,so ill use a half doasge then,so can I just add the kalk mix into my sump all at once

Just to be sure that you understand - the liquid two-part additives (calcium chloride, bicarbonate of soda (and magnesium chloride/magnesium sulphate if you want to add that as well) can be added directly into a high flow area of the sump in one pour per additive - i.e. all the calcium chloride at once, followed by all the bicarb at once a few hours later.

If you want to add kalk (slaked lime / gebluste kalk) you MUST be very careful and only add it at a maximum rate of ~ 1 drop per second, also into a high flow area, preferably in the sump. This is usually added by using a dripper, as per the link in a previous post, as it can increase the pH quite drastically, and it WILL kill off all your fish and other life forms if you seriously overdose the tank.

Regarding your PM'd question about the deep sand bed in your sump - I would remove about 50% of the course substrate you have on the bottom of the sump, and then mix the fine sand and remaining course substrate to get a uniformly graded sand over the total depth.

Hennie
 
OKay cool wil have a look at that,how long must I take to put it in,can anyone give me some of the most comonly found reasons for a high ph as my friends ph is at 8.8,what is the max it can be
if im not mistaken Anthony Calfo mentioned a ph of 8.6 is safe
 
can anyone give me some of the most comonly found reasons for a high ph as my friends ph is at 8.8,what is the max it can be

  • Overdosing with additives - most probably the case if the test is accurate...
  • Using the wrong type of additive or a bad batch of salt.
  • Using unfiltered, polluted water - RO water is a MUST...
  • Test kit not reading correctly (old reagents, bad batch...), or test is not done correctly - this is the single biggest problem in this hobby, IMHO, and is most probably the problem in this case as well. If you are usinf an electronic digital pH meter the probe must not be old (less than 1 year) AND it must be accurately calibrated using fresh, accurate, buffer solutions.
Test for pH early in the morning, and then again just after the main lights have gone off in the evening. It's quite natural to have a pH shift of 0.2 - 0.4 pH units between these tests, as pH is influenced by the amount of carbon dioxide in the water, and this is influenced by the amount of photosynthesis which happens daily in the tank (by the algae and zooxanthellae of the corals).

Hennie
 
Okay ill tell him,but my ph is also curently sitting at 8.64,is that alright and wil it increase by itself,or is there a posibility of it increaing by itself if I dont add any additives and my salt was fine
 
No, it should decrease with time, not increase. We normally struggle to keep the pH above 8.2 if we have lots of fish and/or corals
 
With a electronic tester but it is properly calibrated,thanks for all the help so far
 
With a electronic tester but it is properly calibrated

The high pH readings still sound a bit suspect - are you SURE the meter is calibrated properly? Are you calibrating at pH 4 and 7, or at 7 and 10? What calibration fluids are you using, and how fresh are they - the pH 10 buffer is especially prone to losing accuracy due to aging and/or contact with air (actually the CO2 in the air), and I have found on more than one occasion that it was not reading correctly.

There is a simple method of checking the accuracy of an electronic pH meter using borax - read this article of mine for more

Hennie
 
Yes but if ive got some cheato wouldnt it be better to use a liquid one to take it down and then let the cheato take over the job,or will I still have probs with high phophates
 
What are the main cons to very cheap carbon and what else negatively can it do except for raising phosphates,and can you use it(very cheap low budget carbon) if you replace it every 2 weeks
 
What are the main cons to very cheap carbon and what else negatively can it do except for raising phosphates,and can you use it(very cheap low budget carbon) if you replace it every 2 weeks

I sit activated carbon ?

I wouldn't trust anything that raise your Po4 levels. It is bad enough with the sunthetic salts all having PO4, to now have another source will cause you problems in the long run, unless algae and cyano is not a concern.
 
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