Getting ALK right

Chef Choy · 12/05/2016, 12:35 AM

Ok, just set up a 240 and used some instant ocean salt that I have had forever. Salt was kinda hard, but dissolved it and got the salinity right. Well my ALK is like 6.5 while my calcium is 419. What is the best way to one time boost my ALK to like 9ish? No coral in the tank yet, just a few fish and a couple of shrimp. Thanks for the insite guys!

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Adamc1303 · 12/05/2016, 12:59 AM

You can use baking soda. Do a search on here to get more clarity. It's fairly simple though if there isn't any coral in the tank yet.

JaimeAdams · 12/05/2016, 01:00 AM

I just got my new hanna alk checker and my alk was at 5.9 while my calcium was at 500. I used baking soda to bump up the alk.
check this calculator http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
just remember to raise it slowly

downbeach · 12/05/2016, 05:33 AM

A&H Baking soda is fine, take 1 1/8 cups and mix it in enough RO/DI water to make 1 gal. of solution(this will take some effort; a hand held blender, and heating the solution would help a lot). Fill in the blanks on the calculator that was linked in Jaime's post, select Randy's recipe #2 from the drop down menu to get your dose. Don't increase your numbers more than 1.4 dKH per day, so take a couple days to get to the number you want.

oseymour · 12/05/2016, 08:41 AM

Just curious, if there are no corals in the tank, why can't he increase the dKH faster?

12/05/2016, 12:35 AM	#1
Chef Choy Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Wichita, KS Posts: 141	Getting ALK right Ok, just set up a 240 and used some instant ocean salt that I have had forever. Salt was kinda hard, but dissolved it and got the salinity right. Well my ALK is like 6.5 while my calcium is 419. What is the best way to one time boost my ALK to like 9ish? No coral in the tank yet, just a few fish and a couple of shrimp. Thanks for the insite guys! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

12/05/2016, 01:00 AM	#3
JaimeAdams PMASI Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 468	I just got my new hanna alk checker and my alk was at 5.9 while my calcium was at 500. I used baking soda to bump up the alk. check this calculator http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html just remember to raise it slowly __________________ 3 Rivers Marine Aquarium Society www.3rmas.com President of the 3 Rivers Marine Aquarium Society

12/05/2016, 08:41 AM	#5
oseymour Euphyllia Addict Join Date: May 2012 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 1,424	Just curious, if there are no corals in the tank, why can't he increase the dKH faster? __________________ Just started Red Sea Reefer 350 (75 Gallon) Build Thread - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2555495 Current Tank Info: Red Sea Reefer 350

12/05/2016, 12:59 AM	#2
Adamc1303 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 964	You can use baking soda. Do a search on here to get more clarity. It's fairly simple though if there isn't any coral in the tank yet. __________________ Metal Halide Connoisseur!

12/05/2016, 05:33 AM	#4
downbeach Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Smyrna, Delaware Posts: 3,767	A&H Baking soda is fine, take 1 1/8 cups and mix it in enough RO/DI water to make 1 gal. of solution(this will take some effort; a hand held blender, and heating the solution would help a lot). Fill in the blanks on the calculator that was linked in Jaime's post, select Randy's recipe #2 from the drop down menu to get your dose. Don't increase your numbers more than 1.4 dKH per day, so take a couple days to get to the number you want.