Can't get good alkalinity levels
 

got my DKH steady by dosing CA to about 550-600ppm inadvertently while
adding an occasional superbuffer, then when i finally got a CA tester, i
stopped adding it cold turkey. i was using TurboCalc. I havent added CA in
my tank for over a month. I add about 15ml of superbuffer a day, while i
watch my DKH rise, when it got to 9.8DKH, i stopped adding it in every day,
now its just like 2-4 times a week i add Kents SuperBuffer. Thats it. I
have 1/1/2 DSB which also reacts and alot of rock which also reacts with the
buffering of the tank. ALSO good quality salt will to. YOU ARE using
Professional Marine Grade salt right? IF not, theres may be your problem.
WH

"Craig Bingman" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Reef Man wrote:
Hi,

I´ve been fighting hair algae for a year. I tried everything, then i
found my KH was too low (4,5 dkh) and calcium too high (550).
I tried to put things right. So i stopped adding kalk and started
dosing Seachem's Reefbuilder.
I had to dose lots of this product to reach 8 dkh, but, when i stopped
dosing it just for one day, dkh fell around 1 or 2 dkh.
Then I realised calcium fell to 280, so i restarted dosing kalk
through my kalkwasser reactor.

Now calcium levels are fine at 420 and i still can't get my alkalinity
higher than 7,5 dkh. I stopped dosing Reefbuilder and i am now dosing
C-Balance:
30 ml part A daily
60 ml part B daily (I want to get my alkalinity to 10 dkh and mantain
my calcium levels)

I think that 7.5 dKH is plenty high enough. You are trying to chase
numbers that aren't necessarily realistic.

You won't necessarily be able to resolve a hair algae problem by
only working on calcium and alkalinity numbers. Adequate calcium
and alkalinity is a prerequisite for good coralline algae growth
in a system, but there are a number of other biological and
chemical issues at play here. You need appropriate herbivores
in the system, you generally need a good meiofauna population,
and you need to get a handle on any excess nutrients in the tank
before you will be able to resolve a nuisance algae issue.

--
--

Can't get good alkalinity levels
 

Thanks for your answers.

Craig is right about my herbivores population. I have just some 8
hermit crabs in a 180g reef tank and no snails. However, i have a
minimum nutrient level because there's only 4 small fish that are
becoming thiner :(

I'm using 2 litres of Rowaphos just to be sure all phosphate is
removed.
IS it possible that the DSB is acidifying the water and consuming
alkalinity? The DSB is Aragamax 4" - 5" deep and i think it is
clogging with a hard sand layer on the top with some brown microalgae.
Deep layers are grey and smely (is this normal?).

I used Instant Ocean salt mix and changed 3 months ago to Red Sea Salt
hoping things would get better, but it didn't improve. Any advices on
a better salt mix?

Any advices on a netter action plan?

Thank you all

Reefman

"wolfhedd" wrote in message link.net...
got my DKH steady by dosing CA to about 550-600ppm inadvertently while
adding an occasional superbuffer, then when i finally got a CA tester, i
stopped adding it cold turkey. i was using TurboCalc. I havent added CA in
my tank for over a month. I add about 15ml of superbuffer a day, while i
watch my DKH rise, when it got to 9.8DKH, i stopped adding it in every day,
now its just like 2-4 times a week i add Kents SuperBuffer. Thats it. I
have 1/1/2 DSB which also reacts and alot of rock which also reacts with the
buffering of the tank. ALSO good quality salt will to. YOU ARE using
Professional Marine Grade salt right? IF not, theres may be your problem.
WH

"Craig Bingman" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Reef Man wrote:
Hi,

I´ve been fighting hair algae for a year. I tried everything, then i
found my KH was too low (4,5 dkh) and calcium too high (550).
I tried to put things right. So i stopped adding kalk and started
dosing Seachem's Reefbuilder.
I had to dose lots of this product to reach 8 dkh, but, when i stopped
dosing it just for one day, dkh fell around 1 or 2 dkh.
Then I realised calcium fell to 280, so i restarted dosing kalk
through my kalkwasser reactor.

Now calcium levels are fine at 420 and i still can't get my alkalinity
higher than 7,5 dkh. I stopped dosing Reefbuilder and i am now dosing
C-Balance:
30 ml part A daily
60 ml part B daily (I want to get my alkalinity to 10 dkh and mantain
my calcium levels)

I think that 7.5 dKH is plenty high enough. You are trying to chase
numbers that aren't necessarily realistic.

You won't necessarily be able to resolve a hair algae problem by
only working on calcium and alkalinity numbers. Adequate calcium
and alkalinity is a prerequisite for good coralline algae growth
in a system, but there are a number of other biological and
chemical issues at play here. You need appropriate herbivores
in the system, you generally need a good meiofauna population,
and you need to get a handle on any excess nutrients in the tank
before you will be able to resolve a nuisance algae issue.

--
--