pH affected by Calc Alk

[porpoiseaquatics]

I'd like for somebody to explain this whole cycle to me. I'm dosing Kalk via a stirrer with my top off water. My CA is only about 400 right now (gradually increasing it). I'm also dosing Alk via a dosing pump and BRS Alkalinity. Alk is running around 2.5 (I know...it needs to come up...that's why I'm dosing). I've noticed that when either of these are dosed...my pH climbs pretty dramatically and at one point was as high as 8.65. Even right now, it's 8.45 and I've not dosed Kalk in 3 days.

I don't understand the relationship and how one can increase CA and Alk without raising pH. What am I doing wrong?

 

[rdnelson]

What is you mag level? If it isn't in the 1350 range you may trigger an ionic imbalance.


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[bpitts4]

Tagging along. Interested in the relationship between all three.

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[russ-iv]

your dkh is 2.5?

My calcium is too high (700) and dkh is 12 (was 14) and mag 1500 (little high) and i still have an 8.0 ph

Edit: i believe alk keeps ph down btw

 

[ralph atl]

Let me regurgitate some info

 

[ff337]

Recalibrate your probe.

 

[jimmystephens]

Alk raises ph.

Edit: Ur mag needs ti stay around 1350. Cal and alk work in conjunction with mag. I bet ur mag is way off.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

JimmyStephens;874994 wrote: Alk raises ph.

Edit: Ur mag needs ti stay around 1350. Cal and alk work in conjunction with mag. I bet ur mag is way off.

Mg was at 1250 (and rising) but I didn't test it last week. I will test everything today and post here.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

So here is today's readings:

pH - 8.0
CA - 400 pp
Alk - 3.0 meg/L
Mg - 1125 ppm

So it looks like I could use slightly higher numbers in all categories. I tested pH with 2 different kits and got the same reading so I'm confident that is correct and it would appear my monitor needs recalibration for sure. I'm increasing my Alk dosing and just added a CA booster to get that to increase them I'll rely on the Kalk stirrer to help keep it there. Next chore is to add Mg to my doser. I've got everything, just need to hook it up.

How's all that sound?

 

[rdnelson]

If it were me, I would get mag up first and then bring the CA and ALK up to where you want them. The mag helps to prevent loosing the balance.

 

[acroholic]

If you need to add a lot of magnesium to get your levels up, keep an eye on your SG, it can raise it some.

 

[jimmystephens]

I would start with 35% weekly water changes (ur levels arent bad except alk.) And cont to dose to get levels right.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

What's the safest way to increase Mg?

 

[jimmystephens]

Something is obviously off in ur water. If u try to raise ur alk it will also raise ur ph up to high. ur mag isnt that low. I would do big water changes and then start dosing afterwards.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

Ok...I did a 20g water change this morning. I'm going to do another one at the end of the week. In the meantime, I've shutting down all dosing. Hopefully that will "reset" where I should be and I can dose from there.

 

[jimmystephens]

Sounds good. Keep us posted