J & Jr Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 a quick question my water ithink is ok all in all Ph 8.1, Trites,Trates, Amonia 0.0, Cal. 440is this to high? PO4 0.1 all of these have stayed the same preety much for the last 3 months but the kh which started at10.2 has slowly worked its way down to 8.6 is this OK or should I be doing something? what do I do and where should it be(scratch) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 Looks good although the PO4 might end up contributing to some algae. How old is the tank? Calcium is right on, looks like you have something taking in alk. I would monitor alk daily and dose some baking soda to try and keep it around 8-9dKH. Continue to monitor it until you have a good dosing scheme down. I was dosing baking soda daily for 2 years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J & Jr Posted September 20, 2006 Author Share Posted September 20, 2006 The tank has been set up for about 3 yrs I got it about 4-5 months ago it was in bad shape,filthy and trates off the chart with water changes every 2 to 3 days for about 2 weeks it calmed down and has been stedy except for the KH, how much do you dose its a 55 gal tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 I'm dosing about 1 tablespoon of Kent Coral Builder daily as I try and raise the alk in my 60gal+15gal sump to 10. I dose about half that to keep steady. Sorry, no clue how that relates to baking soda :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Its similar to baking soda. I was dosing about 2 teaspoons a day in my 29gal. But it is packed with corals. Start out with maybe 1/2 teaspoon and see how the alk reacts. You also need to keep track of your calcium, the 2 are directly affected. Keep a log for a few weeks, that has helped me out many times. Also note that baking soda may slightly depress your pH. You can use something like Kent Superbuffer that will not depress pH, or you can spread the baking soda out on a baking sheet and cook it in the oven for an hour to drive off excess co2, now you have washing soda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 If you have trouble raising the Alk, might also check magnesium -- if Mg is low, it'll depress Alkalinity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly guy Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Also note that baking soda may slightly depress your pH. You can use something like Kent Superbuffer that will not depress pH, or you can spread the baking soda out on a baking sheet and cook it in the oven for an hour to drive off excess co2, now you have washing soda THAT is how you really want to use baking soda in your tank........NOT straight out of the box Personally i use Kent superbuffer, but im lazy. : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 I had great success using the Kent superbuffer too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J & Jr Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 thanks for all the advise, I will bake the soda and try it till I can get to the LFS and get the Kent coralbuilder or super buffer, I can't check the mag as I don't have a kit for it yet no one mentioned that kit when I was buying kits:eek: thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Unless you have a lot of SPS, Mg probably isn't a problem. I wouldn't worry too much about it, certainly not enough to spend $30 on a kit. If you have trouble increasing your Alk you might take a water sample to a LFS and ask them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J & Jr Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 thanks for the advise I could realy use the money on setting up the new 75gal its amasing how much it takes to set up a new tank right even if you make your own stand, sump /fuge hood and cabnets my wife asked me if I was starting a cabnet shop and did she get the first set(wife) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Yah with regular WCs, Mg will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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