alkalinity high what should i do

[billy1724]

i was adding the 2 part calcium alkalinity reactor and now my alk is high around 16dkh any ideas. i added water last night and i havent checked it since . is it possible i got a false read from testing to soon after i added the reactor?

[GSMguy]

Add more calcium will lower you alk.

[Kip]

adding Ca... that will force precipitation (if your pH is high enough, you could get a major precip event that will crash your chemistry)

i'd do a large water change... test again... and maybe do another

if your pH gets to 8.4-8.5 at 16dkh... you will start seeing MgCO3 and/or CaCO3 precip

[jeffbrig]

I wouldn't add Ca to encourage precipitation.

First off, see if you can verify your measurement with a different test kit. You may not be as high as you think. Even if you are, alkalinity should fall pretty quickly as it's used up by things in the tank (my system consumes about 1dKH per day). If nothing is showing adverse affects, I'd be tempted to just stop dosing and wait it out for a few days. If you start to see any problems, be ready with the water changes.

I've heard of people running tanks as high as 12-14dKH to combat algae, but I typically target 10-11 in my own system.

[broke1]

There should be some kind of sticky on top that says, "If water chemistry is ever in question, first thing is to prep for water change".

Any time I have anything that tested unusually high, a moderately sized water change took care of the symptom, whatever caused it in the first place never showed it's ugly head again.

I was of no use to you on this, sorry. It just seems to always be the first step.

[frags75]

I agree to stop dosing and let it come down on its own. I had the same problem when I first started my reactor. My alk was high as 18dkh. I turned the reactor off for a few days and let it come down on its own. Then do a water change and test params. You may want to dose every other day depending on consumption rates.

[five.five-six]

if you are not seeing any ill effects, I would just curtail your dosing until it comes back down. I would recommend against any drastic measures. a 25% WC could be in order, however do not go nuts, a precipitation event or massive WC can cause far worse problems than the 16dkh,