alk dkh reading high

[AAMMAJ]

Hi i just set up my mrc cr-1 calcreactor and i have the seachem dkh test kit it says add one drop shake then add another drop one at a time until it turns from bright blue to bright yellow, mine stayed at bright blue till i got to 20 then I just stopped and thought that maybe it is because I just set it up, I have the effluent drip rate prettyslow and effluent ph is 7. does anyone know why alk is so high.
thanks

[dragon_slayer]

are you measuring the alk of the effluent? if so it's supposed to be high, that the intended reasoning for using the reactor.

with 100% saturation of CO2 your Alk will be in excess of 25 dKH with 35+ being ideal.

kc

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Even if you are measuring the tank, maybe you just need to add more of the titrant in the kit. What alkalinity does 20 drops correspond to?

[AAMMAJ]

20 drops corresponds to 20 dkh, also i am measuring tank alk, did it again today and it was 21, calcium was 375, would a water change lower the alk.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

A water change would help. You could just maintain calcium over time with calcium chloride and the alkalinity will come down on its own.

If the level got that high with the reactor, I'd back off on the reactor bubble rate.

These articles may help:


Solving Calcium and Alkalinity Problems
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

Simon Huntington's CaCO3/CO2 reactor article
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/sh/feature/index.htm

[dragon_slayer]

This Thread (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=280512&perpage=25&pagenumber=2) you might find helpful in how to adjust your CaCO3/CO2 reactor to your system, i typed the setup for a Korallin but it's the same for any reactor.

kc

[AAMMAJ]

i read the articles but what can i do to lower the alk and raise the calcium

[dragon_slayer]

water changes are the quickest and safest way to lower the Alk, using a Ca only based booster to bring up Ca is your best bet there, Turbo Ca (Ca Chloride) is an excellent choice or just the Ca part of a 2 part additive.

kc

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

i read the articles but what can i do to lower the alk and raise the calcium

The first article that I linked above tells you exactly how to do that with calcium chloride.