Reef Builder

[Rcpilot]

I'll read my bottle again, but I'm pretty sure I quoted it correctly the first time.

How old is your bottle? I bought one bottle about 6 months ago and another about 2 weeks ago. They both read identical.

[daugherty]

[Piggy]

Man I didn't mean to start a big arguement. Here are my readings if that will help

PH- 8.2
ALK-2.2 meq/L
Nitries- 0
Nitrates- 0
Ammonia- 0
Iodine-.06
Calcium- 400
Magnesium- 1250
Salinity- 1.025
Temp- 78.8

I plan on doing a water change tomorrow. Going to test saltwater before I put it in the tank to see what the readings are.

[daugherty]

what salt do you use piggy?

[Piggy]

Instant Ocean. I'm thinking of switching to something else.

[daugherty]

i use oceanic and it is low in alk also i think the last time i tested it it was 2.8 and i just added some builder to bring it up.

[Piggy]

I've added builder for several days and still can't get my Alk up. Could I've gotten a bad bottle? I used over half already. I already tried a different testing kit.

[daugherty]

try doing a few large water changes you may have a chemical imbalance that will not allow it to change.

[Rcpilot]

I was wrong. I must have been seeing things when I quoted the bottle. Here it is.



That still doesn't change my mind about using Reef Buffer in my tank. I have (thought) the exact same problem in my tank. I have Alk that creeps down very low. The pH is also low. The calcium is high. It makes complete sense to me why the calcium is off the chart high. I keep it stable now with the Reef Buffer. It raises the Alk. It raises the pH (a problem piggy doesn't seam to have) but not more than about 8.4 It will raise the Alk as high as you want to go if you keep dumping it in there. As the Alk and pH come up (mostly the alk I think), the Calcium automatically drops.

I concede the point. I was reading the label wrong, I didn't see the part where piggy posted that her pH was 8.3. I assumed she also had low pH, because it sounded just like my problem. My intentions were to help her. Had I read the thread and my label a little closer, I'd have known that.

I admit when I'm wrong. Truce Fatman?

[Piggy]

Thanks guys. I tested my freshly made up saltwater. Here is what I got.

PH- 8.1
Alk- 3meq/l
Calcium- 375
Magnesium- 1025

So tomarrow I'm going to do a water change. Should I add anything or just leave it as is?