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Alkalinity
Alkalinity levels found in sea water are ~ 2.5 meq/L
Acceptable Alkalinity levels in your aquarium should be maintained between 3 and
5 meq/L
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Units of Measure: |
meq/L |
mg/L(ppm) |
dKH |
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Recommended Levels: |
3 - 5 |
150 - 250 |
8 - 14 |
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Ways to Control Alkalinity: |
- Powdered mix of bicarbonates, carbonates and chloride.
- Regular water changes with a good quality salt mix.
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Alkalinity results are
typically reported in meq/L, dKH and sometimes mg/L(ppm). You can use the
following Alkalinity conversion tool to convert between the three
units of measure:
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Alkalinity levels in your aquarium:
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Alkalinity is, simply stated, the measure of dissolved compounds in your aquarium
water that neutralize organic acids.
pH measurements check the current status of the acidity or alkalinity of your system.
It is possible to have a high pH combined with a low Alkalinity, so pH alone can
not be used to determine a solutions ability to deal with acids; Alkalinity measurements
are the indicator for this.
Though Alkalinity is an important parameter
in all systems, Alkalinity levels above 5 meq/L will likely result in undesirably
low Calcium levels for most reef systems. For this reason we recommend that a reef
system Alkalinity be maintained between 3 and 5 meq/L.
Although Calcium is an important element to maintain in both fish only and reef
systems, higher Alkalinity is recommended for fish only systems as the buffering
capacity of the water is more beneficial than optimum Calcium levels.
Understanding Alkalinity is best done with a simple experiment using products found
in the home.
You will need: Baking Soda, 3 bottle caps, a knife and white vinegar.
With the kitchen knife, add a small amount of Baking Soda to one bottle cap and
completely fill another. Fill the third bottle cap with white vinegar.
Into the cap with the least amount of sodium bicarbonate poor several drops of vinegar,
then poor about the same amount into the cap full of sodium bicarbonate.
The image above shows that there is still acid present and the image below shows
that the acid has been neutralized.
This is a very basic, non-scientific example of acid being neutralized by a base,
in this case sodium bicarbonate. Lab Aquatics Inc. does not encourage the use of
sodium bicarbonate alone as a method for maintaining the buffering capacity of your
aquarium water. Commercially available products containing bicarbonate, carbonates,
chloride and sulfate salts combined with weekly water changes are preferred.
Changing your alkalinity should be done gradually over time, the duration of which
will depend on the amount of change required.
We advise increasing Alkalinity by
no more than 1 meq/L over a six-day period.
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The Elements
Element Info.
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