Alkalinity adjustments.

[Echoplex]

Hello all,

I have been using Red Sea coral pro salt, as such my alkalinity is around 10.2

I want to bring this down and use the Red Sea blue bucket which should mix at my target of 8.5.

My question is how quickly can I allow the corals to naturally use up the Alk without shocking the system? I was thinking about .1 DKH down per day till I hit target. I would keep my dosing going to maintain the .1 drop a day and check with the Hanna every night.

Does this strategy seems sound?

I currently keep a mixed reef, Acros, Torches, Acans, montis, zoas, and a few other LPS.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I'm not sure what you mean by dosing to maintain an alk drop of .1 per day.

I would let the alk come down naturally instead of trying to lower it by water changes, over time it will naturally come down.

You can test your tank daily to know how much alk it consumes daily.

 

[Echoplex]

I'm not sure what you mean by dosing to maintain an alk drop of .1 per day.

I would let the alk come down naturally instead of trying to lower it by water changes, over time it will naturally come down.

You can test your tank daily to know how much alk it consumes daily.

 

[Echoplex]

I'm not sure what you mean by dosing to maintain an alk drop of .1 per day.

I would let the alk come down naturally instead of trying to lower it by water changes, over time it will naturally come down.

You can test your tank daily to know how much alk it consumes daily.

turning off the dosing would shock the system 100% these corals drop ALK way to fast to let it naturally drop. It would be at 8.5 in like 4 days from 10.2. I have to dose to keep the drop controlled. The last time my doser git accidentally turned off it went from 10.2 to 9.4 in 3 days. It caused STN on my acros and was not a fun time

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I also use coral pro salt black bucket. Today I did my water change and alk went from 8.5 to 9.3. I turned off my doser for today and from experience I know to turn it back on tomorrow morning to keep it going at 8.5. This has worked for me for years, but it took me a long time of trial and error to figure it out.

From what you said it sounds similar to me, skip one day dose then start again. Or maybe I misunderstood?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Letting alk drop 0.1 or 0.2 dKH per day is plenty slow enough, in my opinion. :)

 

[Echoplex]

Letting alk drop 0.1 or 0.2 dKH per day is plenty slow enough, in my opinion. :)

That's how I felt but I am also very new to this. Thanks too both of you for the advice.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You’re welcome.

Let us know how things go. :)