Alkalinity -help

adamsfour

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Seeking help
I am fighting a number of issues with my reef tank. It all started when I decided to remove a very large coral and frag it, keep the frags and pass the rest to my LFS. After that event I developed what best can be described as a build up of a white fiber coating the glass and any branching coral. Then I noticed that my alkalinity was rising despite me not adding any alkalinity solution. I had to leave town on business so trouble shooting from afar is a bit of a challenging. Finally I noticed that when I turned off all Dosing (Alk, Mag, Ca) the alkalinity has stopped rising and is slowly falling. I am at a total loss of what’s going on.
The tank is a 115 gallon tank 6 years old. Been basically very stable till now. As of today the reading are 12.50 alk ( it maxed at 13.00), 415 cal and 1330 Mag. I plan to measure phosphate and the other parameters when I get home as I suspect removal of coral ( and the live rock was temporarily removed) upset the balance.
Normal maintenance is 10 percent water change per week.

Thanks in advance for advise
 

King Turkey

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you just need to test to figure out new uptake test water daily than weekly intill you know what you are using/ dosing. CA and MG seem in normal levels what is the alk lvl? I would not worrie unless you are going above 500 Ca 9 alk and 1500 Mg.
 

SPR1968

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Those readings aren’t to bad (infact Calcium and Magnesium are about right) although the alkalinity is on the high side, but it could depend on what salt your using for water changes. Something like Red Sea Coral Pro for example mixes to higher than normal levels, alkalinity up to 12.6. I ran at these levels for over 12 months on the Accelerated growth program.

Otherwise as already said, just work out the new daily uptake of each element and adjust/reduce/stop as necessary.

Any time you remove or add corals the foundation element usage may change
 
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adamsfour

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Thanks, I guess my biggest concern is the accumulation of the white fiber coating the glass and any branching coral. When I was home I was able to easily keep up with it via small water change (between the normal water change). But that is not a fix but a Band-Aid. If I knew what it was I am confident I can resolve it but at this point I don't know if it an Algae, some form of either Calcium or Alkalinity precipitation, some stress release from my coals (I have heard they can release something similar) but clearly the chemistry is out of control. Has anyone every experience something similar
 

ihavecrabs

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Hey adamsfour,

Can you take a picture of the white fiber coating you are referring to? It sounds to me that something triggered the growth of this coating and it has hampered the uptake from corals which it has landed or taken up residence on. So the alkalinity uptick is a symptom of the white fiber.

If we can determine what that is and how to combat it, then it becomes a simple follow up on re-establishing your alkalinity dosing and testing for when your corals increase the uptake.
 
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adamsfour

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Thanks for the reply. What you stated certainly makes sense. As mentioned I am out of town but will try and get picture.
 
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