Alkalinity Question

ReefHog10

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My 32 gallon tank (~ 25 gallon water volume after accounting for equipment and rock), is ~ 9 months old and is filled with mostly soft and lps corals (and a few monti-caps / birdsnest corals I received as "freebies"). I have consistently done a 5 gallon water change weekly and plan to continue. I have always used pre-mixed imagitarium salt water and it has consistently been a pH of 8-8.2 and salinity of 1.024-1.025 and have had good tank results to date with slow, but noticeable coral growth.

I wanted to improve my testing and have just upgraded to a Hannah Alkalinity checker and have noticed some inconsistencies I was not expecting. Upon receiving my checker last week, I tested a batch of fresh water and it was 8.1 dkh. Testing my tank daily and it has consistently held 8.2-8.4 dkh. I was surprised this morning when I tested a new batch of fresh water to find that is is reading an alkalinity of 11.4 (pH 8 / salinity 1.025). I'm confused as to how to proceed but am mostly curious regarding how much of a difference it will make long term. Is it more important to have alkalinity "present" at appropriate levels or will swings between say 8 and 11 cause issues?

Secondly, I'm seeing conflicting advised on whether or not adding a supplement such as "all for reef" will help stabilize the alkalinity levels or will it just continue to raise it beyond appropriate levels?
 

World Citizen

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Forget about AllforReef for the moment. First understand the Alk part.

There are 3 types of water
- Fresh water from the tap
- Osmosis water from your filter
- Seawater with salt.

What do you mean with "Fresh water" ?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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The alk won’t swing much unless you do large water changes. What salt mix are you using?

There’s no reason to dose All for Reef or any alk supplement if alk is stable at 8 dKH.
 
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ReefHog10

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It is pre-made "filtered" saltwater (imagitarium is the brand). Comes in 5 gallon boxes and so my weekly water change is easy - I've always checked the salinity and ph and it's been stable. At some point in the future I may begin making my own, but haven't had the need to as of yet. And while I've been happy with what I've seen, I've never checked alkalinity of the water until now so wasn't aware there were inconsistencies there. Just not sure if it even matters if its within the 8-12 range?
 

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It is pre-made "filtered" saltwater (imagitarium is the brand). Comes in 5 gallon boxes and so my weekly water change is easy - I've always checked the salinity and ph and it's been stable. At some point in the future I may begin making my own, but haven't had the need to as of yet. And while I've been happy with what I've seen, I've never checked alkalinity of the water until now so wasn't aware there were inconsistencies there. Just not sure if it even matters if its within the 8-12 range?

It would be odd if there where inconsistencies in this Pre-Made water. I rather think something went wrong with the testing. What does the container of this water say the levels are?

Just to be shure, can you watch a youtube video on how to use the Hanna tester, and test your water twice in a row? They should almost give you the same result.
 
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ReefHog10

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I thought the same thing - I tested the water (11.4), tested my tank (8.4) and then the water again (11.3). It really does seem to be the water. I'm probably over thinking this when I've used the water for 9 mos with no issue, but you know you always feel you can do something better, you know? Maybe this is a case of if you go looking for you problems, you'll find one. Ha
 

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