Are ALK swings incorrectly being blamed for SPS issues?

[Waters]

When you are having issues with your SPS, regardless of what the problem is, the first thing you do is check your ALK levels. Normally at this point, they are higher than what you normally keep them at. The school of thought is to say the ALK swing caused your RTN/STN. I have found that it is important to pay attention to when the issues started. If something else caused your SPS issues, the coral will stop growing and stop consuming ALK and Calcium, causing these levels to rise (assuming your dosing doesn't change). The ALK swings are not the cause (in this case) of your SPS problems but a by-product of their stunted growth. Can ALK swings cause RTN/STN.....of course......but that isn't always the reason :)

 

[Fritzhamer]

I think ALK is an easy parameter to have “walk”. Most people (myself included) don’t test daily. I’ve been at this long enough to be able to look at the tank and get a decent gauge on where everything is parameter wise. I think most people get here after awhile.

To your point though I agree that a high ALK isn’t necessarily the cause. Yes your ALK may be high but it may have been high for months now. I know some great tanks that run at almost double my ALK. I think stability is more important than chasing “optimum” parameter values.