best way to adjust high alk and low nutrients?

[Jcon82]

My alk is always over 11.5. No3 is always 2ppm and Po4 is always 0.03pm. My corals are suffering so I need to adjust. I've deemed the big bucket of Reef crystals to be part of the problem so I ordered a lower Alk Aqua Forest mix that should be in this week.

So if my goal is to lower alk and raise nutrients I figure I have two options:

1. Stop weekly water changes and watch alk lower and nutrients raise naturally.
2. Change 10% of water with lower alk salt mix weekly and dose some kind of no3 and po4.

My corals don't seem to be consuming alk too rapidly since they are pretty sad right now. I test Alk 2-3 times a week and it only fluctuates by .5dkh at the most over 7 days.

But my nutrients are so low mostly due to weekly 12.5% water changes. Should adding nutrients take priority over adjusting Alk? I'm really not sure and dont want to loose any corals.

Salt should be in on Thursday and I'm stopping at my LFS this afternoon to get a nitrate/phosphate solution just to have on hand.

 

[T-J]

What size tank? How many fish/inverts? Pics of tank? Have you tested your fresh saltwater for its alk level and also verified your alk with LFS or another test kit?
The easiest way to raise nutrients is to feed more. More food is more fish poop. Plus, most foods (especially pellets and frozen) have a lot of phosphate in them.
You can also do waterchanges to help lower alk, or let it naturally settle over a few weeks.
I haven't done a waterchange in about 8 months. I just dose supplements.

 

[Jcon82]

What size tank? How many fish/inverts? Pics of tank? Have you tested your fresh saltwater for its alk level and also verified your alk with LFS or another test kit?
The easiest way to raise nutrients is to feed more. More food is more fish poop. Plus, most foods (especially pellets and frozen) have a lot of phosphate in them.
You can also do waterchanges to help lower alk, or let it naturally settle over a few weeks.
I haven't done a waterchange in about 8 months. I just dose supplements.

Its a 40 breeder with a hob filter. its stocked with 2 clowns, 1 firefish, 1 carpenters wrasse, 4 chromis, 1 starfish and 20 various snails. I get my RODI water from a trusted LFS. It measures 0 TDS but I don't test its alk. My saltwater mixes at 12dkh.

I feed frozen, flake, pellet, phyto feast and reef roids. I just pulled the chemipure blue out of the hob yesterday. I'm not sure if it actually removes nitrate but i want to see what happens.

I was dosing 2ml all for reef for several weeks but couldnt keep the alk below 12 so I slowly stopped using it. The corals were very happy then but I wasnt comfortable with the alk levels. If I can keep my alk around 8 then I may start dosing it again

 

[T-J]

Ok, so I reread your original post and saw you are using Reef Crystals. Yeah, that's your problem. It mixes to 12-13dkh. Switching salts and doing WC's should bring you down to the 8 range.

 

[Jcon82]

Ok, so I reread your original post and saw you are using Reef Crystals. Yeah, that's your problem. It mixes to 12-13dkh. Switching salts and doing WC's should bring you down to the 8 range.

Thanks, I'm trying to be patient but I'm worried about my corals. Would you think temporarily raising no3 and po4 for the few weeks it'll take to lower my alk is wise?

 

[T-J]

Thanks, I'm trying to be patient but I'm worried about my corals. Would you think temporarily raising no3 and po4 for the few weeks it'll take to lower my alk is wise?

If your Nitrate and Phosphate are bottomed out, then yes, get some in the tank. If the corals are suffering from 3 things, at least you can get two of them in check while you lower your alk.

 

[Flux Capacitor]

Go with option 1

No need to make drastic changes. You could feed a little more to bring up the nutrients, but I wouldn’t go overboard or make major adjustments.

 

[Jcon82]

If your Nitrate and Phosphate are bottomed out, then yes, get some in the tank. If the corals are suffering from 3 things, at least you can get two of them in check while you lower your alk.

Do you have any suggestions for beginner friendly No3 and Po4 dosing? I was looking into TM NP Plus but I'm not sure if my LFS has it in stock

 

[SPS2020]

IMO, if you just keep things the way they are and let the Alk come down by itself (i.e., no water changes), you should be fine. Your NO3 and PO4 seem to be fine; I wouldn't dose anything to change those values...just keep feeding as mentioned above.

 

[xCry0x]

That is the best picture I could get quickly of what high alk on low nutrients causes. The growth of the left and center pieces of the milipora is completely white.

(This was from me running 11 alk since I had algae growing everywhere and assumed I had high nutrients... )

 

[X-37B]

Yea just let alk come down on its own. You dont need new salt as you can lower the alk of reef crystals by adding acid. I use sodium bisulfate.