Emergency My Alk is at 12 after changing 50%. Need help to bring down ASAP

[nano reef]

I use Fritz blue line and this last 160 lbs has been consistently mixing high! One tank was at 10 and the other 11 without any dosing! I just did a 50% water change and now it went from 10 to 12 at 1026 salnity! I am fixing to lower the salinty to 1024. Should I do it slowly or since they are freaking do it in all at once? My 24 kt gold torch is dying! Most zoas, shrooms arent opening much. Some others lps seem unaffected.

I need to bring it down asap! someone suggested sodium bisulfate and someone else muratic acid. I want o use whatever is less risky! Hopefully i can get it delivered off amazon tomorrow. What else can I use that my lfs might carry? I read something that red sea makes.

Any other suggestions? PLease help. I have a lot of high end shrooms in there!

Also How can I help my dying torch? It went downhill fast! I feed it resor last night, probably should have done that but I recently discovered it opened up zoa polyps that I had just bought and hadnt opened in 10 days!

 

[TX_REEF]

I don't think you want to bring it down ASAP, sudden changes are stability's worst enemy (obviously). Are you using a high alk salt mix? I can't think of anything else other than targeted additives that would cause a jump like that, especially if all you did was a water change.

How long have you had your torch? Was it happy before? Any system pics?

 

[00W]

A few unknowns here.
I'm assuming it's a smaller tank? You didn't say.
12 isn't bad it's the jump up they don't like so don't jump down they won't like that either.
Not sure why you did a 50 percent change in the first place.
Don't know at what original alk they were happy?
Call your LFS and ask what salts they carry. I'm sure they can tell you what the supposed alk of each one is once mixed.
Remember. Large changes to small bodies of water create problems so bring the alk down slowly, trying not to change everything all at once.
Go online and check for the composition of aquarium salt mixes and you should find a chart telling you what each one supposedly mixes up at.
Do slow small water changes with a low alk salt and you're golden. IO supposedly mixes to 11 but I can't ever get it to test past 9,so there's a lot of wiggle room there.
I don't know anything about adding chemicals to anything so can't help there.
Try not to create more problems by doing something drastic and keep calm.
They'll get used to 12 and it will go down on it's own.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

12 dKH is not an emergency and may be fine.

 

[ReefingDreams]

12 dKH is not an emergency and may be fine.

Agree. Your torch is having issues for other reasons. It may just be sulking a bit. Was the new water you added temperature matched to your tank? How recently had it been mixed? What prompted a 50% water change in the first place?

 

[nano reef]

Thanks evryone! I am an idiot! I go post this then before I have a chance to read I do something drastic! i probably should have redid the hanna checker alk reading but I know its been running at around 10 for a while and I usually keep salinty 1025. My salinity does fluctuate because I cant keep skimmer running and dont have an ato. I just got one though so hopefully that will keep skimmer running and me trying to figure out exact top off amounts to keep it running!

Anyway, I took out some water and added more rodi and it brought it down to 10 at 1023 salinity! So then seemed like my torch got worse so I added more water and salt but still sitting at 1023 (surprised)

I have a 20 nuvo aio. I am about to run out of salt soon but leary of Fritz now! I called them and they said they guarantee their salt (to bad I threw the box away) They also said I shouldnt just change 100 percent to a new salt but add small amounts of new salt with old until they get used to it and gradually increase. Salt is to dang expensive for me to buy 2 brands right now!

Do yall think its OK to keep my salinity at 1023 or should I gradually up it to 1024 then 1025?

Fritz blue says it mixes at 8.5 HA! I googled it and there are many posts on here of people claiming there getting 13 alk though. How do I know I wont have the same problem with another salt?

At least Fritz guarantees! I used to use reef crystals and after switching I swore I would never use anything but Fritz! It mixes clear in 20 minutes or so ! PLus I used to pay 36 bucks for reef crystals for 200 gallons and now its about the same price as Fritz!

Can anyone recommend a salt that consistently mixes at 9.5 or close? Fritz runs about 82 bucks for 4 40 lb bags so dont want to go much higher but If this next batch gives me problems I am switching!

Not sure what to do in the mean time. I dont have to dose or anything! Wierd thing is when I used reef crystal I had to dose! My corals were even smaller then too!

I will add torch pic tomorrow. Its 1:30 am and To tired to download! LOL

 

[Macbalacano]

I know this won't help your current situation, but I would definitely recommend testing Alk of the new saltwater prior to putting it in your tank. I have a 15 gallon tank and was shocked to see my Alk had dipped to 5.3 dKh over the past couple of weeks. I did a 20% water change and got it up to 6.3 dKh. But definitely had me thinking that I'll be checking the salt on new water as well before I put it in the tank. With smaller tanks, small changes have big impacts!

If I was in your situation, I would lower the alk over 2 days and nothing immediate. I think that would just make it worse. I think 1 Dkh per day up or down is probably the max one should try to do. Anything more may stress things out even more imho.

 

[nano reef]

12 dKH is not an emergency and may be fine.A lot of my corals are reacting negatively. Mushrooms not anywhere near as bubbly and not fully opened same with zoas. My torch is a goner now and seemed ok before but never opened like my indos do. Its a wierd fat body torch!! I forot to send this the other day.I have dinos in a different tank. PO4 nor nitates is low! have been treating with uv and mb7 and they are no longer stingy and web like. Is that normal? Does that mean I am getting somwhere? I have corals coming in soon! I keep putting him off. When is it safe to do a water hange? I am now going to start adding dr times refresh for 3 day then mb7 after then back to mb7. Thats his recipe(dr tims) but substituting mb 7 for waste away. I ordered more Fritz salt and scared it will be high i alk again. What can I do to bring it down if it is? I am going to attch dino pics and wha they look like now