So I haven’t been dosing to this point but a couple days ago I noticed my frogspawn showing s little skeleton but I thought nothing of it since I was about to do a water change. I did the water change on Sunday today is Monday and my alkalinity is already at 6.4. I didn’t test after my water change but I use fritz pro rpm made from my LFS and it typically goes to about 8.3. How can I correct this? On hand I have two little fishies two part but no dosing pump. I was thinking to adjust a couple of point now then in the morning and then finally tomorrow night.... do you think this would be okay?
Help adjusting alk
- Thread starter Nano Gabe
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I have no idea what I’m doing as far as the calculations of the amount of mls I need to bring it back to 8.3 so I added 5mls which is just half of the amount they recommend starting with daily. I’ll test in the morning and add more if needed.
So it went from 6.4 to 7 with the 5mls this morning. I added another 5 mls which should bring it close to 7.6 when I get home I’ll add the last dose of 5mls to get it back to 8.3. Also tonight I’ll test for calcium to see if that’s low. Then I just need to figure out a maintenance dose.
Alexreefer
Coral, Coral, Coral!!!
Dose slowly. You don't want to raise it to fast. Test and then get back to us with all your params.
So I raised it up to 8.6 which is a little higher then my normal (8.3) and I didn’t do anything to the calcium it has stayed at a stable 440. That was honestly the weirdest thing I don’t know what caused my alk to drop so fast I have added nothing to my tank at all and I don’t usually dose. My frogspawn and Duncan corals seem to have been affected the most everything else seems to be okay but I’m going to be testing my water everyday to make sure everything is good.
mta_morrow
Of course I have room for 1 more fish!
I still dose daily, manually. Eventually I will get a dozer.
Try not to raise alk by more than 1 over a 24 hour period.
I have 141 gallons total water volume and I will increase 1 over 3-5 days.
Try not to raise alk by more than 1 over a 24 hour period.
I have 141 gallons total water volume and I will increase 1 over 3-5 days.
Loggerhead
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Alk swing will kill your corals faster than low alk does. I personally raise mine no more than .5 per day. Definitely no more than 1 like mta_morrow said. Anything above that and you risk serious damage or death to your corals.
IslandLifeReef
Valuable Member
Like @Alexreefer said, go slow. Now that your Alk is 8.6, you need to wait for at least two days to see what your tank is consuming. Unless you have a lot of SPS and coraline algae everywhere, you shouldn't see that much of a drop. After two days, test your water for Alk. Subtract that number from 8.6 and then divide by two. That is your daily Alk consumption. You already know that 5 ml raises your Alk 0.6 dKh, so 1 ml raises your Alk 0.12 dKh.
My guess is something was wrong with the water you used for the water change. Did you confirm that SG? Did you use a refractometer or a hydrometer?
I bought my water from the store... but it is strange that it dropped so much out of no where I didn’t add any additional corals or anything. So yeah very strange, also after the correction my alk has been stable at 8.6 hasn’t dropped at all which is pretty normal for my tank(hardly any SPS) which is why I wasn’t dosing. My guess is that there was something wrong with the water. I’m doing a water change tomorrow but I’m definitely going to test the water myself before doing the change.
Kyuss414
Active Member
Some salt seems to drop alk after it mixes if sits awhile.
Also for future reference this reef calculator is invaluable for dosing Alk/Ca/Mg. Enter your total water volume, your current level and desired level, and which supplement you're using (I see two little fishies in the list) and it's measurements have been accurate for me.
http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html
Also for future reference this reef calculator is invaluable for dosing Alk/Ca/Mg. Enter your total water volume, your current level and desired level, and which supplement you're using (I see two little fishies in the list) and it's measurements have been accurate for me.
http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html
Kyuss414
Active Member
Some salt seems to drop alk after it mixes if sits awhile.
Also for future reference this reef calculator is invaluable for dosing Alk/Ca/Mg. Enter your total water volume, your current level and desired level, and which supplement you're using (I see two little fishies in the list) and it's measurements have been accurate for me.
http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html
Also for future reference this reef calculator is invaluable for dosing Alk/Ca/Mg. Enter your total water volume, your current level and desired level, and which supplement you're using (I see two little fishies in the list) and it's measurements have been accurate for me.
http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html
ZoWhat
7500 Club Member
THERE'S YOUR PROBLEM DUDE.
I'd bet money they screwed up and gave you pure RODI water with no salt in it. Or a very weak premix of 1.010 SG or smthg.
I'd forever start asking them to prove to you its 1.024 premix via a refractometer BEFORE you leave the store!!
I'd tell them your recent dilemma and see if they'll give you you next batch for free.
Curious: why aren't you making your own salt water? I would think having to go to the store for premix would be a time waste and cumbersome......
You are completely correct I had my suspicions but I trusted this store as it is a small locally run LFS that constantly makes fresh batches of water. So although I thought there was no way they could mess up the next week I went to get my water from them again. When I got home I tested the water before I added it in and the reading came up at an alk of 5.7 and salinity of 1.023..... I told the store and they did right I explained that my frogspawn took a hit and they let me pick out a free coral (green torch). Also they replaced my water with a fresh water that they tested before they gave to me. I buy my water because I live in an apartment and don’t really feel like setting up an rodi system under my bathroom sink in case we move and I would have to store water which I don’t have much room for. Also I don’t want to spend the money up front even though I know it would pay for itself in the long run. All in all green I’ve learned my lesson and will definitely be at least testing their water for salinity before I add it.
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