High alk

kharn101 · Jun 4, 2021

Hello all,
My alk is normally at 8.6-8.8. I had a dosing error and my alk is now at 11.8. Do I do a water change or let it naturally fall. I don’t want any coral to bleach. My instinct is to let it fall naturally then do a water change once it is down to 8.6. Any thoughts or advise?

Camaro Show Corals · Jun 4, 2021

kharn101 said:
Hello all,
My alk is normally at 8.6-8.8. I had a dosing error and my alk is now at 11.8. Do I do a water change or let it naturally fall. I don’t want any coral to bleach. My instinct is to let it fall naturally then do a water change once it is down to 8.6. Any thoughts or advise?

Acros do not Bleach from alk issues, they RTN/STN. They bleach from too much light especially quickly. You should let it fall naturally then continue your regular dosing. I’d hold off on the water change until your back on regular dosing for a
Week.

Camaro Show Corals · Jun 4, 2021

You most likely will have some burnt tips unless you have very high nutrients

kharn101 · Jun 4, 2021

phosphate is at 0.03 ppm last time I checked. Want to avoid rtn at all costs

blasterman · Jun 4, 2021

We talking about acropora or montipora? Bid difference in terms of sensitivity.

If your alk falls quickly then just let it fall on it's own. dKH is not *that* big a deal unless your tank is used to 7.0 and ULN.

If you're paranoid.....and that's perfectly acceptable state to be in with SPS, muriatic acid can be safely used to drop alk. Done this many times myself after dosing pump errors and it's discussed occasionally in the chemistry forum here. Doesn't take much. Half teaspoons at a time for anything over 50gal.