I am looking to lower my alkalinity from 12.2 to 8. I plan to do this using water changes of a lower alkalinity salt (8 dkh). Over what window should I do this to prevent a crash.
For context, I've only recently started regular testing of alkalinity as I had little in the tank that was taking it up and my normal water changes kept it stable at around 8.5. over Christmas I was away for 3 weeks and had my auto feeder set to a bit too heavy. This meant my nitrates were at around 60 and I had an algae outbreak. To combat this I did a whole bunch of water changes and installed a refugium at last.
Having decided to start looking at some more difficult corals I decided to understand in more detail what my alkalinity usage looked like. Upon testing I found it to suddenly have jumped to 12.2. I eventually narrowed this down to being due to a bad batch of salt - my blue bucket was mixing to 12.0 and my calcium and mag were also high.
I have verified both my salinity (Hanna electronic and red sea refractometer, both fresh calibrated) and my alkalinity (Hanna and salifert) so feel confident in my conclusion. That said if I have missed anything please do tell.
For context, I've only recently started regular testing of alkalinity as I had little in the tank that was taking it up and my normal water changes kept it stable at around 8.5. over Christmas I was away for 3 weeks and had my auto feeder set to a bit too heavy. This meant my nitrates were at around 60 and I had an algae outbreak. To combat this I did a whole bunch of water changes and installed a refugium at last.
Having decided to start looking at some more difficult corals I decided to understand in more detail what my alkalinity usage looked like. Upon testing I found it to suddenly have jumped to 12.2. I eventually narrowed this down to being due to a bad batch of salt - my blue bucket was mixing to 12.0 and my calcium and mag were also high.
I have verified both my salinity (Hanna electronic and red sea refractometer, both fresh calibrated) and my alkalinity (Hanna and salifert) so feel confident in my conclusion. That said if I have missed anything please do tell.