I need help understanding alkalinity

Stephen8169301

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I look around online to try and understand this because I need to start dosing and see if someone can explain It easily lol

i use redsea it tested to around 6 last week now I’m at 4.5dkh this week super low accurate I’m not sure

if I were to start dosing can I just dose alk and not mess with other prams?

I’m getting rodi water made now to mix salt and test my instant reef crystals alk then day by day I will test my levels after water change to determine consumption

so the main question can i just dose alk

I’m a potato lol sorry
 

Saltyreef

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Your parameters are likely extremely unstable and in need of attention more than alk.

Judging by your past posts and being seemingly new to reefing, you would benefit greatly from getting your water change husbandry in check.
Your alk is extremely low and why your corals are losing tissue very quickly.

You need to find a good refractometer or hydrometer (i reccomend the miluakee for digitial refractometer and tropic marin for hydrometer)

Get your salinity in check as that will determine your baseline for mixing ratios in the future when you are truly ready to dose.

Also, you should use a basic salt for now such as regular instant ocean as reef crystals mixes up at 10dkh.

A salt that mixes closer to NSW around 7-8 while you do weekly water changes will be better for you as you learn.

Once you get 100% of the water changed to the correct salinity and are doing weekly water changes, you should be testing for alk, ca, mag to get a better idea of keeping these 3 elements stable along with the same salinity and temp.
 
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Stephen8169301

Stephen8169301

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@Saltyreef all do respect i can see what your saying about salt I would disagree on that part I’ve been running 1.026 since the start and always checking I went from weekly water changes to expanding two weeks 5gal each time while I have great coral growth the only one that hasn’t really grown a new head is my frogspawn coral but the 2heads I have look great to me I also bring my water to get checked at lfs once a month so now I’m trying to learn the dosing side of things to help maintain prams and lessen water change intervals to keep a stable system
 

Troylee

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If your alk is really 4.5 be careful doing a water change with reef crystals! It has a very high alk around 12 I just recently changed to regular io for that reason.. change like a gallon a day or something! Dont do a large one at once..
 
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Stephen8169301

Stephen8169301

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If your alk is really 4.5 be careful doing a water change with reef crystals! It has a very high alk around 12 I just recently changed to regular io for that reason.. change like a gallon a day or something! Dont do a large one at once..
@Troylee I’m mixing up some salt today and will check before doing that
 

Saltyreef

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@Saltyreef all do respect i can see what your saying about salt I would disagree on that part I’ve been running 1.026 since the start and always checking I went from weekly water changes to expanding two weeks 5gal each time while I have great coral growth the only one that hasn’t really grown a new head is my frogspawn coral but the 2heads I have look great to me I also bring my water to get checked at lfs once a month so now I’m trying to learn the dosing side of things to help maintain prams and lessen water change intervals to keep a stable system
With all due respect to you, if you are not replenishing your elements back to the levels the salt provides with weekly water changes, you need to step up the amount of water you are changing, not reduce the frequency.
I can almost guarantee 100% that your coral bioload does not need the complexity of dosing to maintain your alk along with water changes using IORC.

What size tank?

You really should get a calcium and magnesium test kit.
 

brclark82

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while I do not have any other relevant info I can tell you that my batch of IO regular salt (not reef crystals) still mixes up right at 10 dKh
 
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Stephen8169301

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With all due respect to you, if you are not replenishing your elements back to the levels the salt provides with weekly water changes, you need to step up the amount of water you are changing, not reduce the frequency.
I can almost guarantee 100% that your coral bioload does not need the complexity of dosing to maintain your alk along with water changes using IORC.

What size tank?

You really should get a calcium and magnesium test kit.
@Saltyreef i have 33 long I do have mag and cal test kit my cal is about 480
 

Troylee

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Just checked says 1550 @Saltyreef this is with red sea
I’d re test your alk.. if your mag is good and your calcium,there’s no way for it to be that low.. or far off I should say.. I mean it’s possible in a full blown Sps reef that’s over grown but still doesn't seem right.
 
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Stephen8169301

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I’d re test your alk.. if your mag is good and your calcium,there’s no way for it to be that low.. or far off I should say.. I mean it’s possible in a full blown Sps reef that’s over grown but still flies t seem right.
Yeah I have 2 sps it’s all soft coral and leather I did just put a birds nest in there yesterday and a mont that’s the only 2
 

Saltyreef

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Just checked says 1550 @Saltyreef this is with red sea
What are you checking salinity with?
Have you performed SG, alk, cal and mag tests on your salt mix before pouring in your tank?

You are a bit skewed from normal.

You would want to be sure of all parameters before you dosed bicarbonate though is why i ask.
 
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Stephen8169301

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What are you checking salinity with?
Have you performed SG, alk, cal and mag tests on your salt mix before pouring in your tank?

You are a bit skewed from normal.

You would want to be sure of all parameters before you dosed bicarbonate though is why i ask.
See that I have not done and I use Red Sea to test alk I am however testing everything today once I get my water made up
 

Saltyreef

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See that I have not done and I use Red Sea to test alk I am however testing everything today once I get my water made up
Its just very odd why your alk test is coming up that low.

Can you see any expiration date on it?

Fwiw i use salifert as its the easiest and most accurate test to test.
I also test 3x to negate error. If its roughly the same i know my human variable is accurately testing.
 
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Stephen8169301

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Its just very odd why your alk test is coming up that low.

Can you see any expiration date on it?

Fwiw i use salifert as its the easiest and most accurate test to test.
I also test 3x to negate error. If its roughly the same i know my human variable is accurately testing.
So it’s 11 of 2023 I hear a lot about salifert being good so I may try that next
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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See that I have not done and I use Red Sea to test alk I am however testing everything today once I get my water made up

That's a critical test for you to know if the alk test may be faulty.
 

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