Poll: Alkalinity

[UCF Alum]

So I’ve created a thread and I’d like to hear your thoughts and experiences with alkalinity. My tank is about 5 months old. I initially started running alk at 7.5-8, dosing ever hour. My LPS and softies looked good. I decided to increase the alk slightly and am now running 9.8. My LPS has never looked better. More polyp extension and my acans, blastos and lobos are puffier than ever. I plan on making this tank primarily a SPS tank here soon and I know I’ll have to lower my alk, but for now I’m loving the way the everything looks.

What are your thoughts and experiences with alkalinity and polyp extension?

 

[Crabs McJones]

I keep mine at around 8.5 and everything is thriving, my sps are growing like weeds

 

[Huff747]

I have 2 tanks currently, one of them runs ~8.5 and the other runs ~7.5. The corals in the 7.5 seem to be growing better/faster than the 8.5 but the 8.5 is doing well. They also have different lights and flow so I don't know whether to chalk it up to the alk alone or a combination of everything.

 

[mclark452]

Mine stays around 8.2 to 8.4 most of the time. Occasionally it will dip to 7.8 if I don't pay attention. I try to test every morning and every evening....at least in my main display. Once every day or two in my frag system. Man, I can't wait for the Trident to come out

 

[UCF Alum]

Man, I can't wait for the Trident to come out

Amen brother.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I think you'll find it much more common to run lower alkalinity these days (7 dKh - 9 dKh).

Historically, it appears that many reefers ran higher alkalinity. A while ago, I looked at the historical tank data from the Tanks of the Month at Reefkeeping.com. In 2006, for example, no TOTM had an alkalinity <= 7 dKh and only 17% had alkalinity <= 8 dKh. In 2015, 30% of the tanks had alkalinity <= 7 dKh, and 70% had alkalinity <= 8 dKh.

EDIT: This chart actually shows the weighting a little better. The 2015 tanks are heavily weighted to the lower end of the dKh scale, while the 2006 tanks have more representation in the higher ranges.

 

[cracker]

I try to keep mine in the high 7's low 8's . Never really knew what was best .
thanks for this poll would be good to see what is the most common .

 

[dbl]

So I’ve created a thread and I’d like to hear your thoughts and experiences with alkalinity. My tank is about 5 months old. I initially started running alk at 7.5-8, dosing ever hour. My LPS and softies looked good. I decided to increase the alk slightly and am now running 9.8. My LPS has never looked better. More polyp extension and my acans, blastos and lobos are puffier than ever. I plan on making this tank primarily a SPS tank here soon and I know I’ll have to lower my alk, but for now I’m loving the way the everything looks.

What are your thoughts and experiences with alkalinity and polyp extension?

A little off topic, but I just noticed your username. Although I didn't go there, a bunch of my money did - two daughters are UCF Alums!

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Although I didn't go there, a bunch of my money did

LOL!

 

[Phelipe's Ocean]

I run my Alk at 8.5 but I want to expirement with pushing it to 12 range

 

[UCF Alum]

A little off topic, but I just noticed your username. Although I didn't go there, a bunch of my money did - two daughters are UCF Alums!

That’s my alma mater! I think my parents would tell you the same thing.....
a bunch of their money went there 20 years ago!

Thanks for chiming in.

 

[BestMomEver]

Keeping parameters up is a constant struggle for me. I hooked up a dosing pump a week or so ago and added a CO2 scrubber a few days ago. This morning alkalinity is 8.5.

 

[SteadyC]

I believe there is a correlation between alk, nutrients, and lighting. If your nutrients are low, I’d run a lower alk, 7-8. If you have higher nutrients I’d run alk 8-9. Same with lighting, if you have lower nutrients and alk, you should run lower lights. Lots of research has led me here. I wouldn’t just lower or raise one piece of chemistry without considering the others.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I believe there is a correlation between alk, nutrients, and lighting. If your nutrients are low, I’d run a lower alk, 7-8. If you have higher nutrients I’d run alk 8-9.

I agree. There are other factors to consider with ALK. I also try to keep mine at the same level as the salt mix used for water changes. I keep mine in the 7.5 - 8.0 range now. I also think that keeping you ALK on the lower end of your desired range is safer than the higher end. I read a lot more posts of people having issues with corals being damaged from ALK being to high than from ALK being a little low. I am willing to have slower growth as long as everything stays healthy.

 

[AJsTank]

I have Radion Gen 4 pros on my 400. The growth was how I expected it to be for the first year or 2. I bumped my alk from 8.5 to 10.5 over 6 months and man, it's rockin now. My SPS grows 2-3X's faster. I get that there are a lot more variables here in play, like being an older mature tank, but I've always felt this was one of the big factors to my growth change over the last couple years.

 

[UCF Alum]

I’m curious to the 14 who said they run their alk below 7.

If you’re on here reading this, what are you methods and why do you run so low?

 

[CherBear811]

I have 2 tanks currently, one of them runs ~8.5 and the other runs ~7.5. The corals in the 7.5 seem to be growing better/faster than the 8.5 but the 8.5 is doing well. They also have different lights and flow so I don't know whether to chalk it up to the alk alone or a combination of everything.

Curious, what does your Ca and pH run on each tank as well, and what are the different lights?

 

[Huff747]

Curious, what does your Ca and pH run on each tank as well, and what are the different lights?

Both tanks run Kalkwasser in the ATO. I don't test Ca as often as Alk but here's a summary from my Apex.

Tank 1 - 6ft 125 gallon
Ca for the last month
-Min 428
-Max 465
-Avg 440

Alk for the last month
-Min 6.89
-Max 7.78
-Avg 7.44

pH for the last week
-Min 8.02
-Max 8.27
-Avg 8.15

Lights - 3x Radion XR15 Gen 4 Pro
Flow - 1x MP40 on one side, 2x MP10 on the back


Tank 2 - 40 gallon breeder
Ca for the last month
-Min 447
-Max 452
-Avg 448

Alk for the last month
-Min 8.4
-Max 9.02
-Avg 8.67

pH for the last week
-Min 7.66
-Max 7.88
-Avg 7.77

Lights - 2x Kessil 360
Flow - 2x MP10, one on each side

I suppose it could be pH. Tank 2 is on the main floor and I can't keep the pH up while running the air conditioner. And this year we started having to run the air in probably April and it hasn't stopped since. When the weather is nice and I can open the windows and all of last winter while running the furnace the pH was generally closer to 8, but even last winter when pH was higher it didn't seem to grow as fast as the basement tank seems to be. Tank 1 is in the basement and the pH runs higher which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. That tank has only been up since April/May so don't know what the pH looks like with the furnace running yet.

 

[Da Ghost]

Currently running between 7.5-8.0. BUT at the time my nutrients were much lower at .05 they are now pushing .16 (removed filter socks) waiting for that number to stabilize before I take any additional actions. I also lowered my intensity on Radions and I am noticing better faster encrusting. I have been considering allowing my ALk to float up to 8.5 but don't think I will ever go past that. I have always had HIGH flow.

I agree there is a lot that goes into coral growth and health. I have read articles about growing corals tooo fast being unhealthy so I am trying to find that healthy balance. I have no intention (YET) of selling so I am not pressured to grow fast, but I am sure in time that could change in time. For me, I am looking for good growth, good color and a overall healthy system. Just enjoying sharing this ever-changing hobby with my girls and you guys.

 

[samnaz]

How about idk...