Rice Vinegar

[SaltyCupcake]

Remember that time that I said I would probably ask dumb questions? *-eyes shift awkwardly-*

Ok, so, due to current circumstances with stores being sold out and social distancing and whatnot--

I find myself without white vinegar and a high alk dKH reading. I'd say how high, but I'm really embarrassed. I'm not sure how it got that high to be honest, I'm still really new to all this and this is actually my first alk test(Hanna). I read that dosing vinegar can help bring it down.

I have a bottle of Marukan Rice Vinegar... would a teaspoon of that help to bring my alk down in the place of white vinegar? Or do I have to do some water changes to bring it down?

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. My tank is empty aside from a handful of amphipods who hitchhiked in on some macroalgae, some rock, and some sand.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Remember that time that I said I would probably ask dumb questions? *-eyes shift awkwardly-*

Ok, so, due to current circumstances with stores being sold out and social distancing and whatnot--

I find myself without white vinegar and a high alk dKH reading. I'd say how high, but I'm really embarrassed. I'm not sure how it got that high to be honest, I'm still really new to all this and this is actually my first alk test(Hanna). I read that dosing vinegar can help bring it down.

I have a bottle of Marukan Rice Vinegar... would a teaspoon of that help to bring my alk down in the place of white vinegar? Or do I have to do some water changes to bring it down?

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. My tank is empty aside from a handful of amphipods who hitchhiked in on some macroalgae, some rock, and some sand.

Seems okay to eat so...should not be a problem for the tank!

 

[Foothill Corals]

Rice vinegar has sugar in it. You will end up carbon dosing with the vinegar and sugar.

If your tank is small I would do a water change myself

Edit: I just noticed the you said the tank is empty. In this case there is no problem leaving it alone unless you are way out of range.

 

[SaltyCupcake]

Rice vinegar has sugar in it. You will end up carbon dosing with the vinegar and sugar.

If your tank is small I would do a water change myself

Edit: I just noticed the you said the tank is empty. In this case there is no problem leaving it alone unless you are way out of range.

It's ridiculously high(20dKH). I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how in the world it got there. I've ordered a couple of different test kits in case the reading I keep getting is wrong, but they won't be here for a few days.

I use instant ocean reef crystals which are supposed to only raise it to about 8-11 dKH I believe. The only other things I've added to the water are Seachem prime, stability, and some nitrifying bacteria. I hope I can figure out where I've gone wrong so I can prevent this from happening again.

 

[ScottB]

That is super high. Either measurement error or maybe your salinity is super high?

IORC does mix high -- 10.5 or so.

 

[Foothill Corals]

That doesn't sound rite. If you have not added a buffer it should not have raised. I would wait for your new test kits to verify that reading before you do anything.


Any chance that you made a mistake like using half the water that you are supposed to during the test?

 

[SaltyCupcake]

That is super high. Either measurement error or maybe your salinity is super high?

IORC does mix high -- 10.5 or so.

Salinity is reading at roughly 1.026... a little high than I'd like. I think I'm going to do a partial water change and be a little more careful with my salt mixing. I will run all readings again afterward to see if there is an improvement.

 

[SaltyCupcake]

That doesn't sound rite. If you have not added a buffer it should not have raised. I would wait for your new test kits to verify that reading before you do anything.

Shoot! That's probably it. I forgot to mention that I added a dose of marine buffer about 30 minutes before because the pH was at about 7.7.

I'm feeling really dumb. Would a teaspoon of the marine buffer bring the Alk up that much? Sorry again for all the questions.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Yes. Stop using that stuff.

 

[Foothill Corals]

Shoot! That's probably it. I forgot to mention that I added a dose of marine buffer about 30 minutes before because the pH was at about 7.7.

I'm feeling really dumb. Would a teaspoon of the marine buffer bring the Alk up that much? Sorry again for all the questions.

Do not chase pH. Only dose buffer if your Alk is low.

 

[SaltyCupcake]

Roger that! No more pH buffer for me. I've officially learned a big lesson here. Oof.

 

[SaltyCupcake]

Thanks to everybody for helping me. I will probably make many more mistakes in the future, but it means the world to me that you guys are patient with me. With any luck, someday someone out there will read this and learn from my goof up.

 

[ScottB]

Thanks to everybody for helping me. I will probably make many more mistakes in the future, but it means the world to me that you guys are patient with me. With any luck, someday someone out there will read this and learn from my goof up.

Don't worry. Some... several... many years later and I still make mistakes with shocking regularity but thankfully so far little consequence.

For now, get really comfortable with keeping and tracking steady salinity and temp. Your tank is slowly developing a sustainable biome with lots of noise as it does so. Let it do its thing. Then you can get good at measuring nitrates & phosphates. Still, you probably don't need to DO anything about them for a bit. Then, softly managing them. Later, once you have some stony corals going you start measuring and managing calcium and alkalinity... and so on.

It does not need to be overwhelming in the beginning (unless you inherited a big, established system. You should then hit the Panic button ) .

 

[SaltyCupcake]

Don't worry. Some... several... many years later and I still make mistakes with shocking regularity but thankfully so far little consequence.

For now, get really comfortable with keeping and tracking steady salinity and temp. Your tank is slowly developing a sustainable biome with lots of noise as it does so. Let it do its thing. Then you can get good at measuring nitrates & phosphates. Still, you probably don't need to DO anything about them for a bit. Then, softly managing them. Later, once you have some stony corals going you start measuring and managing calcium and alkalinity... and so on.

It does not need to be overwhelming in the beginning (unless you inherited a big, established system. You should then hit the Panic button ) .

Thanks for the reassurance. I'm sort of 'chicken little' in the flesh haha. I try not to get overwhelmed, but I still manage to work myself into a lather. It really helps a lot to remember that I'm not the only one who makes mistakes. I'm so glad there are no fish in this tank yet. I've been working on making it livable for a clown(and eventually my wrasse, Sushi who will be going in last).

I was glowing with my readings this morning until I did that Alk test. 0 ammonia and nitrites with 10ppm nitrates. I feel like I'm so close to fish! I'm doing my best to be patient since patience is what my tank needs, but I'm so excited! EEeEeEEeEeEEeE!! (I do whale song when I'm happy lol)