Why was an Alkalinity of 8 too high?

[michael giordano]

I don’t disagree with anything but the jest or thinking is the margin for error,,, BRS did video on their alkalinity recommendation of above 8 … I won’t blabber anymore of my ignorance here lol
I should add I guess you could drive it at 7 long term but I thought BRS outlined the risk pretty well

Not that brs is not a good company or their videos are wrong. But don't just run high levels of Alk because a video told you too. I run my Alk at 7.3 and I have beautiful colonies. Every tank is different and has a varying sweet spot for its levels.

 

[Doctorgori]

Not that brs is not a good company or their videos are wrong. But don't just run high levels of Alk because a video told you too. I run my Alk at 7.3 and I have beautiful colonies. Every tank is different and has a varying sweet spot for its levels.

Maybe Reef Crystals, Fritz Redline or other elevated salts shifted the conventional wisdom. Couple that with failure at low alk levels and fear probably has some of us thinking low 7’s is bad/unsafe.
Actually I’m on your side if I can have confidence in safety and stability under 8dkh.

 

[jerl77]

9/10 i run mine with no issues

 

[Cjeippert]

So I've been fighting with some burnt tips/STN on my SPS with the following parameters:

Alk - 8.1
Calcium - 450
Phosphate - .1
Nitrate - 10
Mag - 1400

I understand that low nutrients of near 0 can cause burnt tips/STN in SPS, but I would have never thought that the levels posted above were considered low nutrients. Since dropping my alkalinity to NSW 7.0, most SPS have healed up nicely. My lighting is set up for around 200 PAR at the top of the rockwork, with dual XR15 G4 pro's and Reefbrite strips. This took me months to figure out, and an ICP test, but nothing conclusive came back. Has anyone else experienced similar issues with requiring Alkalinity at around 7.0?

Note - Testing of alk was done with Hannah, NYOS, and Aquaforest for triple confirmation


*Edit backstory:


Some backstory:

A year ago I let my phosphates rise to .4ppm and ran alkalinity of around 8-8.5 at the time. I then decided to slowly drop my phosphates down to .1-.15 in hopes of increasing growth. Issues started a few months after this change in mid 2021. However, at .4 my tank looked amazing and SPS were taking off quickly. Could it simply be that my tank doesn't like having such low Orthophoshates (Hannah ULR Testing) and the balance was better when it was at .4? I know Mark from SaltwaterAquarium runs his phosphates at .5ppm and has crazy growth.

I don't know if I should go down the road again of simply letting my phosphates do what they want, yet that is also when my tank looked it's best... Thoughts?

Do you mean .04 PO4?

 

[Cjeippert]

Do you carbon dose? I heard people who carbon dose run into burnt tips with mid 8 dkh. I also heard carbon dosing can cause acro skin to get bumpy, and also lower ph in higher doses.

 

[Cjeippert]

Can someone show me a picture of burnt tip vs new growth? All my newer branches are always pale/ white

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Why can’t you run a tank long term at 7 dkh?

The issue is when you get lazy and stop testing every week, but a growth spurt tanks your alk.

Exactly at 7 has no problems, but if you aren't paying close attention and it drops to 6 or less, you are in for a rough ride and will lose some coral.

8 gives you a little buffer against this.

 

[Dburr1014]

I definitely believe that every tank is different. This is the first tank that no matter what I seem to do, the Alk gets back down to 6.5 - 7 dkh, I slowly bring it back up with dosing to 8 - 8.5 and within a month it will settle back down. Even after increasing my calcium reactor drip. I have since just decided to kept it there, and it's been doing amazing. Today's reading was 6.5 dkh. I think as long as it's stable, you'll be fine (Within reason of course).

Any chance you tested your effluent? What is that reading? You may need to up your co2 or down your drip to raise the effluent.
Then recheck.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If I want to maintain 9-10kh, what is the minimum content of NO3 and PO4？

IMO, if you run 2-10 ppm nitrate and 0.02 to 0.1 ppm phosphate, your risk for burnt tips at 11 dKH or lower is pretty low.

 

[Rmckoy]

my fault and poor choice of words , I didn’t consider the option of using NSW only the risk of maintaining the slim margins using 2pt et …

 

[Rmckoy]

I don’t disagree with anything but the jest or thinking is the margin for error,,, BRS did video on their alkalinity recommendation of above 8 … I won’t blabber anymore of my ignorance here lol
I should add I guess you could drive it at 7 long term but I thought BRS outlined the risk pretty well

I’ve maintained as close to nsw as possible since the beginning ( over 20 years ago )
The question has always been how can massive colonies of corals grow
And thrive in nature . And to make that possible the only way is to try to mimic every possible variable
Research over the years has improved along with the equipment we have access to now compared to the 90’s -2000’s but the same theory still applies in my opinion .
copy and paste parameters and try to stay within allowing a very small margin
That being said I believe our hobby grade test kits are one of the largest things we put too much trust in to believe their accuracy

there has to be a reason why so many salt brands with varying parameter levels are produced
There was a video I watched comparing alkalinity levels , lighting , photosynthesis , all with different corals to maximize their growth and health
Nsw does not give you the fastest growth but the risks of running higher alk is like playing roulette . Eventually . Something can go wrong