Alk way too high

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Of course salinity, calcium and Mg would be affected.

280ml of RO water/20gallons of salt water drops salinity by 1ppm. That would change calcium by 20ppm.
By adding back that salinity with 1 quart of water mixture with a salinity at 100ppm at a rate of 20ml it replenishes Calc,mg, sanity.

280ml of RO water diluting salt water /20 gallons every hour over an 8-24hr

It’s essentially mixing salt in another way with idea of diluting Alk. By using RO water first

I cannot imagine why that is better than a simple water change.

 

[Lavey29]

Of course salinity, calcium and Mg would be affected.

280ml of RO water/20gallons of salt water drops salinity by 1ppm. That would change calcium by 20ppm.
By adding back that salinity with 1 quart of water mixture with a salinity at 100ppm at a rate of 20ml it replenishes Calc,mg, sanity.

280ml of RO water diluting salt water /20 gallons every hour over an 8-24hr

It’s essentially mixing salt in another way with idea of diluting Alk. By using RO water first

This is completely wrong. Adding RO water does not change anything unless you first remove salt water from the tank manually. With normal tank evaporation and then replenish with RO salinity stays the same along with major and trace elements. This is why auto top offs work effectively on reef tanks and why some people don't do water changes or infrequent water changes.

One time after a water change my salinity was up a little. I began adding cups of RO thinking I could dilute it down. 3 days of adding RO and nothing changed. I then realized I had to manually remove saltwater from the tank and then replace it with RO to lower salinity. Hence, a water change but instead of replacing saltwater with new saltwater, I replaced it with RO to drop my salinity from 1.028 to 1.026.

 

[hexcolor reef]

I cannot imagine why that is better than a simple water change.

it doesn't bring your Alk down unless your prepared to do a 60% or more water change at once. I know I've tried endless times and mine would only balance out around 12kh but then rise again to 14kh. I use Red SEA blue bucket rated 8kh.
when I changed to my method it worked. I got it down to 9kh in 48hrs

 

[hexcolor reef]

This is completely wrong. Adding RO water does not change anything unless you first remove salt water from the tank manually. With normal tank evaporation and then replenish with RO salinity stays the same along with major and trace elements.

I replaced it with RO to drop my salinity from 1.028 to 1.026.

1.) one would add RO water faster than what its evaporating. this is common sense

I never removed water from my tank, and why wouldn't your salinity lower if you had added RO water without removing water from the tank?

sounds like the amount of water in your sump had to be removed for you to add enough RO water to drop your salinity. meaning your sump was full of water already or at a level you couldn't add a large amount of RO water at once

 

[Lavey29]

I never removed water from my tank, and why wouldn't your salinity lower if you had added RO water without removing water from the tank?

sounds like the amount of water in your sump had to be removed for you to add enough RO water to drop your salinity. meaning your sump was full of water already or at a level you couldn't add a large amount of RO water at once

I go 3 weeks between water changes. I have an 80g system probably 60g volume with rocks. During that 3 weeks I probably auto top off 20g of RO water due to tank evaporation. So 1/3 of the tank volume yet my salinity stays the same. Using your theory why wouldn't my salinity drop significantly? Because simple evaporation does not change tank salinity nor does adding RO water to replenish it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

it doesn't bring your Alk down unless your prepared to do a 60% or more water change at once. I know I've tried endless times and mine would only balance out around 12kh but then rise again to 14kh. I use Red SEA blue bucket rated 8kh.
when I changed to my method it worked. I got it down to 9kh in 48hrs

Sorry, you are just wrong on this. Dropping salinity by 1 ppm only drops alk from 14 dKH to 13.6 dKH. Then as soon as you fix the low salinity, it comes up to exactly the same effect as you would get from a water change of the same size as the amount of ro water used.

 

[hexcolor reef]

“ Dropping salinity by 1 ppm only drops alk from 14 dKH to 13.6 dKH. “

The answer (my point) is your response. How many times would diluting aquarium water 1ppm .04Alk over a 24hr period before reintroducing high salinity water at 20ml not work out?
Diluting Alk/salinity using RO water is removing the amount of CO2-3 in reef system. RO water is acidic.

Then as soon as you fix the low salinity, it comes up to exactly the same effect as you would get from a water change of the same size as the amount of ro water used.

I’m not assuming this here. This is a tried and true method that I have done myself. Anyone is welcome to try in a simple bucket experiment

To add the using a high salinity solution made with red sea salt blue bucket that’s rated for 8kh, Calc 430, mg 1310 does not affect this at all. It will remain the same which also is based on salinity of 35ppm and 33ppm

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Your method is identical to doing a bunch of 3% water changes. It has no advantage over such changes.

Do all the experiments you want, but this is simple math and cannot be wrong.

 

[hexcolor reef]

Your method is identical to doing a bunch of 3% water changes. It has no advantage over such changes.

Do all the experiments you want, but this is simple math and cannot be wrong.

I never presented it as new ground breaking method that changes chemistry. I shared my initial thoughts for anyone who wants to bring down Alk without having to do a major water change, add calcium or dose something to their system. It’s an easy process while keeping the water already in the system without removing it but by diluting certain elements

Let’s not forget the OP said this

Hello, I need help with my 180 gallon tank. Noticed all my acros died over night, tested my water and my all is 14dkh. I have done two water changes with reef crystals and it is now showing 11 dkh is there any way I can lower it?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I never presented it as new ground breaking method that changes chemistry. I shared my initial thoughts for anyone who wants to bring down Alk without having to do a major water change, add calcium or dose something to their system. It’s an easy process while keeping the water already in the system without removing it but by diluting certain elements

I don’t understand why one would do it. It seems complicated and stressful, without any time or cost savings.

 

[marios82]

If you over dosed kalk enough to raise dKh by 3 in a short time, then your pH could have shot above 10. This is/was your issue.

If you over dosed kalk enough to raise dKh by 3 in a short time, then your pH could have shot above 10. This is/was your issue.

9 to 14

 

[MnFish1]

Hello, I need help with my 180 gallon tank. Noticed all my acros died over night, tested my water and my all is 14dkh. I have done two water changes with reef crystals and it is now showing 11 dkh is there any way I can lower it?

I would let it drop on its own - and correct any issue that let it go up to 14 - assuming those tests are accurate. There is no danger to an alk of 11 - however - there may be a danger trying to drop it quickly to xxx. Sorry about your acros

 

[MnFish1]

Also, 14KH wouldn't kill all your SPS.

I might suggest that a rapid increase could cause significant issues with SPS. Not sure if that was the case here?

 

[MnFish1]

As mentioned, burnt tips comes from high alk and low nutrients. High alk and high nutrients does not appear to have the same issue.

I would like to add - High flow also helps mitigate high alk - as does lower light

 

[Spare time]

I might suggest that a rapid increase could cause significant issues with SPS. Not sure if that was the case here?

True I thought the concern was simply the values and didn't know it was a big jump that happened

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Kalk dosing pump fried

The risks of bad automation!