Alk way too high

[noah.tank3]

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?

 

[ryanjohn1]

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?

How did it get so high?

 

[ryanjohn1]

Red Sea black bucked mixes up at 11-11.5 you should be good now

 

[hexcolor reef]

Reef crystals is no no. That’s apart of high fluctuations

 

[noah.tank3]

Reef crystals is no no. That’s apart of high fluctuations

I used rpm for 3 years and it kept leaving my mixing container nasty and when I switched to reef crystals it helped.

 

[noah.tank3]

How did it get so high?

Kalk dosing pump fried

 

[noah.tank3]

Red Sea black bucked mixes up at 11-11.5 you should be good now

Thank you! I am just worried because all the sps corals are basically dead and the lps is fine.

 

[Spare time]

That isn't very high. 11KH is perfectly fine to keep a tank at.

 

[Spare time]

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

 

[noah.tank3]

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

Thank you. That is the only thing I can think of. Cal is 450. Mag is 1400. Nitrate and phosphate are next to zero

 

[ryanjohn1]

Thank you. That is the only thing I can think of. Cal is 450. Mag is 1400. Nitrate and phosphate are next to zero

What did your sps do? Was its like a wild crazy swing that happened? I thought kalk mostly works on calc and it raises ph. I didn’t think it raised dkh

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Sorry, do you use RODI water or tap water with chemicals, brand of salt could be a factor

 

[hexcolor reef]

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

Idk I had some Acros fry at 14KH didn’t happen over night but Alk at those levels they did not like. A couple chalice as well

 

[noah.tank3]

What did your sps do? Was its like a wild crazy swing that happened? I thought kalk mostly works on calc and it raises ph. I didn’t think it raised dkh

Burnt tips then dead the next day. Dkh when from 9 to 14.

 

[noah.tank3]

Sorry, do you use RODI water or tap water with chemicals, brand of salt could be a factor

Rodi and reef crystals

 

[noah.tank3]

Idk I had some Acros fry at 14KH didn’t happen over night but Alk at those levels they did not like. A couple chalice as well

The only thing I can find on R2r is to dose muriatic acid but that seems very sketchy

 

[ryanjohn1]

Burnt tips then dead the next day. Dkh when from 9 to 14.

That really sucks bro

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Rodi and reef crystals

Other than that I'm unsure what would cause high alk.

Following

 

[EricR]

If you're still trying to lower alkalinity, one option is use Sodium Bisulfate in new saltwater mix to achieve really LOW alkalinity in the new water, then do small water changes.
*I won't comment on how much to lower alk and how fast is safe, but I've been using <0.1 dKH new water with tank drops around 0.25 dKH (occasionally more) with no negative effects ... but I have no SPS, only soft corals.

Here's one of Randy's threads on using Sodium Bisulfate in case of interest:

Sodium Bisulfate to Reduce Alkalinity

 

[gbroadbridge]

Kalk dosing pump fried

If you're saying your Alk went from around 11 to 14 when the doser went nuts, in itself that would not kill Acros overnight.

The combination of High Alk (even at 11) and low nutrients (you mentioned basically zero) - would over time starve them to death.

If your Alk previously was 11, your nutrients should have been much higher.

I don't think this is an overnight problem - you probably simply noticed the problemndue to the Alk spike.

I would not make any rapid adjustments to the Alk.