Alk went to 15/16 range

[JMM744]

have sps in my 70. Having apex problems and just tested my alk. It’s way high. Should or can I let it coast and slowly recede or do I make water changes to get it down immediately ? Or something else?
Thank you,
Jim

 

[Thingsibuild]

I've never had that happen. But I feel like you should lower it slowly, unless the coral look horrible.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I made a mistake and shot my dKH from 8.7 to 10.8 in the space of about a minute (dosed alk instead of calc). I let it come back down on it's own. Unfortunately I still lost or had damage occur on about a dozen colonies and frags over the following three weeks. It's the rapid change that kills the corals.

I'd let yours come down on its own as well. I think any potential problems you'll have in your SPS will depend on how quickly your alk went to 15 dKH as much as the level itself. Good luck and I hope you make it back to normal without any problems.

 

[JMM744]

Unfortunately I think it went up overnight. Things were looking so good finally too. Lots of sps frags and then some nice small colonies are at risk. Technology is a wonderful tool but boy, when it goes bad it can be very harmful. I await the outcome .......
Thank you for your reply Sierra_Bravo. Have a great day.
Jim

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Here's the link to my experience. If you do start to see RTN, frag healthy parts so at least you have a shot at re-growing. On a positive note, the Sniper's Blue and Vivid Delight colonies bounced back and look better than ever.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/oh-nooo-i-accidently-dosed-alk-instead-of-calc.453392/

 

[jda]

Double and triple check the numbers. If it is really that high, then water changes or a few drops of Muratic Acid can bring it down (with caution).

If you use the muratic acid, then you need to monitor pH since it can drop A LOT. A few drops at a time is all that you should do. I would not let the pH drop much more than .2 before allowing it to come back up. Only use Muratic Acid when the lights are on and photosynthesis is using up some co2.

Gallons * desired dKh drop *.123 is the mls of muratic acid that you need to use to get to your spot. Depending on how much co2 is in your ambient air will determine how quickly you can use the Muratic Acid.

You can also use Muratic to lower dKh in freshly mixed salt down to 4 or 5 before you do a water change. Again, you have to monitor pH and wait until it comes back up before you can change the water.

In any case, this is going to take a few days to get straightened out.

In all honesty, if you are not seeing any bad impacts, then take your time. Some stuff might not even care, but other stuff can.