Alkalinity QUESTION

[Mstanker]

If your reef tank had the paras of cal:440,mag:1550,alk:7,nitrate-0,nitrite-0,ammonia-0, ph:8-8.2. What would you change about this set up. I see my Alk is at 7 and readying ppl keeping there alk like around 8-10 for sps/lps ? Can someone give me a hand on why its good to get the alk high and also when alk goes up ;then cal. comes down correct?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, anywhere in the range of 7-11 dKH is fine. Some hard corals will grow a bit faster at the upper end, and some may suffer if you allow it to drop appreciably below 7 dKH.

If you keep a ULNS (ultra low nutrient system), keeping it in the 7-8 dKH range may be needed to prevent burnt tips in some SPS corals (not known why).

This has more:

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/re...-coral-reef-aquarium-randy-holmes-farley.html

 

[Mstanker]

Do you think there is harm in raising my alk to around 9.

 

[3Twinklets]

Nope

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree, that is fine.

 

[Mstanker]

ok i just did a test probably 1hr after lights out on the tank and my numbers were cal-425,mag-1415,alk-.50 or 7dkh. Should i dose anything at this point? or what would you all do.

 

[phillrodrigo]

Your probably gonna have to dose alk. Your on the minimum amount for alk so if your corals consume even .5 a day your hitting low alk. You don't have to bring it up just maintain that number.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

7 dKH is fine, but boosting it to 9 dKH over 2 days is also a fine plan, then you may not need to dose again for a while.

 

[Mstanker]

So should i does 1ml tonight?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If that is a 1 dKH boost for your system, sure.

 

[Mstanker]

Ya, I used one of those calculator for alk and it said i needed to use 1.5ml of alk to go from 7 to 9 dkh and i dripped about 1ml into the tank last night.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

OK, sounds good.

 

[Mstanker]

Thanks