Alkalinity spike before vacation

Katepete722 · Aug 10, 2018

Hello everyone,

Looking for some advice for what I can do for my tank in the next 10 hours. Noticed yesterday that my corals (mixed reef) where looking a bit shriveled and added some new activated carbon. Like a fool I didn't test alkalinity last night. When they were still looking bad this morning I finally tested all and it was up to 9.6 from its usual around 8.3 .

I'm at a bit of a loss for what caused the spike, but I assume it's related to the kalk in my ATO, though it did not malfunction as far as I can tell.

At any rate, I'm leaving for a 10 day vacation this evening. I do have someone "watching" the tank but she doesn't know anything about fishkeeping and is just coming to feed and make sure ATO is operating.

Should I do a water change? Does the alkalinity need to be lowered slowly now that it's up at 9.6, or should I try to get it back to "normal" quickly? I diluted the kalk in my ATO. My tank is 5 months old and contains small coral frags, so the calcium and alkalinity usage is pretty small day to day.

Some stats:
Biocube 29
Calcium: 430
Alkalinity: 9.6 (usually 8.3)
Temp: 79
Nitrate: 0.05
Phos: 0.02

RichtheReefer21 · Aug 10, 2018

There have been deliberations about this before, especially in nanos and small(ish) cubes regarding dispersing Kalk in the ATO... If I recall, due to the small water volume and thus small room for fluctuations, some suggest to not dilute the kalk in the ATO. Because the ATO could, under certain circumstances, have a lot more top-off on a particular day, and therefor over-dose the kalk...

Those who stated such, said they prefer to use "micro" dosers for their kalk in their small tanks to avoid this. I forget who, but he said his kalk is done in tiny increments, something to the effect of 70 doses a day... lol...

Palyzoa · Aug 10, 2018

Katepete722 said:
Hello everyone,

Looking for some advice for what I can do for my tank in the next 10 hours. Noticed yesterday that my corals (mixed reef) where looking a bit shriveled and added some new activated carbon. Like a fool I didn't test alkalinity last night. When they were still looking bad this morning I finally tested all and it was up to 9.6 from its usual around 8.3 .

I'm at a bit of a loss for what caused the spike, but I assume it's related to the kalk in my ATO, though it did not malfunction as far as I can tell.

At any rate, I'm leaving for a 10 day vacation this evening. I do have someone "watching" the tank but she doesn't know anything about fishkeeping and is just coming to feed and make sure ATO is operating.

Should I do a water change? Does the alkalinity need to be lowered slowly now that it's up at 9.6, or should I try to get it back to "normal" quickly? I diluted the kalk in my ATO. My tank is 5 months old and contains small coral frags, so the calcium and alkalinity usage is pretty small day to day.

Some stats:
Biocube 29
Calcium: 430
Alkalinity: 9.6 (usually 8.3)
Temp: 79
Nitrate: 0.05
Phos: 0.02

I would just let it come down on it's own slowly as to not shock the corals. The alk and Ca demand is probably low at this point since you only have a few frags in the tank, so it might take a bit to get back to where you want it. When was the last time you checked parameters? I try and test once a week but have been guilty of skipping tests here and there but then find out my parameters are creeping in one direction or the other.

Katepete722 · Aug 10, 2018

Thanks for the input Palyzoa and Richthereefer. Good news! It was a testing error. I lost my syringe and attempted the test using a dropper. Obviously I messed it up pretty bad, because I found a syringe to use and alk is spot on at 8.6.

Of course that leaves me with the question of why my corals are looking shrivelled up with water params where they are supposed to be. Seems to be the LPS that are doing poorly as my mushrooms, birdsnest, and pocillopora all look fine. I think I'll do a small water change today and see if it helps.