Alkalinity Swing question.....

Gwitness · Jan 26, 2015

I have a bunch of SPS and I'm just curious what is TOO much of an alk swing per day?? I know consistency is crucial, but I'm just curious if a little bit of a swing throughout the day okay and what is there a specific number that I shouldn't go over for the Alk swing??

sawdonkey · Jan 26, 2015

I only use kalk and I'm not as precise as I should be. I think I fluctuate too much, but I've had pretty good success with sps, other than getting aefw.

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Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 27, 2015

Gwitness said:
I have a bunch of SPS and I'm just curious what is TOO much of an alk swing per day?? I know consistency is crucial, but I'm just curious if a little bit of a swing throughout the day okay and what is there a specific number that I shouldn't go over for the Alk swing??

I don't actually know if the alk swing each DAY is a concern, as long as the range stays in a reasonable range, such as 7-11 dKH. When people talk about alkalinity changes causing problems, the are usually talking about changes from one day to another.

Have you been tracking alkalinity?

Gwitness · Jan 27, 2015

Okay gotcha....yeah I check same time whenevr I check and for example....mine will go from 8.34 to 8.17 over a full day and then I'll check 2 days later and it might be the same or it might be like 8.41 and it just keeps going up and down like that ....anything to worry about or is that fine for sps?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 27, 2015

That sort of change, less than 0.5 dKH, during a day is not a concern, IMO.

Keithcorals · Jan 27, 2015

For SPS anything over a point a day may have negative effects (7dkh to 8dkh) the more stable the better but for sure most SPS guys I believe would tell you avoid it being more than a point a day. Also they will be more likely to have problems with it if your nutrient levels are very low.

mike007 · Jan 27, 2015

You might want to figure out what your daily consumption Is and dose accordingly. To do this get your alk where you want it and the go 3 days without dosing and then retest divide results by 3 and that will tell you your daily consumption. Then you can go to the reef calculator and determine how much to each day. With sps corals I believe stability is a must.

Gwitness · Jan 27, 2015

I agree about stability...I did the 3 day thing and I kept doing it to see what my tank was using...I set up my dosers and it was good and then started to do this very small fluctuation thing now...magnesium is 1300 and calcium is 420 so I don't know if corals use alk more sometimes than other days...or what it is