Best alkalinity number?

[PotatoPig]

1 a week? I’m at 1.8 per day presuming that’s dkh?

What can I say, I’m new and started all from tiny frags.

 

[scotty333]

What can I say, I’m new and started all from tiny frags.

Sorry , with you saying “ noticeable growth I expected more , I mean 1 dkh per week is nothing
You got coraline growth?

 

[PotatoPig]

Sorry , with you saying “ noticeable growth I expected more , I mean 1 dkh per week is nothing
You got coraline growth?

Oh, I meant more “it’s enough I need to actually monitor and dose” vs a few months ago when I could get away with testing every few weeks and then catching up if needed. It requires action to keep up.

Yeah, have coraline growing on glass, plastic and so on, including the front where I have to periodically scrape on top of magnet cleaning, and all over the power heads.

I realize some of y’all have multiple DKH/day consumption - not there yet, though my little SPS colonies are all growing nicely.

 

[FishTruck]

Hassle why? Cos the low kh salt? If and when I do a small wc I dose the nsw to the same kh

Just that in my tank... the Alk Gravitates to about 7. I can dose it up to 9, but one little burp in the reactor, or I forget to recharge the Kalk reactor and it drops fast to about 7 again. Or maybe I replace a larger amount of water than usual, and I would then have to adjust each time.

I think if I used a higher Alk salt like RC... it would probably be easier to run higher... like others have said.

Also, the more I strain my Ca reactor and Alk reactor... the more likely the Alk is to shoot up to undesired levels.

 

[scotty333]

Just that in my tank... the Alk Gravitates to about 7. I can dose it up to 9, but one little burp in the reactor, or I forget to recharge the Kalk reactor and it drops fast to about 7 again. Or maybe I replace a larger amount of water than usual, and I would then have to adjust each time.

I think if I used a higher Alk salt like RC... it would probably be easier to run higher... like others have said.

Also, the more I strain my Ca reactor and Alk reactor... the more likely the Alk is to shoot up to undesired levels.

Sounds tricky

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Hassle why? Cos the low kh salt? If and when I do a small wc I dose the nsw to the same kh

This is exactly what I do. I use instant ocean reef crystals, and when I test, if low I manually bring it up first.

 

[scotty333]

Kh 9.3 up from 8.6 3 days ago
Will report back with any changes

 

[reefer2/19/24]

Started using Avast Kalk stirrer and tested Alk at 13.3 but it has raised the PH to 8.1 was at 7.4 lowest on the color scale ATI test. Using Chris Mechly method. He said it would raise Alk but will eventually level out? I hope he's right...

 

[Reeferbadness]

I used to keep my Alk at around 8.0 but after seeing this video I upped it 9.5 or so….

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Started using Avast Kalk stirrer and tested Alk at 13.3 but it has raised the PH to 8.1 was at 7.4 lowest on the color scale ATI test. Using Chris Mechly method. He said it would raise Alk but will eventually level out? I hope he's right...

Well, I think this method (uncontrolled kalkwasser dosing) is a poor one, and an alk of 13.3 dKH validates that idea, IMO.

 

[cabral.leonardo]

I started dosing the Triton Core Flex method, and things got out of control (my fault). The KH went up from 8.0 to 9.5 in just three days, and I lost several SPS corals due to excessive tip growth. Today, it's around 9.0.

 

[X-37B]

I target an alk of 7.5 for all systems. 7-8 range has worked well for many years now.
Stability is more imortant than the number within reason.

 

[VA5]

Good evening everyone! So as a newbie to keeping coral, I have a question. I finally have stability I. My tank. All corals are good . While I know stability is key, and excepted range is 7 to 12, currently my tank stays at 8. So the question is what number, within the range seems to keep them the happiest? Should I strive for something a bit higher? Like 8.5 or 9? Thank you in advance for any and all input here.

 

[VA5]

There is a great video on bulk reef supply on this subject. In a nut shell they recommend staying around 9.0-10.0.
In reef keeping we try to mimic nature which would be a low 7. This is an exception because at that range pH in a tank can drop fast causing a catastrophic crash. The 9-10 range allows a buffer so changes should not affect pH.
Also as in all things reef chemistry keeping a constant value is the most important aspect.
PS in researching this topic myself too high an alkalinity will cause tips of corals to “burn”

 

[Garf]

Dunno man. BRS sais Alk is consumed at 39% extra at pH8.3 compared to pH7.8. That may be true, it also maybe true that Alk is consumed at 39% extra at pH8.15 compared to pH7.8. Not at all sure increased Alk is helpful, tbh, just uses more Alk.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Good evening everyone! So as a newbie to keeping coral, I have a question. I finally have stability I. My tank. All corals are good . While I know stability is key, and excepted range is 7 to 12, currently my tank stays at 8. So the question is what number, within the range seems to keep them the happiest? Should I strive for something a bit higher? Like 8.5 or 9? Thank you in advance for any and all input here.

I dont like number as it promotes chasing values but rather ranges. A good range is 8.3 - 9.5 but you have to balance according to how corals respond and what they seem happy with, not range or numbers
The problem with videos is they often have a smaller or larger tank than what you are working with as well as gorals than what you have making it hard to use their formulas

 

[scotty333]

I dont like number as it promotes chasing values but rather ranges. A good range is 8.3 - 9.5 but you have to balance according to how corals respond and what they seem happy with, not range or numbers
The problem with videos is they often have a smaller or larger tank than what you are working with as well as gorals than what you have making it hard to use their formulas

I watched hours of brs videos yesterday about elevated big 3 and they ran test tanks at 8 + 12 , the 12 showed over 50% growth rate , colour rendition and extended pe

It’s really true this works , I’m at 9.3 but am considering 10 soon

 

[Doctorgori]

parroting other post: yeah back in the day 11 and higher was promoted and as others noticed issues I dropped mine down into the 8-9ish range …
my corals grow pretty slow and I don’t mind at all

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I dont like number as it promotes chasing values but rather ranges. A good range is 8.3 - 9.5 but you have to balance according to how corals respond and what they seem happy with, not range or numbers
The problem with videos is they often have a smaller or larger tank than what you are working with as well as gorals than what you have making it hard to use their formulas

Thank you for this. It is actually what I was looking for. I agree chasing a specific number is crazy. I know the accepted range is 7-12, but I was looking for a more dialed in range which is what you just gave me. I have always been a fan of letting my tank inhabitants let me know how things are.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you for this. It is actually what I was looking for. I agree chasing a specific number is crazy. I know the accepted range is 7-12, but I was looking for a more dialed in range which is what you just gave me. I have always been a fan of letting my tank inhabitants let me know how things are.

Acceptance Range is 8-11