Chemistry issues

Alexmcm81 · Jun 24, 2023

Hi all. Quick question that can hopefully be answered. My tank has been up and running for over 3 months now. 300litre display with 80 litre sump. Coral beauty, juvenile tomini tang, 2 Picasso clowns and a chalk goby. Nitrates are very high, between 25-50 using salifert kit. Ph 8.15-8.3, phosphate basically 0 (very very faint reading), alkalinity 6.7. I’m planning on starting a refugium today to deal with nitrates (as well as a 75 litre water change). How can I raise alkalinity to a desired level without increasing PH?

vetteguy53081 · Jun 24, 2023

Alexmcm81 said:
Hi all. Quick question that can hopefully be answered. My tank has been up and running for over 3 months now. 300litre display with 80 litre sump. Coral beauty, juvenile tomini tang, 2 Picasso clowns and a chalk goby. Nitrates are very high, between 25-50 using salifert kit. Ph 8.15-8.3, phosphate basically 0 (very very faint reading), alkalinity 6.7. I’m planning on starting a refugium today to deal with nitrates (as well as a 75 litre water change). How can I raise alkalinity to a desired level without increasing PH?

The nitrate range you mention is elevated but not too high for fish only. Refugium will help and you can also do daily 1-2 gallon water changes in lieu of weekly water changes which will lower nitrates and keep your water parameters optimum.

Alexmcm81 · Jun 24, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
The nitrate range you mention is elevated but not too high for fish only. Refugium will help and you can also do daily 1-2 gallon water changes in lieu of weekly water changes which will lower nitrates and keep your water parameters

Just managed to get some chaeto. It’s funny because I have a frag of clove polyp and a frag of lava lamp mushroom and they are actually doing well. The only issue the chemistry is causing is black film on the sand bed

MrGisonni · Jun 24, 2023

You will probably need to dose the big three, alkalinity, calcium and magnesium depending on your livestock goals and water change schedule. There are many choices out there. Tropic marin All for Reef is a one part system that will take care of all your needs. It is found in a powder form or already premixed liquid. A single dosing pump and you're good. It will take a bit of adjusting to get your levels stable, but after that it's generally rock solid. The refugium will help with your nitrates. You can probably bring up phosphates by feeding some frozen food. Nitrates aren't as bad as some people make them out to be. My mixed reef looks best with nitrates between 20 and 40. Here is a good article to read.

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Tank Parameters Of Some Masters To this day one of the most frequently asked questions I get, and actually that many “old time hobbyists” get is “How do I get rid of the algae in my tank. My first question then is “what are the parameters of...

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prokhk · Jun 24, 2023

If you want to increase alkalinity without increasing pH, you could get a CO2 reactor. Are you seeing issues from the high pH? If not, I don't think elevated pH is necessarily a bad thing.

Alexmcm81 · Jun 24, 2023

prokhk said:
If you want to increase alkalinity without increasing pH, you could get a CO2 reactor. Are you seeing issues from the high pH? If not, I don't think elevated pH is necessarily a bad thing.

I actually thought 8.15-8.3 PH was ok. It was the low alk I was unsure about. To be fair everything in the tank looks great apart from some algae or cyano issues (can’t determine which one it is, lol). Fish are happy apart from some slight aggression issues and both corals look to be getting bigger and multiplying

prokhk · Jun 24, 2023

Alexmcm81 said:
I actually thought 8.15-8.3 PH was ok. It was the low alk I was unsure about. To be fair everything in the tank looks great apart from some algae or cyano issues (can’t determine which one it is, lol). Fish are happy apart from some slight aggression issues and both corals look to be getting bigger and multiplying

In that case I definitely second what MrGisonni said earlier. I have been using all for reef and am very happy with it. Stability is definitely the most important thing, so if you decide to start dosing just do it slowly.

vetteguy53081 · Jun 24, 2023

Alexmcm81 said:
Just managed to get some chaeto. It’s funny because I have a frag of clove polyp and a frag of lava lamp mushroom and they are actually doing well. The only issue the chemistry is causing is black film on the sand bed

They thrive well in high levels

vetteguy53081 · Jun 24, 2023

Alexmcm81 said:
I actually thought 8.15-8.3 PH was ok. It was the low alk I was unsure about. To be fair everything in the tank looks great apart from some algae or cyano issues (can’t determine which one it is, lol). Fish are happy apart from some slight aggression issues and both corals look to be getting bigger and multiplying

This ph level is fine

vetteguy53081 · Jun 24, 2023

Alexmcm81 said:
I actually thought 8.15-8.3 PH was ok. It was the low alk I was unsure about. To be fair everything in the tank looks great apart from some algae or cyano issues (can’t determine which one it is, lol). Fish are happy apart from some slight aggression issues and both corals look to be getting bigger and multiplying

For the alk, raise it slowly with soda ash from BRS. You dont want to add AFR or others if they are stable as alk and CA must have a balance and adding too much other than alk will lower Ca and can raise ph., so dont let alk get high too quickly

MrGisonni · Jun 24, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
For the alk, raise it slowly with soda ash from BRS. You dont want to add AFR or others if they are stable as alk and CA must have a balance and adding too much other than alk will lower Ca and can raise ph., so dont let alk get high too quickly

I get the feeling the OP isn't dosing anything yet.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 24, 2023

Dosing baking soda will boost alk and not pH, but it wouldn’t hurt to boost your pH a bit.

Justdrew · Jun 24, 2023

If you want to raise ALK without raising pH use baking soda.

Alexmcm81 · Jun 25, 2023

Thanks everyone for the replies and the good advice. I’ve seen aqua forest alk buffer in my lfs so I think I may try that. Once I get my nitrates and alk at a good level I think I’ll start dosing but wasn’t in too much of a hurry considering I only have 2 small frags.