EMERGENCY!!! ALK off the scales

[Neon_reefboi]

7 tablespoons of dry baking soda to what size tank?

Have you measured the alkalinity of the tap water?

That may be the ongoing source. Some water supplies have quite high alkalinity. "Low" is not good enough for top off water, if that is what you mean.

48 gallons. And no ill do that now. Valid points

 

[Neon_reefboi]

Tap is at 2.2 dKH

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Tap is at 2.2 dKH

Then I'd stop using it.

 

[Neon_reefboi]

Understood. I just did a water change by now I'm at 90 percent over 12 days using instant ocean and tap treated with aquasafe. What are my next steps if you don't mind me asking

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Understood. I just did a water change by now I'm at 90 percent over 12 days using instant ocean and tap treated with aquasafe. What are my next steps if you don't mind me asking

What is the alk now?

The new water will have alk too high if you use IO (say, 11 dKH) plus 2.4 dKH from the tap water, so water changes are not a good solution using that mixture.

You can very slowly drop the alk in the tank with an acid, such as sodium bisulfate, or you can do water changes with a low alk mix (say, 3 dKH total alk from IO plus bisulfate).

The latter is safer as you can raise the ph back up after the alk drop by aeration, then do the change with it.


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[Neon_reefboi]

What is the alk now?

The new water will have alk too high if you use IO (say, 11 dKH) plus 2.4 dKH from the tap water, so water changes are not a good solution using that mixture.

You can very slowly drop the alk in the tank with an acid, such as sodium bisulfate, or you can do water changes with a low alk mix (say, 3 dKH total alk from IO plus bisulfate).

The latter is safer as you can raise the ph back up after the alk drop by aeration, then do the change with it.


.

The alk is at 16.2

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

Neon,

Are you using well water?

The simple answer is that you need to find a new water source that isn't your tap water. About the only option is an RO/DI ,but I know you said you're on a tight budget.

An ALK of 16 isn't going to hurt anything. If it's that high normally, you definitely don't need to add any Red Sea Alk or baking soda.

Water changes are your answer if you can find a new source of clean water that isn't your current tap.

 

[Neon_reefboi]

My alk is now at 12.6
Thanks for the help people. Now I'm working on getting my other parameters in line. Dosing with reef foundation + the mag and Calc not the alk