Fluval 13.5 Evo Alkalinity Low

[Mamn]

Hello,

Looking for some guidance on Alkalinity. I took over someone elses tank that had been ran for 2 years and recently started adding some corals etc. Current stalking is 2 zoa frags, a small toadstool and a small hammer coral. The tank is heavily encrusted in coralline algae. My alkalinity has been sitting between 5-8.6 depending (might be some error on my part as im partially color blind). I also tested the salt mix I am using and the alkalinity is around 7.3. My question should I start dosing alk or could I switch to a higher alk salt like red sea coral pro mix? and just raise my alkalinity through water changes???


Thanks in advance.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hello,

Looking for some guidance on Alkalinity. I took over someone elses tank that had been ran for 2 years and recently started adding some corals etc. Current stalking is 2 zoa frags, a small toadstool and a small hammer coral. The tank is heavily encrusted in coralline algae. My alkalinity has been sitting between 5-8.6 depending (might be some error on my part as im partially color blind). I also tested the salt mix I am using and the alkalinity is around 7.3. My question should I start dosing alk or could I switch to a higher alk salt like red sea coral pro mix? and just raise my alkalinity through water changes???


Thanks in advance.

You need better testing. At 5 dKH, boost it. At 7-8 dKH, it is fine. it is easy to boost with baking soda:

Reef Chemistry Calculator

 

[Mamn]

Hi thanks for the reply.

I understand you can dose to increase the levels, the second part of my question was if you could simply change salt mix to a higher alkalinity salt mix like redsea coral pro mix or something?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi thanks for the reply.

I understand you can dose to increase the levels, the second part of my question was if you could simply change salt mix to a higher alkalinity salt mix like redsea coral pro mix or something?

Yes, but that is more expensive than dosing, and for alk to be stable, would need to be done fairly frequently.