High alk

[joshgimer]

I did a water change yesterday and did not have time to test my water. Today I test the water and I have
0 nitrite
0-1 nitrate
0 phosphate
440 cal
12.1 alk
1.025 sal
7.9 ph( I believe probe has gone a little crazy, have a new one on it's way)
I'm still fairly new to salt tanks and have not seen this before. I'm good about my husbandry and do weekly water changes of 20-25%. My tank is a 24 gallon Cardiff tank. I only have 2 true perc. and a few zoas. I do not dose anything and would rather not. Mostly it scares me that I may dose to much and loose it all. But I've had a brown algae outbreak for the last month and am open to suggestions.

 

[mike007]

I would suggest having you water tested by another source such as your lfs to verify your results. If you are not dosing anything I be concerned about that reading. If you are getting nuisance algae that is caused by excess nutrients from overfeeding or phosphates. Have your water tested by another source and then we can help.

 

[joshgimer]

I will do my best, sadly I'm int he middle of nowhere Iowa and my closest lfs is 90+miles away. I usually only get there once a month.

 

[ritter6788]

What salt mix are you using?

 

[joshgimer]

Red sea coral pro salt

 

[ritter6788]

Red sea coral pro salt

There's your high alk. RSCP has an alk of 12-13 straight out of the bucket. If you want a lower alk switch to a different salt mix.

 

[joshgimer]

Oh, guess I needed more corals for that to work. That's an easy fix at least.

 

[mike007]

What test kits are you testing using? Don't add anything or do a water change until you retest. Alk will come down on its own ..

 

[joshgimer]

Api

 

[Reefing Madness]

You can lower that change our waters ALK by just dropping in a bit of muriatic acid, stir for a bit and let sit an hour or so to let the PH come back into balance, then chekc the ALK, the acid will lower it.
Randy can afirm this.

 

[abinder]

You may also want to check your Magnesium levels as well.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

There's your high alk. RSCP has an alk of 12-13 straight out of the bucket. If you want a lower alk switch to a different salt mix.

++1

 

[joshgimer]

Thanks everyone for the help. I ordered new salt and a mag. test kit. I honestly did not think it would be as simple as my salt mix causing this. Thanks again for the help

 

[that Reef Guy]

Get a Salifert Test for Alkalinity

API is terrible

I have seen it off by as much as 4 points.

So your Alk may very well be 8 even though you are testing 12 due to API.

 

[ReeferEric]

I would strongly recommend the Salifert for alkalinity kit as well for testing. You can also let your salt mix sit for a few days to lower the alkalinity. Mine usually drops down to 8 to 9 within a couple of days after mixing. Speaking of which I need to mix more today.