High alkalinity and bubble forming on elegance coral

WReef12 · Apr 5, 2022

Hello , I just tested my alkalinity and it read 15

,I think it is because I dosed my magnesium to 1500 when it was around 1150 , is there any way to lower my alkalinity now . My calcium is 1450 and ph is 8.2 . Also , my elegance coral is forming bubble that are 1 - 1.5 cm across and I think it's because of the recent parameter swings , will it recover?

blaxsun · Apr 5, 2022

Your calcium is 1450 - or did you mean 450? Repeat water changes are the best way (you can also apparently use vodka and muriatic acid, but I've never tried either). With respect to the elegance coral - you'd need to post a few images so we can have a look at it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 5, 2022

Welcome to Reef2eef!

Boosting magnesium doesn't make alk rise.

Not sure what the bubble is. Got a picture?

WReef12 · Apr 6, 2022

Thanks for the advice with the muriatic acid , but how much should I put in to lower the alkalinity by about 4 - 6 dkh in a biocube 32 ? Also the bubble disappeared on the elegance coral

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 6, 2022

I would recommend against adding muriatic acid to a current reef tank. If you really want to lower alk, best to drop the alk in new salt water, aerate it to bring the pH back up, and use that for water changes.

Are you using tap water? That may be why alk is high.

WReef12 · Apr 6, 2022

By tap water do you mean non RODI , if so I dont have an RODI system because of the cost

WReef12 · Apr 6, 2022

But do you think I should get one if that's causing my problems

Miami Reef · Apr 6, 2022

WReef12 said:
But do you think I should get one if that's causing my problems

If you want to keep corals, I would say definitely.

Wasabiroot · Apr 6, 2022

What do you treat your tap water with? It's possible to have a reef tank using tap water, but some municipalities have high levels of pollutants (since humans have a much higher tolerance to these pollutants than coral). I personally wouldn't do a coral tank without RODI, but if your budget is tight, perhaps a HOB filter with some ChemiPure elite and carbon might help.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 6, 2022

WReef12 said:
By tap water do you mean non RODI , if so I dont have an RODI system because of the cost

Are you on a public water supply or a private well? Towns usually have a web site where one can look up the alkalinity in the water.

WReef12 · Apr 7, 2022

I'm on my home tap water but the only parameter my city mentions is water hardness which is 360 - 564 mg/liter and on a scale that's over two times where the "very hard" section starts

WReef12 · Apr 7, 2022

What do you think is a good RODI system that's relatively inexpensive compared to the others but still works well . Also it doesn't have to produce water extremely fast

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 7, 2022

WReef12 said:
I'm on my home tap water but the only parameter my city mentions is water hardness which is 360 - 564 mg/liter and on a scale that's over two times where the "very hard" section starts

I would not use that water as it will be steadily raising calcium if nothing else. I am not familiar with what the cheapest working RO/DI would be. But I'm sure there are lots of folks who are. You might post in the main forum asking for suggestions.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Apr 7, 2022

WReef12 said:
What do you think is a good RODI system that's relatively inexpensive compared to the others but still works well . Also it doesn't have to produce water extremely fast

The aquatic life buddie system is probably the cheapest reliable system, thats what I use.

EDIT: Or if you dont mind a used system, check out kijiji or GTA Aquaria, there are usually some people closing their tanks and selling their stuff and I've seen rodi units

WReef12 · Apr 8, 2022

All right , I've been looking into and considering it . Also does alkalinity affect soft corals particularly zoas , from what I've read it doesn't but I have 2 zoa's and a leather as well that d'ont open up very often . What I think it is is that just a couple of weeks ago I had a bacterial bloom right after I added chemi clean to get rid of cyano (which has already come back

) . The bacterial bloom lasted about a week before I could get a uv sterilizer but they are slowly recovering .

Also did you mean the three or four stage ro buddie

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 8, 2022

WReef12 said:
All right , I've been looking into and considering it . Also does alkalinity affect soft corals particularly zoas , from what I've read it doesn't but I have 2 zoa's and a leather as well that d'ont open up very often . What I think it is is that just a couple of weeks ago I had a bacterial bloom right after I added chemi clean to get rid of cyano (which has already come back ) . The bacterial bloom lasted about a week before I could get a uv sterilizer but they are slowly recovering .

Also did you mean the three or four stage ro buddie

Some soft corals do use calcium and alkalinity to make internal calcium carbonate structural elements), but many do not.

MrGisonni · Apr 22, 2022

Mix up some store bought bottled water, Ro/deionized, with a salt mix that is near seawater levels with regards to Dkh . Check the specs on the salt. They are all over the place. Do 10% water changes to slowly lower Dkh.