High Alkalinity for LPS

[CRABDADDY]

Hello all,

I've been having some issues with my tank lately detailed here:

Some LPS Struggles

How much evap loss do you get each day? You could probably add a 32 oz cup of 1.026 each day and leave the ato alone.

www.reef2reef.com

I primarily have LPS in my tank and through a series of events my Alk has wound up at 10 dKh. Now that my alk is this high, nearly all my corals are struggling or dying. I was talking with a friend lately that was telling me LPS don't like alk levels that high and I should consider switching salt to slowly bring my alk down to the 7-8 dKh range. When my alk was around 8-9 I didn't have these issues.

Do any of you have success keeping LPS with alk levels this high? Do I bother switching salts, or should I just let things stabilize at 10dkh? Things are looking quite bad now and have only gotten worse in the past week since the alk increase.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

You can do a wc to lower it back down? Mix up and test. If its lower. Use the water. Hths
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I need to do this too
D

 

[CRABDADDY]

I can't do a water change to lower alk as my salt mixes at 11 dKh. Water changes will only increase alk for me at this point.

 

[Jekyl]

I'm leaning toward the current alk isn't the issue. Swinging parameters or something else would be more likely

 

[CRABDADDY]

Currently I'm using red sea coral pro salt and I'm thinking of switching to fritz blue box.

Quite possible that the swing in parameters is the problem. I don't know how long it takes for things to bounce back, but it looks like condition of many of my corals is rapidly deteriorating. These three in particular are not looking good at all. They were all totally fine about two weeks ago.

I've got an icp test ordered, but it'll be at least a week and a half before I get results. I'm concerned that at that point many of these will be too far gone for it to matter, assuming things keep progressing as they have.

 

[Reef Tripp]

Prepare new water and lower the alk with muriatic acid to the range you want, only new water never tank

 

[ctopherl]

Currently I'm using red sea coral pro salt and I'm thinking of switching to fritz blue box.

Quite possible that the swing in parameters is the problem. I don't know how long it takes for things to bounce back, but it looks like condition of many of my corals is rapidly deteriorating. These three in particular are not looking good at all. They were all totally fine about two weeks ago.

I've got an icp test ordered, but it'll be at least a week and a half before I get results. I'm concerned that at that point many of these will be too far gone for it to matter, assuming things keep progressing as they have.

You could always get Red Sea blue bucket salt and start doing water changes with a 50/50 mix. I haven't tested but I'm guessing that would land you around 9dkh.

 

[dvgyfresh]

The water also looks cloudy , could be a bacterial bloom which isn’t good for the corals and could be depriving oxygen as well

 

[Jekyl]

I use coral pro and so do a ton of other people. I believe IO mixes even higher alk. If it were the reason for killing coral they would change their salt mix.

 

[Jekyl]

The water also looks cloudy , could be a bacterial bloom which isn’t good for the corals and could be depriving oxygen as well

+1

 

[dvgyfresh]

I use coral pro and so do a ton of other people. I believe IO mixes even higher alk. If it were the reason for killing coral they would change their salt mix.

Ran my alk at 11 for a bit using IO (now it’s 9-10) and corals didn’t show any signs of stress but grew slow of nitrate was low

 

[Jekyl]

Not using tap water right?

 

[CRABDADDY]

Prepare new water and lower the alk with muriatic acid to the range you want, only new water never tank

Is there any advantage to this over switching salts? I'd have to do this for every water change. I could be wrong, but it feels like I'm adding an extra step if I go this route.

You could always get Red Sea blue bucket salt and start doing water changes with a 50/50 mix. I haven't tested but I'm guessing that would land you around 9dkh.

Maybe that's a good idea. I'm already using red sea salt, maybe the trace elements, ect are more similar than a completely different salt mix.

The water also looks cloudy , could be a bacterial bloom which isn’t good for the corals and could be depriving oxygen as well

There definitely is a bacterial bloom. It's been like that for about a month. I just started using microbacter7. Is there anything else I can do for this? Would a UV sterilizer help? I didn't realize a bacterial bloom could cause issues like that. The fish all seem fine.

 

[CRABDADDY]

Not using tap water right?

Correct. I'm using my own ro/di. I did have a minor mistake where I probably topped off with half a gallon of just RO water a few weeks ago. I forgot to put on the DI chamber when I filled my bucket. I swapped it out for a new bucket of good water once I realized.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Is there any advantage to this over switching salts? I'd have to do this for every water change. I could be wrong, but it feels like I'm adding an extra step if I go this route.


Maybe that's a good idea. I'm already using red sea salt, maybe the trace elements, ect are more similar than a completely different salt mix.

There definitely is a bacterial bloom. It's been like that for about a month. I just started using microbacter7. Is there anything else I can do for this? Would a UV sterilizer help? I didn't realize a bacterial bloom could cause issues like that. The fish all seem fine.

UV and water changes I think is the best course of action , bacterial bloom can cause all kinds of swings in parameters daily

 

[Jekyl]

I had an awful time with corals in a new tank. I would try and keep things stable rather than change anything. What kind of filtration do you have?

 

[CRABDADDY]

It's an all in one. I have filter floss, some bio media and a bag of chemipure. I do weekly 10% water changes. I change the filter floss out about twice a week.

 

[Jekyl]

I would add a bag of carbon to it. Maybe a 20% change this week and next week. Swings and crazy parameters will kill coral. Stability is best. Your parameters aren't bad. Just try and get the water cleared up.

 

[dvgyfresh]

It's an all in one. I have filter floss, some bio media and a bag of chemipure. I do weekly 10% water changes. I change the filter floss out about twice a week.

Also note that if you have high alk and low nitrate there will be issues as high alk causes corals to grow faster but if nitrate is low there won’t be any nutrient so growing without food in a sense