Instant Ocean Alkalinity Variance

[X-37B]

Nice, I'll look into this. Many thx

Will sodium bisulfate drop pH considerably and require bubbling the freshly made water?

Yes but just run a strong powerhead and wait until ph adjusts.
I made 10 gal and ph was 8.3.
Dkh 9.5.
Slowly added to get to dkh 7.
Ph dropped to 7.9.
Thats what my ph is at night before lights on so I was good to go.
It may take overnight to get back to 8.3.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Nice, I'll look into this. Many thx

Will sodium bisulfate drop pH considerably and require bubbling the freshly made water?

Yes. The pH effect is exactly the same as adding muriatic acid (in terms of pH lowering per unit of alk depleted).

 

[Ross Petersen]

Yes. The pH effect is exactly the same as adding muriatic acid (in terms of pH lowering per unit of alk depleted).

Awesome!

Any dosing calculations/formulas that you can vouch for for dosing sodium bisulfate (or muriatic acid) to lower alk?

Thanks,
Ross

 

[Ross Petersen]

Yes but just run a strong powerhead and wait until ph adjusts.
I made 10 gal and ph was 8.3.
Dkh 9.5.
Slowly added to get to dkh 7.
Ph dropped to 7.9.
Thats what my ph is at night before lights on so I was good to go.
It may take overnight to get back to 8.3.

How much sodium bisulfate do you dose per gallon? Can you refer me to a resource for dosing? Thx

 

[MarshallB]

I mix about 55 gallons at a time in a holding tank. I normally have to let it mix for almost 2 days for it to be perfectly clear. Every batch I have made floats around 9.5-10dkh. It's totally possible you got a bad bag of IO.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Awesome!

Any dosing calculations/formulas that you can vouch for for dosing sodium bisulfate (or muriatic acid) to lower alk?

Thanks,
Ross

I detail exactly how to use it here:

Sodium Bisulfate to Reduce Alkalinity in New Salt Water or in Display Tanks

I just want to record these calculations in their own thread to refer back to in other threads. When alkalinity is too high in new salt water or in a display tank, acid can be used to lower the alkalinity. You can easily use muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid), or sodium bifulfate (e.g...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[androidx1]

Along the same lines as Randy mentioned (old salt), if you start getting clumping, the salt wont mix correctly anymore, and the alkalinity will mix low. I have experienced this with old salt that i bought during the beginning of the covid scare. I bought an extra box of IO and left it in the garage......it got lumpy and simply didnt mix out to proper params anymore.

 

[paddle41773]

How do you lower your ALK?

I use regular instant ocean, but always reduce the Alk to 7.5. Here is what my batches have mixed up to at 1.0264 before I reduced the Alk:

06/18 - 10.584
07/25 - 9.8
08/21 - 8.904
09/11 - 8.232
10/09 - 9.688

 

[DivingTheWorld]

How do you lower your ALK?

Muriatic Acid. I don’t remember the exact formula, but for the 40g I mix up, each 1ml acid will drop Alk by 0.182 dKh. You can probably find a bunch of threads on here talking about it.

The one thing to note is that it will also drop pH, so don’t dose directly into your display. Also, run an air stone in the water for about 24 hours to raise the pH back up after Dosing.

 

[Victory652]

Muriatic Acid. I don’t remember the exact formula, but for the 40g I mix up, each 1ml acid will drop Alk by 0.182 dKh. You can probably find a bunch of threads on here talking about it.

The one thing to note is that it will also drop pH, so don’t dose directly into your display. Also, run an air stone in the water for about 24 hours to raise the pH back up after Dosing.

Would large water changes also work? Also, what is the best way to raise pH?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Would large water changes also work? Also, what is the best way to raise pH?

If you are talking about raising the pH in new salt water that has had the alk dropped in it, aeration is the way.

 

[Victory652]

If you are talking about raising the pH in new salt water that has had the alk dropped in it, aeration is the way.

Okay, I have an issue where my all is steadily raising each week (current is 12.1, last week it was 11.4, week before 10.2). I am needing to lower it but cant seem to. I do 10 gal changes on my 55gal tank every Monday then test.

I cannot seem to figure it out.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Okay, I have an issue where my all is steadily raising each week (current is 12.1, last week it was 11.4, week before 10.2). I am needing to lower it but cant seem to. I do 10 gal changes on my 55gal tank every Monday then test.

I cannot seem to figure it out.

AFAIK the only two ways it can increase is dosing or water changes. What's the Alk of your water change water?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Okay, I have an issue where my all is steadily raising each week (current is 12.1, last week it was 11.4, week before 10.2). I am needing to lower it but cant seem to. I do 10 gal changes on my 55gal tank every Monday then test.

I cannot seem to figure it out.

Dropping the alk on you water change water (or using a lower alk mix) is a fine solution, if it is sufficient.

 

[Victory652]

AFAIK the only two ways it can increase is dosing or water changes. What's the Alk of your water change water?

I just did a water change today. Another 10gals. I tested the water before adding it and the alk was at 12.1. so I guess that was more stable than I thought, but isn't that kind of high?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I just did a water change today. Another 10gals. I tested the water before adding it and the alk was at 12.1. so I guess that was more stable than I thought, but isn't that kind of high?

Some salt mixes, including normal IO, are in that range.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I just did a water change today. Another 10gals. I tested the water before adding it and the alk was at 12.1. so I guess that was more stable than I thought, but isn't that kind of high?

That seems a little high for Instant Ocean. I usually find 9.5-10.5 @ 1.0264. But high Alk doesn’t bother me because I always drop it to 7.5 before using. The good news is you now know where your high Alk is coming from.

 

[Victory652]

That seems a little high for Instant Ocean. I usually find 9.5-10.5 @ 1.0264. But high Alk doesn’t bother me because I always drop it to 7.5 before using. The good news is you now know where your high Alk is coming from.

I don't use instant ocean I am currently using Pro Aquatics Reef Pro Mix complete sea salt

 

[Lionfish hunter]

I use regular instant ocean, but always reduce the Alk to 7.5. Here is what my batches have mixed up to at 1.0264 before I reduced the Alk:

06/18 - 10.584
07/25 - 9.8
08/21 - 8.904
09/11 - 8.232
10/09 - 9.688

How do you reduce the alkalinity?

 

[X-37B]

I use sodium bisulfate to reduce IO from 11 to 8.