Need some help with my alkalinity please...

Jesse571 · Jun 23, 2022

I have a 2 year old 75 gallon mixed reef very heavy with LPS and softies. My NO3 is 0.3 PO4 is 0.05 calcium is 399 magnesium 1455 Alkalinity is 13.5. I dose All For Reef and Bacto-Balance. My problem is I can't get my alkalinity down! Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time with this.

Vested · Jun 23, 2022

Make sure your salinity is correct, what salt mix are you using? And what are you using to test alkalinity?

Lavey29 · Jun 23, 2022

Also if you raise cal to 450 it will lower alk some too

ZombieEngineer · Jun 23, 2022

Cut dosing all for reef in half, dose Calcium for a while until numbers normalize.

Also check your salinity (and calibrate whatever device you use to measure it), you magnesium is high enough I would expect you are actually around 37-38ppt.

Jesse571 · Jun 23, 2022

Vested said:
Make sure your salinity is correct, what salt mix are you using? And what are you using to test alkalinity?

Jesse571 · Jun 23, 2022

Neomarine and I'm using Hanna checkers for everything. Salinity 1.025. 15 gallon water change every 2 weeks. I don't have any alk burn and corals seem fine but alkalinity is just so high and I can't get it down.

Jesse571 · Jun 23, 2022

ZombieEngineer said:
Cut dosing all for reef in half, dose Calcium for a while until numbers normalize.

Also check your salinity (and calibrate whatever device you use to measure it), you magnesium is high enough I would expect you are actually around 37-38ppt.

That was what I was thinking of dosing calcium but will stop the All For Reef. I calibrate before I test to be sure. Thanks for the help.

Jesse571 · Jun 23, 2022

Lavey29 said:
Also if you raise cal to 450 it will lower alk some too

Thanks will dose calcium.

ZombieEngineer · Jun 23, 2022

Jesse571 said:
That was what I was thinking of dosing calcium but will stop the All For Reef. I calibrate before I test to be sure. Thanks for the help.

How much stoney coral do you have? If you have a lot, you don't want to stop dosing kh cold turkey. If your alk demand is less than 0.5dKH per day you can stop completely. If it's 1-2dKH per day, you can cut it in half.

Jesse571 · Jun 23, 2022

Thanks for the help!

Reeffraff · Jun 23, 2022

Jesse571 said:
Neomarine and I'm using Hanna checkers for everything. Salinity 1.025. 15 gallon water change every 2 weeks. I don't have any alk burn and corals seem fine but alkalinity is just so high and I can't get it down.

I've had problems with Hanna Alk reagents in the past. Have you doubled checked with another test kit? Once you can confirm with multiple test kits (maybe a local hobbyist or LFS can help you out), stop dosing any alk products and let Alk fall slowly in its own. Continue with Ca dosing to maintain appropriate levels. If corals are doing fine, no need to panic and make any drastic changes. If the salt you are using for water changes is high in Alk, you may want to consider switching to a low alk salt such as red sea blue bucket.

Jesse571 · Jun 24, 2022

Reeffraff said:
I've had problems with Hanna Alk reagents in the past. Have you doubled checked with another test kit? Once you can confirm with multiple test kits (maybe a local hobbyist or LFS can help you out), stop dosing any alk products and let Alk fall slowly in its own. Continue with Ca dosing to maintain appropriate levels. If corals are doing fine, no need to panic and make any drastic changes. If the salt you are using for water changes is high in Alk, you may want to consider switching to a low alk salt such as red sea blue bucket.

I had heard about problems with the regents so I have a total of 3...lol. Getting pretty much the same numbers. Also I have the Red Sea test kits and again the same basic numbers. Took water to LFS and again high alk. I will definitely stop dosing alk and just dose the calcium and look into different salt. Thanks for the help.

Lavey29 · Jun 24, 2022

Another thing to consider is that your corals are struggling for some reason so they have cut back on their alkalinity uptake resulting in higher numbers for you. It might be prudent to do an in depth review of all parameters and conditions in your tank.

Jesse571 · Jun 24, 2022

Lavey29 said:
Another thing to consider is that your corals are struggling for some reason so they have cut back on their alkalinity uptake resulting in higher numbers for you. It might be prudent to do an in depth review of all parameters and conditions in your tank.

What should I do to perform "in depth review" please. I posted my numbers for mixed reef with a lot of LPS and softies...a couple of SPS. About 10 fish. Running Reefbreeders Photon Pro as well I have a refugium, skimmer, pellet reactor, plenty of flow, lots of live rock and live sand. Tank is been running for a couple of years. Fish and corals are healthy and growing and I know most will say "just leave it be then"...it's just I have a concern that I can't get alkalinity down. As recommended on this post to stop dosing All For Reef until it comes back down...is that good enough? Thanks for any help.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 25, 2022

If the 13 dKH is correct, I'd stop dosing any All for Reef.

Jesse571 · Jun 27, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
If the 13 dKH is correct, I'd stop dosing any All for Reef.

Thanks. That's what I have done now.

AVVITT · Jun 29, 2022

Jesse571 said:
Thanks. That's what I have done now.

I'd be interested to revisit this in a week or so to see what your numbers are after you stop dosing all for reef.
I think it may help others in a similar situation, especially if the desired outcome is reached

Jesse571 · Jun 29, 2022

AVVITT said:
I'd be interested to revisit this in a week or so to see what your numbers are after you stop dosing all for reef.
I think it may help others in a similar situation, especially if the desired outcome is reached

Great idea! I will post my results in a week. And I just received a new bottle of regent to test with.

Jesse571 · Jul 4, 2022

Jesse571 said:
Great idea! I will post my results in a week. And I just received a new bottle of regent to test wit

Jesse571 said:
Great idea! I will post my results in a week. And I just received a new bottle of regent to test with.

RESULTS: So after recommendations from people on here to stop dosing ALL FOR REEF to bring my high alkalinity under control...it worked! I stopped for a week and I went from 13.5dkh to 9.3dkh. I did dose calicum and magnesium separately. I will test it in another weeks time and if it drops to much I will go back to dosing ALL FOR REEF but on a much lower dose. Thanks everyone for your help!