New girl: alkalinity, what should it be at?

[Scott.h]

If it's high like that how do you bring the number down?

With all that you have in the tank let it fall naturally over a few weeks. Or keep it where it is. Either should be fine. I used to use reef crystals. I changed because the parameters varied a lot bucket to bucket, and alk was too high for my liking. For awhile I'd dose a few ml of hydrochloric acid to my new salt mix, and bubble it with an airstone over night before my water changes. This drops alkalinity but you don't want to add it to the tank, as it also kills ph temporarily. Eventually I changed salts.

 

[coralgallore]

If you ask 10 different reefers you'll probably get 10 different answers on what they keep alk at. Between 8-12 is the most accepted numbers but don't chase those numbers, if your tank is at 7.5 and everything is fine and healthy don't stress yourself to get it up. Same goes for if it's a little high. I've seen gorgeous reef tanks with alk that was always at 6 and 13 and ones that looked like crap at 9. New reefers get it stuck in there head that you MUST have your numbers at X. Find a stable number and just try to keep it at that. And welcome to REEF2REEF [emoji106].

Great! Thanks for the reply.
So I'm gathering having it at a high number is t such a bad thing as long as it is stable. Everything looks to be doing amazing.

Worst thing is I thought one died because it was so far into the skeleton. My partener kept pestering me to remove it cause it might destroy the rest of the tank. Turns out it was fine and that's normal as long as the mouth isn't destroyed? Lol so many opinions, I think doing what works for you and maintaining that is best .

 

[coralgallore]

Other salts to consider:
Fritz RPM
Instant Ocean (not reef crystals)

Both are relatively inexpensive, and have yielded good results to a lot of people.

As for lowering your alkalinity, do you have anything in the tank currently? I believe Randy posted something about lowering it with a dilute acid if it's really bad, but I'd personally just change salts and let it come down naturally as it's used by coral in the tank.

I heard that instant ocean doesn't do well with corals... what's your experience with it like?

 

[recess62]

Are you sure you are mixing your salt water correctly? Are you confidant with your testing procedure? I believe that reef crystals mixed correctly should give an alk of 13. So the next question is that if you are mixing correctly how do you get an alk higher than the mix allows?

Can someone else chime in and verify my reasoning?

 

[msderganc]

I heard that instant ocean doesn't do well with corals... what's your experience with it like?

Instant ocean is a solid salt. The only reason it has had that reputation is that people used to keep alkalinity a lot higher than they do today. There's been a trend towards natural alkalinity levels, and the popularity of two part ( or more) dosing has replaced the need for water changes to supply macro elements.

I've used it for a long time keeping all types of coral with no issues. I'm likely swapping to Fritz because of how regular the parameters are with it. As a point of reference, the chemist linked earlier (Randy Holmes Farley) has used instant ocean for many, many years.

 

[coralgallore]

With all that you have in the tank let it fall naturally over a few weeks. Or keep it where it is. Either should be fine. I used to use reef crystals. I changed because the parameters varied a lot bucket to bucket, and alk was too high for my liking. For awhile I'd dose a few ml of hydrochloric acid to my new salt mix, and bubble it with an airstone over night before my water changes. This drops alkalinity but you don't want to add it to the tank, as it also kills ph temporarily. Eventually I changed salts.

Hmm, I'm thinking I might change salts thanks

 

[40B Knasty]

A little salt guide to help you with your choice. Welcome o R2R

 

[coralgallore]

Are you sure you are mixing your salt water correctly? Are you confidant with your testing procedure? I believe that reef crystals mixed correctly should give an alk of 13. So the next question is that if you are mixing correctly how do you get an alk higher than the mix allows?

Can someone else chime in and verify my reasoning?

Maybe I'm not.... I follow what it says...

 

[Salty1962]

Welcome to R2R! Each system is going to be a little different in its elemental requirements. A good starting point is @ 8.0 considered to be safer NSW levels. I would try your tank at that level and make adjustments to it to suite your system.

 

[recess62]

Can anyone explain how she can get an alk higher than her salt mix without dosing?

 

[Scott.h]

Testing error or test kit error itself. Or unusually high salt batch from RC, which would not surprise me at all with them.

Can anyone explain how she can get an alk higher than her salt mix without dosing?

 

[WWIII]

I run my alkalinity between 8.0 and 8.4. Using Red Sea blue bucket. I use kalkwasser to control alkalinity and monitor it with hanna alkalinity digital test. Pretty simple and straightforward method whatever number you and your tank decide on. I highly recommend the hanna for alkalinity testing. I just listed what my tank is at and how i accomplish this because there is no "real" perfect answer. I'd start on the lower end of the scale of good "around 7 or 8 dkh" and go from there!

 

[Sherman]

Likely is tester error. Or testing error.
Sometime is that batch of salt mix has issue.