New Tank: High Alkalinity

DLHDesign · Jun 7, 2016

I'm a few days into the maturation of a new tank (my first) and am using the Red Sea Reef Mature Pro kit. Day 2 of the kit instructed me to add the KH-Coralline Gro (KH-CG) buffer if my KH was less than 8.4dKH. Unfortunately, my Hanna Alk tester hadn't yet arrived, so I wasn't able to test that. On the assumption that too little was better than too much, I went ahead with the process without adding any KH-CG.

I've since tested the dKH and am at 9.7 (two readings; ~12hrs apart). Tonight, and for the rest of the week, I'm supposed to dose in more of KH-CG if my dKH is below 8.4. So (assuming no changes) I'll be skipping that tonight and then monitoring throughout the rest of the week (and beyond - dKH is something I plan to check daily for a while) to ensure I don't need to start dosing any KH-CG in.

So I have a few questions on this;

1) Research (here and elsewhere) has shown that 9.7 is within the realm of acceptable. Correct?

2) On the assumption that this isn't quite normal (else why include that bottle at all in the kit), what thing(s) could have caused this? (I "rebooted" the tank with RODI water after adding tap water, I have a fair amount of brown algae in the tank (and had some on "day one" left over from the pre-reboot), my skimmer seems to be effective (it was dirty enough to clean, at least), and I've got nothing I know about bigger than a diatom in the tank yet.) The purpose of this question is for my own education and not out of a concern to "fix it" (unless, of course, the answer to #1 is "no"...).

3) KH-CG is also a trace supplement, of course. Should I be concerned that by not dosing any KH-CG, I'm not replacing those trace elements? I used LR, LS and the Coral Pro salt, if that matters.

(As-of Saturday: 1.025 salinity, 78F, 8.0 pH, 0ppm NO2, 15ppm NO3, 0.5ppm NH3)

Wilsoni · Jun 7, 2016

To answer your questions;

1. 9.7 is completely safe and acceptable. You'll want to stay between 8 - 12 dKH.
2. You stated you're using Coral Pro salt, which is the reason your KH reading is 9.7. It's a high alk salt mix. No need to dose anymore alk for the time being.
3. Coral Pro also includes the essential trace elements needed. Without anything in the tank consuming your nutrients, I personally wouldn't dose anything for the time being.

DLHDesign · Jun 7, 2016

Awesome; thanks!

Edit: I love how the last thing I thought to mention was the root cause of all my questions. Still so much to learn...

Wilsoni · Jun 7, 2016

You're welcome! Oh and welcome BTW

Wilsoni · Jun 7, 2016

Everything looks good to me though.

Wilsoni · Jun 7, 2016

Do you have pics of your tank and more information on your plans for it?

DLHDesign · Jun 7, 2016

Great; appreciate that.

I'm trying to walk the line of doing enough to give the tank a solid chance of long-term success, while also fostering patience (something I'm not historically good at) in order to let the things that need to happen, happen. That's one of the main reasons I'm using the Red Sea kit, in fact; it gives me day-by-day instructions for a long enough period of time that it should establish the habits I need to continue with.

Wilsoni · Jun 7, 2016

I wasn't familiar with the Reef Mature Kit contents until I just looked it up. One thing I would advise is to read the instructions for NoPox carefully and gain an understanding of how carbon dosing works prior to diving in as this is your first tank. It's relatively safe if you understand the concept and how it works but it's typically more of an advanced practice used to control nitrates.

I personally use and love NoPox but I have no experience dosing it in a tank that hasn't matured yet.

Wilsoni · Jun 7, 2016

DLHDesign said:
On the assumption that too little was better than too much

This ^^^ less is more in reefing.

DLHDesign · Jun 7, 2016

First pic and some background on the tank and my "why" is here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/first-tank-red-sea-reefer-525xl.252278/

To elaborate further; my long-term goal is to have the tank operate as both our (my wife and my) "memory bank" and "wish list". In other words; I'd like to include things in the tank that remind me of things I've seen or done while diving, while also including things that I would love to see in the wild some day. Since I can't fit a Giant Manta in the tank (Kona, HI night dive - awesome stuff), the "memory bank" will take shape as time goes on. The "wish list" will be the initial inspiration and will involve mostly corals from the GBR. Being a long-time diver, I'm going to make every effort to only buy tank-raised coral and fish (though that isn't a crusade of mine or anything).
We've also got a near-2 year old and another on the way, so the hope is that the tank will grow with them much as any other family pet (currently; 2 dogs, a cat, and a turtle) and, eventually, become an aid in teaching them science and biology, perhaps? We've been members of the Monterey Bay Aquarium since before our first was born, and she loves to "go see fishes", so this will bring a part of that joy home as well.

Wilsoni · Jun 7, 2016

I'm going to have to look into the Reef Mature Kit a bit more. I use basically all of the methods listed in my tank such as dosing NoPox, a second bacteria source being MB7 and I dose color elements as well. All of which help keep my tank happy and balanced.

I would definitely focus on maintaining the big 3 (KH, Ca, Mg) first.

DLHDesign · Jun 7, 2016

Wilsoni said:
I wasn't familiar with the Reef Mature Kit contents until I just looked it up...

The desire to use it came from the BRS 52-weeks series combined with the feeling of being overwhelmed when we first filled the tank. Once I realized (before purchasing anything living, thankfully) that I should empty the tank and start over with RODI, I decided to spend the extra money on the kits (3 of them for the volume I have). I've got no regrets at all; the kit includes day-by-day instructions that are very clear and easy to follow (clearly they knew their target market for this). The piece of mind is well worth the extra money I likely could have saved on a more patch-work process.

Noted on the carbon dosing; thank you. I'm sticking closely to the instructions for sure (it's what I paid for, after all). I'll be sure to research it more and more as the 21-day process continues so that I exit their "controlled" period with a better understanding of it all.

Wilsoni · Jun 7, 2016

DLHDesign said:
First pic and some background on the tank and my "why" is here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/first-tank-red-sea-reefer-525xl.252278/

To elaborate further; my long-term goal is to have the tank operate as both our (my wife and my) "memory bank" and "wish list". In other words; I'd like to include things in the tank that remind me of things I've seen or done while diving, while also including things that I would love to see in the wild some day. Since I can't fit a Giant Manta in the tank (Kona, HI night dive - awesome stuff), the "memory bank" will take shape as time goes on. The "wish list" will be the initial inspiration and will involve mostly corals from the GBR. Being a long-time diver, I'm going to make every effort to only buy tank-raised coral and fish (though that isn't a crusade of mine or anything).
We've also got a near-2 year old and another on the way, so the hope is that the tank will grow with them much as any other family pet (currently; 2 dogs, a cat, and a turtle) and, eventually, become an aid in teaching them science and biology, perhaps? We've been members of the Monterey Bay Aquarium since before our first was born, and she loves to "go see fishes", so this will bring a part of that joy home as well.

Oh man that's incredible! I'm quite excited to watch your tanks progression. The Reefer 525xl is an awesome tank and I like the fact that you're sticking with all Red Sea products as well. I lived in Kauai when I was younger and was fortunate enough to go on several incredible dives, nothing comparable to the GBR though... That's at the top of my bucket list actually

Wilsoni · Jun 7, 2016

PS bonus points for starting your little one early. I'm from the bay area and was able to visit Monterey Bay Aquarium several times a year while growing up. From a childs perspective, it's utterly breathtaking. Definitely one of my most fond memories of my childhood.

DLHDesign · Jun 7, 2016

Wilsoni said:
I'm going to have to look into the Reef Mature Kit a bit more.

From what I can tell, Red Sea seems to do a good job at researching the goals of an average reefer and then packaging up "easy" to understand/use product lines that match up. While I don't think anything in reefing is ever going to be cookie-cutter, it seems that they are trying to at least move the needle a bit in that direction. As a new reefer, just knowing that the hobby has some manufacturers able/willing to do that (even if I don't use them in the end) gives me some piece of mind. Not as much as this forum does, of course (different; not better)!

Wilsoni said:
I would definitely focus on maintaining the big 3 (KH, Ca, Mg) first.

Totally. I've got a Seneye on the way to act as a backup to manually monitoring everything (and because of the par/per meter). Once I'm more comfortable with understanding the relationships between the numbers on the tests and the visual health of the tank, I'll likely look to pick up one of the new Apex units for piece of mind. Once that happens, I'll start to branch out more in what I'm looking at, but until then - absolutely; KH, Ca, Mg, and me.

Thanks again, @Wilsoni!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 7, 2016

FWIW, my recommend alk range is generally 7-11 dKH, unless it is an ultra low nutrient system.

I personally wouldn't add much in the way of trace elements (which term, be definition, does not include calcium and alkalinity) to a new reef tank.

DLHDesign · Jun 8, 2016

Thanks @Randy Holmes-Farley - appreciate the input. My dKH dropped by .1 over the course of the day, so things are moving and (I presume) growing in all the right ways. I've got no plans to go "off reservation" any time in the next 20+ days (the duration of the Red Sea system).