VTBig053
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2018
- Messages
- 622
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- 626
- Location
- Northern Virginia
- What state or country do you live in
- Virginia
We recently experienced a 24-hr power outage here in the DC area due to the large east coast storm that rolled through on Friday/Saturday. I just finished testing my water like I do before every water change and my Alk and Ca have spiked to 9.8 dKH and 480 ppm respectively. These are normally at 8.1-8.4 dKH and ~450 ppm (+/- 15 ppm). I'm trying to figure out what caused the spike.
My best guess is that all my corals and clam shut down production during the outage. I had to wrap my tank entirely in blankets and the temp dropped to 73F at its lowest point. A total 24-hr blackout with temperature drop. I did one manual dose (3 ml) of equal parts Alk and Ca during the outage because I was afraid of it dropping too much with the doser offline. Power was restored around 11:00 AM yesterday (Saturday) and the doser went back online. Since the doser went back online, there have been three doses administered for a total of 6 ml of each component. I've taken the doser offline again until I can sort this out.
Is my assumption that the blackout caused my corals to stop growing correct (or more than likely correct)?
I think my best option to lower Alk/Ca levels to "normal" is to skip my water change today and leave the doser offline until the levels of drop on their own over the next few days. I think this will ease the amount of stress on the system and hopefully avoid any sudden swings. I plan to test Alk multiple times a day to keep an eye on this.
I welcome any input from anyone who has more experience here. Is letting the levels just drop on their own the best solution or should I control this more and just lower my dosing amount to lower them even more slowly?
Thanks everyone!
My best guess is that all my corals and clam shut down production during the outage. I had to wrap my tank entirely in blankets and the temp dropped to 73F at its lowest point. A total 24-hr blackout with temperature drop. I did one manual dose (3 ml) of equal parts Alk and Ca during the outage because I was afraid of it dropping too much with the doser offline. Power was restored around 11:00 AM yesterday (Saturday) and the doser went back online. Since the doser went back online, there have been three doses administered for a total of 6 ml of each component. I've taken the doser offline again until I can sort this out.
Is my assumption that the blackout caused my corals to stop growing correct (or more than likely correct)?
I think my best option to lower Alk/Ca levels to "normal" is to skip my water change today and leave the doser offline until the levels of drop on their own over the next few days. I think this will ease the amount of stress on the system and hopefully avoid any sudden swings. I plan to test Alk multiple times a day to keep an eye on this.
I welcome any input from anyone who has more experience here. Is letting the levels just drop on their own the best solution or should I control this more and just lower my dosing amount to lower them even more slowly?
Thanks everyone!
