Supercharge your SPS Growth with 18+ dKh Alk!

[DarkSky]

Not really.

I've been very busy lately, closed on a new house, sold the old house, moved my aquarium, got married, and got a puppy all in the span of a couple weeks.

During this time I left my tank to its own devices, I fed every day but didn't inspect or test anything. While I was out of town getting married, I set up my auto feeder and swapped out my 5g ATO jug for my 33g rubber maid trash can and wish my tank good luck.

Fast forward a few weeks, I'm back in town in the new house, painting, staining floor, doing some electrical work. My tank has been suffering from a bout of dinos, so I bump my phosphates up to 0.5ppm to try and kill them off. This doesn't work, so after a few days I dose three dosages of Dino X, which kills them off.

Still haven't tested anything else up at this point. I'm being lazy, I should make the time but everything in the tank looks amazing so I leave it be. Today when I decide to feed the tank and notice some of my coraline algae is white in the center, which makes me decide I should test my parameters.

Last entry in my log book was 1 month old. Yikes!

Test my dKH using a Hanna checker - 18.2 dKH. Test it again, 18.2 dKh. Look suspiciously at the expiration on the reagent, it's good for another year. I open up a new bottle and test with it; 18.2dKH.

Ok, my Hanna checker must be broken. Fill up a specimen jar with water and head over to my buddy's place and have him test my alk.

18.2 dKH. Calcium at 520ppm. Mag at 1420 ppm.

Well, I start mixing up a batch of new salt water. Guess I'll be doing a water change tomorrow. Switched off my dosers. Hurf.

Surprised every piece of SPS I have isn't dead. Really surprised at the PE they all have, I haven't seen them this extended ever.

I wonder if all the dinos dying off freed up nutrients that are feeding them and preventing burnt tips.

I'm also surprised nothing precipitated out.

If I drop my alk with a water change by a few dKH, will that tick off my coral? Should I just let it drop naturally?

 

[five.five-six]

IMO, I would just let it drop on it’s own. Slow and steady wins the race. 1 water change would be fine but generaly do not aggressively attack preamiters. I might add magnesium to avoid a precipitation event. Events in a reef tank are almost always bad.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Wow 18dKH and you don't have burnt tips or just flat out RTN... Mine get ticked off if it hits 9. I agree with the above. Go slow. Keep your doser off and watch it fall naturally.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

As long as you have adequate N and P for tissue growth (and perhaps other trace elements), I'm not sure high alk is a problem.

That said, my recommendation is to let it decline on its own rather than speeding it with unusually large or frequent water changes.