TRITON CORE 7 ALKALINITY ISSUES

[blanc88]

Hi all,

I've been running Triton C7 for over a year without any major issues, but struggle to have any decent growth on SPS and therefore since stuck to softies.

My Alkalinity has always maintained 11 without moving. I understand it should =7dkh but have also been advised stability is the key.

I have a RSR250 (v1) and as you know the sump is extremely limited especially for algae growth. I have attached a photo of the sump area as algae does grow.

My question are:

1: is 11dkh too high irrespective of stability?
2: how do I lower my alkalinity?

 

[BigKid4788]

Couple questions
1. Are you doing water changes? If so, what is the Alk of the salt you used?
2. Do you have any LPS or SPS in the tank?

 

[blanc88]

Couple questions
1. Are you doing water changes? If so, what is the Alk of the salt you used?
2. Do you have any LPS or SPS in the tank?

Thanks for responding!
No I stopped doing water changes about 8 months ago, as I found that even after changes it would climb back to a steady 11

No. I have removed all SPS and LPS until I can bring it down. Reason being is that there was no grown at all.

Hope this helps !

 

[pigmo]

i suggest lowering your alk to triton's suggested level of 8 - we run ours at 7 point something. we tried 9 in the beginning, no joy at all. once it dipped (on accident) to 6.5, and everything strarted growing... it was an ah-ha moment, and that's when we headed towards nsw nsw levels. even high 8's were not good for us. for some reason, triton doesn't do well at high alk - a known unknown lol.

oh and change your salt brand - we use tropic marin pro as it mixes with a dkh in the 7s.

michelle

 

[BigKid4788]

I would stop dosing. Alk&ca is mostly for building skeletal structure. Your softies don’t have that.
If you see a negative affect, add some trace elements

 

[blanc88]

I would stop dosing. Alk&ca is mostly for building skeletal structure. Your softies don’t have that.
If you see a negative affect, add some trace elements

I want to start adding SPS but worried about doing so with the high alk and/or imbalance in my tank.

 

[blanc88]

i suggest lowering your alk to triton's suggested level of 8 - we run ours at 7 point something. we tried 9 in the beginning, no joy at all. once it dipped (on accident) to 6.5, and everything strarted growing. even high 8's were not good for us. for some reason, triton doesn't do well at high alk - a known unknown lol.

oh and change your salt brand - we use tropic marin pro as it mixes with a dkh in the 7s.

michelle

Do you have any recommendations on how to lower it ?

 

[BigKid4788]

I want to start adding SPS but worried about doing so with the high alk and/or imbalance in my tank.

11 Alk won’t hurt sps. As you add Sps, you should see your Alk slowly lower as they start to use it

 

[blanc88]

11 Alk won’t hurt sps. As you add Sps, you should see your Alk slowly lower as they start to use it

Ok great. I will consider this thanks .

I understand 11 is typically not high, but under core 7, considered quite off the target. I wasn't sure if its indication that my other parameters are off too.

 

[BigKid4788]

I would imagine your other parameters are probably higher than normal. Slowly lower Alk by reducing how much you dose. Reduce and wait a couple weeks, reduce and wait a couple weeks until your at the desired level

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

To reduce your alk:

Simply stop dosing all core 7 elements (the 3a and 3b are ALK). Your alkalinity should slowly drift down over time (having coraline algea will help speed this up, or anythnig that "uses" up Alkalinity). Once at 6.8 or so start dosing again slowly.

 

[hsingh]

I am having a similar issue, my Alk hovers around 11.4, even after water changes and the calcium is at 524. I am now minimal dosing on calcium (2ml) and reduced dosing of the Alks(3a/3b) and core1. Now do i need to reduce core1 everytime i reduce the Alks?

 

[blanc88]

I am having a similar issue, my Alk hovers around 11.4, even after water changes and the calcium is at 524. I am now minimal dosing on calcium (2ml) and reduced dosing of the Alks(3a/3b) and core1. Now do i need to reduce core1 everytime i reduce the Alks?

I have currently stopped dosing all together but as I am only left with softies (rest of corals taken out) I worry that I have almost no demand for alkalinity, which is clear as it hasn't dropped.

I have some maneuverability with a slightly higher salinity, so will start to dilute the water to see if it will bring the parameters down. I will let you know the outcome

 

[hsingh]

OK so i reduced the calcium to 4ml (from 15), also reduced the other elements (1-3a/b) to 10ml from 14ml, and finally seeing a change. The Alk dropped to 10.4 (with slight drop in ph, its now 8.06) and calcium is now at 455. I suspect the reduction in element dosing has helped, but i also added a frogspawn and a sps coral, so wondering if i have finally got something that takes the calcium and the alkalinity.

 

[hsingh]

Hey All, update on this, I changed salts from instant ocean reef crystals to Tropic Marin pro reef salt, and voila! my dkh came down to 8 after a few water changes. Seems that the reef crystals have a very high dkh! So problem solved for me!

 

[Reefahholic]

Hey All, update on this, I changed salts from instant ocean reef crystals to Tropic Marin pro reef salt, and voila! my dkh came down to 8 after a few water changes. Seems that the reef crystals have a very high dkh! So problem solved for me!

Yes, IORC has high Alk. You can use a buffer like seachem acid buffer to bring it down or simply use a salt with lower Alk like you have already done. Good luck!