What the what?

[Maddlesrain]

I’ll start by saying I have been in the bad habit of not testing my aquarium water. My corals look good, my fish are happy, my inverts scurry merrily around the tank, so why should I?

Because my Alk has been at 4, yes four, that’s why!

I tested my tank last night and thought: “well that certainly can’t be right! My test kits must be faulty.”

I took a water sample to the lfs today, and NOPE! They got the EXACT SAME READING!

I’m not seeing any crazy coral growth or anything, actually, the only thing that’s growing really well is hair algae... now I know why. I do wonder, is low alk a cause for algae growth or just a decrease in coral growth?

Nitrate and ammonia were zero, and everything else is creeping down to that point. I use Salinity by Aqua Vitro for my salt.... I just tested my latest batch of saltwater, the Alkalinity came out to 5.7 !! On the bucket it states that a fresh batch shouldn’t mix any lower than 9.

I am going to contact my lfs so that they can possibly request a re-call.

My stock includes

Fish:
Pair of ocellaris clowns
Three blue/ green chromis
Masked goby
Pajama cardinal
Potter’s angelfish

Inverts:
Rainbow bubble tip anemone
Mini red carpet anemone
Peppermint shrimp
Spotted anemone shrimp
Coral banded shrimp
Two turbo snails
A few random hermits
About 10 nassarius snails

Corals:
Random acropora
Green birdsnest
Hammer
A wide assortment of zoas
Green button polyps
Long tentacle plate coral
Green toadstool leather
Photosynthetic gorgonians
A non photosynthetic gorgonian
Fathead dendro
Ricordea mushrooms
Yuma Mushroom
Another mushroom I cannot remember the name of


All of these corals are doing well. They haven’t grown much, but they show nice polyp extension and have left me no reason to think they are unhappy.

I have added a bit of buffer to my tank to start raising the alk. Should I add buffer for the other parameters that are low? Or just take it one at a time?

Moral of the story: I will be testing my tank weekly (if not more) and each bucket of salt I purchase.

 

[Kamden Uelton]

honestly i don't test either, i look at the corals and how they seem to be doing and if my SPS aren't showing white rings of growth i'll dose 20 ml of ALK and CAL, If my zoanthids don't have mini polyps near the base i'll dose 1 ml of Iodine for a week and that seems to keep things doing well.

 

[erk]

If you raise alk, you should also bring calc up as well. Either dosing two part or kalkwasser. Doing one at a time causes imbalances and further issues. Also, make sure your magnesium is correct. If not, once you start raising it, it can cause alk to drop. All of these elements exist in ratios that need to be maintained. In my tank, I have to test weekly possibly biweekly now. I've had to steadily increase my two part dose every week now and if I don't, I start to see angry acros. I recommend getting into a steady habit of testing at least once a week if you have SPS.

 

[Maddlesrain]

If you raise alk, you should also bring calc up as well. Either dosing two part or kalkwasser. Doing one at a time causes imbalances and further issues. Also, make sure your magnesium is correct. If not, once you start raising it, it can cause alk to drop. All of these elements exist in ratios that need to be maintained. In my tank, I have to test weekly possibly biweekly now. I've had to steadily increase my two part dose every week now and if I don't, I start to see angry acros. I recommend getting into a steady habit of testing at least once a week if you have SPS.

Ok, I’ve added the alk, so I’ll do a little calc and maybe wait a couple days for mag then?

I’m thinking I’ll start looking into two part when I get back from vacation over the holidays. Seems like it’ll be worth it.

 

[erk]

Ok, I’ve added the alk, so I’ll do a little calc and maybe wait a couple days for mag then?

I’m thinking I’ll start looking into two part when I get back from vacation over the holidays. Seems like it’ll be worth it.

Just ensure that you add each in the correct ratio to one another. Use this calculator to help.

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html