who all keeps their alk high 10 or higher

[Camaro Show Corals]

just curious who keeps their alk high and why, I keep mine at 10

 

[Crabs McJones]

just curious who keeps their alk high and why, I keep mine at 10

I keep mine at 8, but I've heard that keeping it at higher levels with elevated ph can promote rapid growth. I believe also that BRS is doing an investigation on this.

 

[DSC reef]

9.8-10 alk here. The tank and corals have always seemed there best with that high of an alkalinity. Plenty of tanks look amazing with lower alk as well.

 

[vic5hands]

Was at 12.6 bring it down to 9 plus hear you get better colors

 

[pharazon]

8.9 - 9.2 dKh.

If BRS concludes that higher alk increases growth, you can bet that I will start raising it!

 

[tnc112105]

A good read for those who are interested

https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2016/9/aafeature

 

[vic5hands]

8.9 - 9.2 dKh.

If BRS concludes that higher alk increases growth, you can bet that I will start raising it!

Raising to ?

 

[Flippers4pups]

I keep mine around 9+dkh, but I keep my nutrients up as well.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I feel 10 is best of both worlds

 

[pharazon]

Raising to ?

Whatever they determine is the optimal level.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Whatever they determine is the optimal level.

Depending on what your N03 and P04 is at, kinda determines what range of DKH you can keep. This also goes hand in hand with light intensity/par, light spectrum and water flow.

The question of what DKH, of course has everything to do with what corals you keep, as well as what I posted above.

General rule of thumb is:

Higher DKH, higher nutrients and light.

Lower DKH, lower nutrients and light.

Doesn't apply to everyone all the time, but it's a great place to start.

 

[Flippers4pups]

A word on ULNS. they typically run lower DKH values, around 7-8, with very low to zero nutrients suspended in the water. They offset the lack of nutrients by supplementation of amino acids and elements for color and growth.

It's a razors edge to maintain these systems. Any imbalance in the system could cause a crash.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

8.9 - 9.2 dKh.

If BRS concludes that higher alk increases growth, you can bet that I will start raising it!

If they don't, then they probably did something wrong (or let something drop to the point where it became limiting to growth). This is pretty well established in the scientific literature.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Here's a great read for anyone on the subject of water pramameters and the Masters of the hobby:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/tank-parameters-of-some-masters.263/

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

I’m sure I’ll get eggs thrown at me on this one lol, but hey I’ll chime in. In all honesty since my tank is doing well, I make a record of what my levels are and I keep them there. I feel the more you mess with your tank, there is a higher chance your going to break it.

For example I didn’t like that I had some small rocks on my sand bed. I had this plan to rake them up lol w a little toy rake. But the fact I could release bad stuff in my tank, cause it to crash etc, I said nope. I will live w the rocks on my sand bed. My fish and corals are doing great, everything has good color, fish are super healthy. Why would I mess with the ecosystem if it’s thriving? It just seems unnecessary to keep tweaking it.

For those who want to sell and time is of the essence, I can see that a little more. But my tank has the rest of my life to grow and become a full reef. If that’s tomorrow (sure hope I don’t die by tomorrow, lol I at least wanna live 9 more days so I can graduate at least), or it could be till I’m 95 years old. One of the magical things I adore about my tank is watching it mature and grow.

Sarah

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Mine's between 10 and 11 dKh.

Higher carbonate alkalinity will cause the aquarium to have a higher pH given the same CO2 concentration. It's also generally believed that high alkalinity encourages stony coral and coralline algae growth.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Yes it does

 

[OriginalUserName]

A word on ULNS. they typically run lower DKH values, around 7-8, with very low to zero nutrients suspended in the water. They offset the lack of nutrients by supplementation of amino acids and elements for color and growth.

It's a razors edge to maintain these systems. Any imbalance in the system could cause a crash.

I'm learning this lesson with my foray into SPS. I pretty much got to the point where I had ULNS and said "ok, time to get deep into SPS". Whoops, low nutrients and alk at 11-13 was causing bleached corals and some tissue loss. Now I'm dialing back the Alk and dialing up my nutrients.

 

[techhnyne]

What are some of you guys methods of keeping high dkh

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

red sea coral pro salt