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Lowering Alk (And how did it get so high?!)


YHSublime

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I have daily been tracking my alk for the past 2 months, and today it has spiked to 10.34dkh. 

 

For the past week it has been hovering in the 9's, but noticeably tracking upwards, mostly the past 3 days.

I have been dosing 12ml of ESV part 1, and 8ml of ESV part 2. Salinity is 1.025 on a calibrated refractometer. 

 

Changes I have made:

Removed 1/4 of live rock (in sump) 

Removed a small maxima clam (deceased) 

Increased the lighting intensity for 1 day, was too much, adjusted back. 

5 gallon water change, dkh was reading 9 on NSW, and tank water was reading 10.17dkh. 

 

Today I tested, and I was reading 10.34dkh, so I have turned off my doser. 

I'm planning on letting it naturally fall, but my question is, how is alkalinity in a reef tank adjusted downwards if in a pinch? Why do you think my alk got so high to start with? I want to get back down to around 8.5, as that's where I personally saw the best results, but with my current salt (Reef Crystals) It's impossible to mix that low. I think I'm just going to go back to IO. 

 

Thoughts? 

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Water changes are an obvious sure fire way to bring it down. 

 

Clams suck a LOT of ca and alk from the water. That would be my bet. If you didn’t adjust dosing after it died, there is less alk uptake thus dissolved alk goes up. 

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Water changes are an obvious sure fire way to bring it down. 
 
Clams suck a LOT of ca and alk from the water. That would be my bet. If you didn’t adjust dosing after it died, there is less alk uptake thus dissolved alk goes up. 


Possible it was dead for longer than I thought? I.e., 2 days vs 24 hours.


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I forgot the last variable: New alk. Reagant


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42 minutes ago, YHSublime said:

I forgot the last variable: New alk. Reagant

That's potentially significant. Check your alk again in a day and see where you're at. 

 

(And turn off that default Tapatalk signature. It bugs some folks around here that they take up so much room without adding anything to the conversation. :biggrin:)

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12 hours ago, Origami said:

That's potentially significant. Check your alk again in a day and see where you're at. 

 

(And turn off that default Tapatalk signature. It bugs some folks around here that they take up so much room without adding anything to the conversation. :biggrin:)

 

Haha, I'll look into it, while I'm at it I think I'm going to buy tapatalk today and get rid of those ads. 

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2 minutes ago, YHSublime said:

 

Haha, I'll look into it, while I'm at it I think I'm going to buy tapatalk today and get rid of those ads. 

Thanks! Much cleaner look. (Not that I was the one who was most offended by the space that Tapatalk uses (by default) for the signature - I just tend to edit it away when quoting.)

 

I was an early adopter of Tapatalk so I've never been subjected to the ads. I'm totally oblivious to what you all experience there. I do know, though, that WAMAS gets a tiny bit of shared revenue from Tapatalk for the ad placement (with emphasis placed on "tiny bit").

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You can use muriatic acid to bring the alkalinity of your Reef Crystals down to a desired level. It will require some time to de-gas CO2 after it's added so the pH can return to normal levels but I typically let it mix for a day prior to use anyways and it's always been fine (not sure what the minimum time would be as I've never bothered to find out). 

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You can use muriatic acid to bring the alkalinity of your Reef Crystals down to a desired level. It will require some time to de-gas CO2 after it's added so the pH can return to normal levels but I typically let it mix for a day prior to use anyways and it's always been fine (not sure what the minimum time would be as I've never bothered to find out). 



Think I’ll just change salts!


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Regular old Instant Ocean has been working great for me but I think you're running elevated calcium and magnesium levels? IO should mix up at around 425 calcium and 1330 magnesium. 

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Regular old Instant Ocean has been working great for me but I think you're running elevated calcium and magnesium levels? IO should mix up at around 425 calcium and 1330 magnesium. 


Reef crystals has been mixing high on everything. ESV takes care of my mag coupled with alk and calc.


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I plan on switching to IO


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I only mentioned it because the muriatic acid may save you an appreciable amount of money compared to dosing the calcium and magnesium levels back to your desired range. If it is something you're interested in, 3ml of low fume muriatic acid (20% hydrochloric acid) will drop the alkalinity of 5g of fresh mixed water approximately 3 dKh (full strength is about 2.2ml if I remember correctly). 

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I only mentioned it because the muriatic acid may save you an appreciable amount of money compared to dosing the calcium and magnesium levels back to your desired range. If it is something you're interested in, 3ml of low fume muriatic acid (20% hydrochloric acid) will drop the alkalinity of 5g of fresh mixed water approximately 3 dKh (full strength is about 2.2ml if I remember correctly). 


Yea muriatic acid is really the cheapest option, just don't use the water right away


Where can I buy it?
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Wow! Like for masonry? Is there any brand that I should t use?


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17 hours ago, YHSublime said:

Wow! Like for masonry? Is there any brand that I should t use?

 

Yep. You can get it in the pool supply area of most home improvement stores. I don't think the brand makes any difference (I have two different ones in the garage I use). The only issue is the amount of hydrochloric acid (they range from 20% to about 33% typically) so you know how much to dose. I use the low fume (20%) stuff and store it in a little bottle so it's easier to manage. 

 

40671543012_57ddaec075_b.jpg

Edited by madweazl
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Yep. You can get it in the pool supply area of most home improvement stores. I don't think the brand makes any difference (I have two different ones in the garage I use). The only issue is the amount of hydrochloric acid (they range from 20% to about 33% typically) so you know how much to dose. I use the low fume (20%) stuff and store it in a little bottle so it's easier to manage. 
 
40671543012_57ddaec075_b.jpg


Awesome, thanks!


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50% water change will bring alk down fast but understand the bigger the water change the more precisely the salinity and temp must match.

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12 hours ago, sen5241b said:

50% water change will bring alk down fast but understand the bigger the water change the more precisely the salinity and temp must match.

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It will only lower the alkalinity if the mix being used is lower in alkalinity (most are 9.5+).

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50% water change will bring alk down fast but understand the bigger the water change the more precisely the salinity and temp must match.


Yup, I’ve mixed me some saltwater once or twice!

 
It will only lower the alkalinity if the mix being used is lower in alkalinity (most are 9.5+).


Exactly.

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On 1/17/2019 at 9:00 AM, YHSublime said:

 


Yup, I’ve mixed me some saltwater once or twice!



Exactly.
 

 

 

 

There are mixes with lower alk. Why don't you try a 50% water change with one?

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There are mixes with lower alk. Why don't you try a 50% water change with one?


See post #13


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Stop chasing the numbers!

 

turn down the doser and let it fall through consumption.

when removing livestock, rock/clam, coral, consumption goes down and alk goes up.

I test weekly on most tanks and I’ll only change the doser when it strays too far out of normal range.

I have found that with dosing that the numbers rise and fall naturally and that when plotted, resembles a nice alpha wave.

 

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