7.5, water change, 6.7dhk. Should I adjust?

[Tom Toro]

I've been adding 60ml of Alk to my tank daily for about a week(slowly upped from 30ml in 5ml increments every 3days). I got the alk up to 7.5. It had been 22 days since I did a water change so I did one and my alk dipped to 6.7 while still dosing the 60ml. Should I adjust this up a little or keep it at 60ml hoping it comes back up to acceptable levels. I was trying to get to 8 slowly, but this is a setback. Ca and Mg are still off the charts on Salifert.

By the way, my salt is Oceanic with a specified makeup of:
500 ca
1500mg
7dkh alk

I need to change salts. I'm shooting myself in the foot with this stuff.

[TM01]

I would.

Sounds like you may have to adjust your alk levels of your WC.

[TM01]

double post

[slapshot]

Tom, you need to change salt. That is way too low. I would take a water sample to Pet Connection or your local fish store and have it double checked. You could have Dent check it or bring it over here when you come over.

Assuming your readings are correct I would up it to 80 and see if you can't get it up a little faster. ( I did not mean that as it sounded. Lol) your calc. is high because your alk. Is low. Your corals can't absorb calc. when your alk is below 7. Time to move things along a little faster before your sps start RTNing.

Remember as you add SPS and as they grow the demand will increase in your tank. You should have to add more then you were when you started.

Don

[jimsflies]

Or verify with a another (maybe better) test kit before doing anything too drastic. Is your livestock looking bad?

[Tom Toro]

Originally Posted by slapshot

Tom, you need to change salt. That is way too low. I would take a water sample to Pet Connection or your local fish store and have it double checked. You could have Dent check it or bring it over here when you come over.

Assuming your readings are correct I would up it to 80 and see if you can't get it up a little faster. ( I did not mean that as it sounded. Lol) your calc. is high because your alk. Is low. Your corals can't absorb calc. when your alk is below 7. Time to move things along a little faster before your sps start RTNing.

Remember as you add SPS and as they grow the demand will increase in your tank. You should have to add more then you were when you started.

Don

LOL! I just got it. I'll kick it up to 80 tonight and check in a couple of days and yeah, I'm going to change to RC. I remember hearing that when you change salt, you need to do it slowly with a 20/80, 30/70, etc mixing of the two salts. Unless you think I can just switch.

I do have some good size colonies in there, so maybe they're drinking it up. Makes sense about the calcium not dropping cause of the low alk inhibiting the process.

Originally Posted by jimsflies

Or verify with a another (maybe better) test kit before doing anything too drastic. Is your livestock looking bad?

I'm feeling pretty good about the results. I have an old Salifert test I was using and bought a brand new one about a month ago. Both tests give identical readings.

Fish look great, but corals, while polyp extension is good, colors are pretty dull. No tissue loss yet.

[slapshot]

It depends on how much of a WC you do. I would not mix the mixes. when I switched to tropic marin for awhile I just did smaller changes for the first couple. If your changing under 20 percent I can't see where it would matter. You will like RC. I went right back.

[schminksbro]

Actually alkalinity in the ocean is typically 6.5-7dkh so I wouldn't panic. Corals can calcify fine at that range. If your Ph is low then calcification will decrease or even cease. I would change to RC and try to get your alk around 8-8.5 dkh. It is also worth noting that bringing your alk up from 7-8 relatively quickly (over a couple of days) should't cause any problems. I would also check your magnesium.

[Tom Toro]

Thanks Andy. PH is typically between 8 and 8.1. Mag has been off the Salifert chart over 1500 as is Ca at 500+. Don talked me into changing to RC salt so that should help. I'm also dosing vodka and B7. I noticed in the years past when I raised too quickly on this regimen that I burned the tips of my sps.

p.s. that chalice I bought at your place is surviving nicely. Nice turquoise color with pink eyes. Had some good comments regarding it.

Originally Posted by schminksbro

Actually alkalinity in the ocean is typically 6.5-7dkh so I wouldn't panic. Corals can calcify fine at that range. If your Ph is low then calcification will decrease or even cease. I would change to RC and try to get your alk around 8-8.5 dkh. It is also worth noting that bringing your alk up from 7-8 relatively quickly (over a couple of days) should't cause any problems. I would also check your magnesium.

[schminksbro]

If your running probiotics it is imperative that you keep your alk below 9dkh. I would recommend a quality kit such as Lamotte. At 9dkh many acro tips will burn. Get your alk around 8 and stable and calcium/magnesium will fall right into line. Then just keep it stable. Also if you use the carbon/bacteria to keep nutrients low but not at zero you run less risk of tip burn. I also used probiotics to allow myself to feed more as opposed to driving to ultra low nutrients. That will keep your corals growing, your colors rich, and your fish fat.

Originally Posted by Tom Toro

Thanks Andy. PH is typically between 8 and 8.1. Mag has been off the Salifert chart over 1500 as is Ca at 500+. Don talked me into changing to RC salt so that should help. I'm also dosing vodka and B7. I noticed in the years past when I raised too quickly on this regimen that I burned the tips of my sps.

p.s. that chalice I bought at your place is surviving nicely. Nice turquoise color with pink eyes. Had some good comments regarding it.