'Acceptable' range of alkalinity swings for SPS??

jc-reef

jc-reef

New member
I am curious what would be considered an 'acceptable' range for daily alkalinity swings for SPS?? I know some corals are more tolerant than others, but looking for general guideline.
 
+1 no swing is the best you can get.

If your wondering what happens to sps when there is a swing. When i drops suddenly say from 11 to 8 loss of coloration any lower than that possible
death.

If you run at NSW levels and then suddonly raises up your going to get either burnt tips or possible burnt coral all together
 
<1 dkh. As stable as possible. I drip kalk at night into pump in the DT and run my lights in the refugium/sump opposite the DT. My alk typically differs, between night and day, <.5 dkh. Once I get a few ato/kalk setups, I expect even lower variance. I typically see problems around a change of 2 dkh (I don't get to go to bed until my kalk is dripping).
 
Interesting. Thanks for the responses. It seems that a swing of <.5 is a really good target and to make certian not to swing past >1.5-2. My tank is still pretty new (7mo) and stocked with about 2 dozen frags (very light) and some larger pieces. The last 2 days I have tested about a 0.5-0.7 swing...interstingly, the peak is at nights end and minimum is at days end. I am dripping kalk (24/7 with heavy dosing at night) for very low pH issues and trying to find a nice balance of pH and Alk swings as my tank matures. I am guessing as my livestock grows and increases demand, I may need to increase some day time kalk drip to even out the swings.
 
What are the signs of alkalinity burn? Can an otherwise healthy coral recover from this, if it's corrected quickly?
 
i've been dosing brs 2-part and dosing daily. i tested every 24 hours to hone in on how much alk my sps were using. For some reason i would be 9 the first day, then 24 hours its between 7-8. how am i to keep the alk swing down ?
 
Drip kalk too. I know, I know, one more thing, but dripping kalk is very easy. Personally, I drip kalk every night, every tank. This keeps everything pretty much stable through out the week(salinity, calcium, alkalinity, pH) Then, once a week, I test my parameters and get everything exactly where I want(use a dosing calulator). They are usually very close to where I want them, so I don't have to dose much 2-part or magnesium.
 
nikesb said:
i've been dosing brs 2-part and dosing daily. i tested every 24 hours to hone in on how much alk my sps were using. For some reason i would be 9 the first day, then 24 hours its between 7-8. how am i to keep the alk swing down ?
Click to expand...

Personally my tank consumes about 1dkh/day of alkalinity. I have my 2 part on dosers that dose 3 times per day so the swing is never that high. If you are dosing just once per day and your swing is 1dkh it might be ok....if you are using soda ash (sodium carbonate) I would dose after the lights have been out for a while to not spike the pH that much.

I think I read that SunnyX doses just once per day and I would think his tank would consume quite a bit of alkalinity as well.....but if you ever think it is a problem you can always dose multiple times per day.
 
Not all acros have white growth tips. Millepora's mostly. In that case look for polyp extension....if there is polyps its not burnt tips.
 
What's the safest way to lower the alk to nsw from a accidental spike? I usually have my tank around 7.5 to 8 and had a pretty bad swing have burnt tips and rtn on a few ... I'm trying to lower back down it also seems the tank is useing less now that everything's upset
 
BrentH said:
What's the safest way to lower the alk to nsw from a accidental spike? I usually have my tank around 7.5 to 8 and had a pretty bad swing have burnt tips and rtn on a few ... I'm trying to lower back down it also seems the tank is useing less now that everything's upset
Click to expand...

Water changes?
Grandis.
 
I'm in the process of finding out how to control my tank with soda ash from BRS alone for alk.
I've been using Kalkwasser for a while and everything was so perfect with weekly 10% water changes.
One day the tank was without electricity for 12 hours and 2 fishes died. The water chemistry went totally crazy and coralline algae started to die. That day I measured Ca and it was 500+!! Mg was like 1380. Alk dropped to 5.3!!
I don't have hard corals and the nice coralline was consuming the Ca/alk/Mg keeping it stable.
That's why I decided to use the soda ash controlling the alk alone and adding Mg here and there manually.
Ca is coming back to the 400s (480pmm now).
I think the alk falls mostly because of the fishes and many zoanthids.

I'm adding 32ml of soda ash per day (8ml, 4 times a day).

Hopefully I'll be able to get kalk back to work at nigh adding some Ca and helping with the CO2, and also add small amounts of soda ash to help.
I'm waiting for the Ca to be consumed/exported through water changes.

You guys are lucky to keep the corals consuming the Ca daily. That way you can use kalk without any Ca spike!!! :D

Grandis.
 
If you are going to be into SPS for a long time, spend the money on a good dosing system or a calcium reactor. You can easily pay for either if you just lose a few prized colonies to a swing.

Don't count out the ability of coralline to really eat up the alk as well.
 
Yeah, dosing systems are great. It let us enjoy the tank better.
I also recommend a good ATO and a Reefkeeper or any other controller.
They make our life much easier!!!

Grandis.
 
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