Alk at 7, want it at 10...

[KJAhp098]

How many days should I take to get it to 10 without stressing my corals?

 

[flamron]

I'd shoot for about .5 every other day.

That should be slow enough.

 

[OneReef]

I have come to the conclusion that my tank does not want high alk. I tried for a while to dose and keep it up, but i always wants to fall back to around 8-9. I decided to let it be, and have lived with it there. I have seen no detrimental effects and everything seems to be fine around 8-9, so I let it be what it be. :0)

 

[ghostman]

My tank likes to be at 7.5-8 DKH as well. I have tried to raise it, but it drops pretty rapidly. I'm happy with it there, as that is very close to NSW. It's also recommended with using vodka, biopellets, and Zeo if I could ever get my levels low enough to truly call my system an ULNS.

 

[KJAhp098]

I used to run the bio-pellets and had my alk around 7 or so, then I realized the pellets weren't working for me so I quit and set the the alk up to about 9. Then my Ca reactor got clogged for a bit and the alk eventually dropped to where it is now. I've heard good things about keeping the alk around 10, so I thought I'd give it a try. Thanks for the replies.

 

[philipchan]

my Alk drop over 1 each day...and I add back up abt 1.5 each day,
corals not stressed , dont know others
from what i've heard , shouldn't over 1 per day,
but normally will only stress the fish, not the corals

 

[MammothReefer]

No reason to really keep it as high as ten, that was a trend a while ago, but most people now are running it 8-9. I shot for about 8.5-9, personally. Some people claim you will get faster growth with higher alk, but the risk of RTN is much higher from what I've seen.

 

[philipchan]

i'm keeping at 9~12, mostly around 10~11, corals growing pretty good, CA at around 460
MG dropped too much, adding back up now

 

[saltygeek]

I agree with flamron, no reason to rush it, your not in a danger zone. My tank fluctuates about .5 every day before the doser goes off. So I'd raise it .5 every day or two.

 

[reefsic]

Why the high alk? Be cautious... I keep mine at 6, only because I'm on Zeovit!

 

[flamron]

I prefer to run around 9.5-10.

This is my safe zone. I have buffer up and down - so if something goes wrong, I can catch it before my alk drops below 6 or 7 and bad things start to happen. Same reasoning on the upward scale, too.

I am not sure I see any increased growth benefit - I just don't want to run my alk on a borderline.

 

[KJAhp098]

I'm using B-ionic to bump it up. I couldn't find directions on the jug so does anyone know how much to use if I want to increase the alk .25 per day on a 340 system? Formula would work too.

 

[flyyyguy]

Formula would work too.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

 

[KJAhp098]

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

Perfect. Thank you.

 

[iap]

Mine stays at 8.6. I tried twice to bring it up to 10 but all I got was precipitation so I didn't bother again

 

[buy_baff]

I have ran mine at 7.5 for a long time my tank is ulns and have had awesome groth at this level. I just hooked up a ca reactor ( before I used brs 2 part ) and now I have it at 8.5 to 9. So far same groth.