Alk problem.

[crab0000]

It seems my doser had a problem last night and drained half my alk. container overnight. I just checked alk. and it was 24.5 on an API test kit! Everything looks okay right now. SPS and other corals are polyped out and clam looks fine. I have some change water almost ready, but would it be better to let the alk. come down slowly on it own? Would it be more stressful to do a large water change effecting another large alk. swing in less that 24 hours? I also turned the lights off and thought I'd leave them off for a few days. I though this would lessen the stress on the coral. Does this sound like sound reasoning? Thanks for any help!

 

[sanababit]

well everyone will tell you to do a water change ASAP, heck i would recomend it, but your statements make sense, why submit them to another large alk swing, IMO this hobby is by experiences and monitoring, if you see no stress out of your fish and corals then let it come down on its own, now about the lights, i couldnt imagine by turning the lights off for a couple of days would help, i believe that when the lights are on that is when the corals use alk to start building their skeleton so i would recommend to have your normal photoperiod, good luck

sana

 

[crab0000]

Thanks! That makes sense about the lights, so I'll try it and see!

 

[crab0000]

Also, I'm assuming I should leave the calcium side of the doser running? I would think I need to keep it as steady as possible to keep from shocking the corals any more? I'm wondering how accurate my test results are too. I'm not sure if it's accurate once you get that high?

 

[downhillbiker]

Yes, leave ca running, as normal. Alk is more dangerous if changed fast. IMO you should do a smaller water change, then another tomorrow. Once it gets down to around 15-16 let it come down naturally. I had really high Alk before, and Randy Holmes Farley told me to let it come down naturally. Just dose Ca. And if everything looks ok, you will be fine. Just dont shock them.

 

[crab0000]

Will do, thanks!

 

[crab0000]

Well, it's down to 15 today and everything looks no worse for wear, so hopefully in a few days it'll all be put behind me!

 

[sanababit]

just be patient, lol, good to hear everything is ok

sana

 

[crab0000]

Thanks! I'm getting pretty good at being patient.

 

[downhillbiker]

So you are down to 15 good. Just dose calcium only over the next few days/weeks, depending on how long it takes. When your dKH gets down to your desired number, start it back up, you will see no problems whatsoever. Glad you handled this the right way. Good work.

 

[crab0000]

Thanks! I just put the Alk. dosing line into a container to catch it and have left the calcium running like normal. At this rate it'll just be a few more days until I'm back down to my regular level (9).