Alk too high

[sage_commander]

I'm not sure if this is something I should panic about; I was going to be doing a water change in the next day or so, and I will test the alk again tomorrow:

Ammo: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Temp: 78-80
sg: 1.0243
ph: 8.3
alk: 5.5-6 (I ran the test twice)

Any thoughts? Nothing seems to be hurting in there. Thanks.

 

[flamehawk2]

No worries.

 

[drummereef]

It is high but probalby not detrimentally high. Either do a water change or let it fall on its own.

 

[bertoni]

If the animals look okay, the alkalinity will drop on its own. Otherwise, water changes are the only reasonably safe way to fix the situation.

 

[sage_commander]

Got it. Thanks, guys. The only things that are in there are the hitchhikers and a small CUC (1 emerald, 4 hermits, 4 snails). I'm adding about a teaspoon of Phytofeast every other day for the corals and featherdusters.

I've been curious if I'm doing the alk test right. Add a drop of reagent, stir, repeat until the solution is yellow. Are they all like that? It's hard to tell if I'm putting in drops that are too small.

 

[bertoni]

I don't know which test kit you are using, but generally, the drop bottle should be held vertically, with the tip down. I prefer to use the Salifert alkalinity test kit, since the syringe makes drop sizing questions irrelevant.