Alkalinity poll

[ReefsandGeeks]

Curious what everyone runs their alk at. Especially those who have tanks with acros and other SPS.

I normally run mine at around 10, and my existing coral are well colored and growing, but seems to be an issue when adding any new coral. Just got back from a swap with 10 new coral, and most of them are not looking good, and some have bad RTN. Seems high alk in my tank may be a likely cause.

I'd like to be able to add things to my tank, and sell frags of my coral without issue so if that means me working my alk down to a more number I think that would make sense to do. Question is what should my ultimate target all be for optimal coral acclimation both new frags into my tank and my frags into other tanks.

I want to pick an alk target to work towards that would be easiest for coral to adapt from one tank to another, especially after the stress of possibly being shipped.

 

[otimer]

Many articles say higher alk leads better grawing, while lower alk does better coloring especially for acropora corals.
However you have a burned tip problem when dosing carbon source and above 8~9dkh.

 

[hkgar]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2253547

I keep mine at about 7.8

 

[murphreef]

8-8.5 range typically for me.... automated dosing 4x's daily to keep it as stable as possible. I find my corals get unhappy after 9.

 

[PCguy21]

8-9 i found my bubble corals do better in 8-9 and so does everything else.

 

[Uncle99]

9-10, for me but consistency is more important

 

[jd371]

I like to keep it at 9. Anywhere in the 8.5 - 9.5 range is okay for me but if it starts veering away from those numbers I'll make adjustments.

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

So far it's looking like 8-9 would be the optimal range to be in to match other's tanks, and for best coral health. I'll see how my coral react, but currently lowering down alk now. Might shoot for 8.5 and stay in the 8-9 range.

 

[PCguy21]

I found any higher then 10 qnd my bubble corals receed... i go by mybubble corals for aquarium health.. they seem to be way more sensative then other corals.. and when my alk was 10-12 thr bubbles never extended and thr bubble coral flesh started receeding.. once my alk went down to 8 or 9 they did alot better.

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

Thanks alot for everyone's votes on the poll and responses as to why you maintain the alk levels you do. I guess I was lucky in a way that all of the coral I had existing in my tank did well with high alk of 10, even up to 11 for a couple of days. Unfortionatly, this also meant that my new additions from a recent frag swap did not do well as I had lost sight of what the hobby's most common parameters are. Have not completely lost any of the frags, and some look to be doing well, but some significant damage to some as a result of my high alk.

I'll post back after a while if I notice any changes with my new frags, or with my existing coral on coloration, growth, or apparent health as I lower and maintain a lower alk level.

 

[PCguy21]

Couple days wont hurt the corals... my tank because of reef crystals and my hard watee i have the alk was 13.... lol for like a month... until i started getting more corals.. the only ones that suffered were thr bubbles.. the rest and this includes acroporas did fine in high alkalinity...

I found swings dont do too much to corals at least not for me... I have LPS SPS and leathers. 35 or so different species and ive lost only 2 corals.. a green stylophora and a green planet acropora... and the green planet was my fault i forgot to take it out before medicating my tank..


But this is just my experience... I dont think alkalinity rises hurt coral... i never seen it when going from 8 to 12 after huge water changes.... its the drops that hurt them... below 7 and they suffer

 

[bshow24]

PCGuy, saying alk rises don’t hurt coral is very incorrect. Any type of alk swing has the possibility of being destructive. The number of stories we’ve had on this forum from a broken doser upping the alk overnight and nuking the tank is way too many. Yes, corals can handle higher alk - people actually used to run high alk tanks because it was believed to be better for growth. But they kept their alk at that level consistentlly As long as your level is stable, you can be successful.

 

[TheCamaroShow]

I have tons of extremely high end acros and montis and run my tank with the following prams. I have kept many different prams but this is where I get the most success, I highly recommend higher nutrients in a sps tank people starve their corals. Nothing is wrong with 10-20 nitrate its where my corals have been the healthiest and the least amount of stn/rtn.

sg 35ppt
alk 11.8
calc 470
mag 1350
nitrate 10-15
po4 0.10

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

I have tons of extremely high end acros and montis and run my tank with the following prams. I have kept many different prams but this is where I get the most success, I highly recommend higher nutrients in a sps tank people starve their corals. Nothing is wrong with 10-20 nitrate its where my corals have been the healthiest and the least amount of stn/rtn.

sg 35ppt
alk 11.8
calc 470
mag 1350
nitrate 10-15
po4 0.10

Interesting you're running your alk high. I actually got an anacropora frag from you at the swap and it's one of the frags I got that didn't seem to have any STN/RTN. It is looking a bit pale in my tank, but to be fair, my nitrates are near 0, and I've turned the lights down a good bit to let the STN'ed frags acclimate better. I think about half of the frags I got at the swap showed at least some tissue regression, and the other half seem fine. All different species, and from many different vendors, so who knows that parameters they all had their tanks at.

Have you gotten any complaints from frags you've sold that might have been due to going from a high alk tank to a low alk tank?

 

[TheCamaroShow]

Interesting you're running your alk high. I actually got an anacropora frag from you at the swap and it's one of the frags I got that didn't seem to have any STN/RTN. It is looking a bit pale in my tank, but to be fair, my nitrates are near 0, and I've turned the lights down a good bit to let the STN'ed frags acclimate better. I think about half of the frags I got at the swap showed at least some tissue regression, and the other half seem fine. All different species, and from many different vendors, so who knows that parameters they all had their tanks at.

Have you gotten any complaints from frags you've sold that might have been due to going from a high alk tank to a low alk tank?

Glad its doing well, get a little more nutrients and it should color up fast. The green goblin is a easy coral once you get it acclimated. I sell a lot of frags and have very good customer feedback. I feel the most important thing when you sell coral is healing after cutting. Sorry to hear some had stn/rtn. I picked up a lot of high end sticks from dc aquaculture and mythic reef and everything is looking great.