Are Alkalinity dips better at high Alkalinity?

brad

Active member
My Alkalinity is 5.4dHk today. A little over a week ago it was at 7.7dHk. I lost a red dragon frag, and a few recovering Acros. I didn't have a problem with my doser or solution and it had been stable for 3 weeks prior.

I had a bigger, longer dip in December and was really just recovering from that. Everything started looking better, but I guess as it grew faster, they used more!:headwally:

Anyhow, on to my question. I've always aimed for closer to 7dHk of natural seawater, thinking I was optimizing coral health over growth. But now I am wondering if I'd really be safer at 10dHk. A 2dHk dip at 10dHk puts me at 8, and while instability is always bad, a dip from 10 to 8 may be better than a dip from 7 to 5.

Sanjay Joshi says his tank drops 2dHk per day if his reactor malfunctions! And he has twice the water volume as I do. Does high alkalinity actual make things worse if something goes wrong? I am pretty good at catching doser problems, but don't always, and I don't have time to test water every day.
 
the issue is the drop range. you want good stable condition.
you need to double check your doser and the amount you set and the amount that actually dose, with doser setup correctly, you shouldnt see a big drop within a week.
high alk will result in better grow, but if you run ULNS, then 7-7.5 are the sweet spots.
i run 10-11dkh when i want to grow, but i dose no3 and po4 to keep nutrients at a detectable level.
 
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