Help! Alk overdose.

[PirateLove]

I just received my soda ash from BRS, went to the online calculator and calculated to raise my all from 7 to 8. But I did not see the option to set it from meq to DKh. I put in 90ml instead of 32ml so I just raised by Alk from 7 to 10!

BRS recommends no more than 1.4 per day. Am I going to see any ill effects?

 

[PirateLove]

Should I do a large water change?

 

[leviburns89]

A large water change will most definitely not hurt.

As far as I know. It's the only real way to counter this, without introducing more chemicals. Which is what got you in this predicament.

Do the wc, and watch closely over the next few days.

Be sure to mind the temp of the water, as well as other params, you don't want to swing all the other parameters as to further shock your inhabitants.


Also, anytime I have ever done a dosing treatment, aquarium, garden, habitat, whatever. I always start with at most, half, of the recommended level.

Everything in this hobby is arbitrary, and very little is actually scientifically proven, so start small, and work your way up to a sustainable level

 

[DrewHaus]

Do you see your corals reacting negatively? If not, I'd just ride it out. It should start to level out on it's own.

 

[leviburns89]

Edit:

+1 on the above post.

If nothing is adversely reacting, ride it out.

 

[matt1444]

What type of salt do you use? If you use Red Sea pro or something else with a high alk rate you could do more harm than good.

 

[PirateLove]

Checked my corals. Frogspawn is normal and sps all have their little polyps flowing around. Nothing seems mad. I use Reef Crystals. I just received a few new corals yesterday, I guess I will ride it out, but I am concerned. Has anyone else done this before?

 

[bitwise]

I think reef crystals mixes to about 10.5 dKH alk.

 

[leviburns89]

From what I have been told about reef crystals, I will use this quote

"It is easier to add the nutrients you need, than to try and remove them"

I believe the person who told me this had problems controlling the added nutes the reef crystals provided, in addition to his dosing regimen.

So he, as many other reefers, choose to use bare bones IO and add what is needed, vs trying to balance things out after the fact.

That being said, IO is far cheaper than reef crystals, so maybe just maybe in the long run, you can save a bunch of money and hassle, and the money you save can be used to buy the nutes you actually need, or more corals

 

[Xxero]

My current batch of Reef Crystals mixes at 15 dkh.