Hi ALK

[Safedad]

I just moved from a 55g mixed reef to a 90g with 55g sump (120 gal total water volume) just before Christmas. My ALK jumped to 16! Most of my hard corals have bleached. I did soak the skimmer in vinegar and rinsed it "well" but assume that was the culpret. However, the ALK has only dropped down to 13 since then.

How can I drive my ALK down some each day? Would something like pH Down (Na Bisulfate I think) work? I would like to get it down to around 8.

Thanks,
Bob

P.S. I dose 12 oz Blukreefsupply daily, 0 ALK now, 4ml Vodka 2X daily (hair algae control), 1/2 tsp Zeozym 2X weekly (cyano control), 1.5 tsp Vit C (Coral health) 2X daily, Prodibio products wkly or biweekly, run carbon in a fluid reactor. I have ASM G3 skimmer with recirc mod. Lighting is 1 400W 14K MH, 4 55W PC 50/50.
Thanks,
Bob

 

[David Grigor]

For sure don't use any PH buffers.

12 oz. daily of 2 DIY part seems pretty high even for a heavy SPS/acro bioload on a 90g.

Best is to just let if fall on it's own. If your infact adding 12oz a day then your ALK daily consumption must be very high so it shouldn't take but a few days for it to go back down to normal levels without taking in actions.

All of this is under the assumption that your test reading is actually accurate. For sure get a second opinion before doing anything drastic.

 

[bertoni]

All the pH buffers are alkalinity supplements, so I agree on stopping that. Are there any signs of precipitation in the tank? A white coating on a heater or inside a pump? 16 oz per day is a lot. Is this the high-pH recipe, with baked baking soda?

pH Down is sulfuric acid, and I wouldn't dose it into my system, personally.

 

[Safedad]

Source of the problem

Source of the problem

One reefer suggested checking my water change salt water. Sure enough, ALK is 16. Well I am dumping that trash can and will make up another batch. Will keep you posted. Troubleshooting should always start with the simple. Duh!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What salt mix and what source water to make it?

 

[Safedad]

Randy, My water change water out in the garage was 16dKH and 7.9 pH. I use Reef crystals and have an RO/DI system. Water into the filter starts at 95 and comes out at 0 TDS. I think what happened is this. I soaked the skimmer body in vinegar and then cleaned it up. I rinsed it in the sink in the kitchen. I then did a last dunk in the trash can (35g) full of RO/DI water. Then made up a batch of salt water. I syphoned out the saltwater in the trash can before I came to work. I will rinse out the trash can with a hose and then make up new salt water tonight and do a water change tomorrow. I will do several changes over the next couple of weeks until it is back down.
In the future, when I soak something in vinegar I will also soak it in circulating water and test the water before returning the item to the system.
Bob

 

[a2fire2i]

vinegar adds ALK to a tank???

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Vinegar won't, but dissolved calcium carbonate will add some, if there was much left in solution.

 

[chitownclown]

Its not the cleaning that did it, Its the reef crystal. I just had a batch that had a alk of 16dKH and also tested some other peoples and they were between 16 and 19 dKH. There is a theard somewhere on foster smith about the bad salt.

 

[Billybeau1]

Safedad, what is the salinity of your water in the garage and how do you measure it ?

Also could you test the calcium of the garage water ?

I'm concerned you are mixing too rich.

 

[tasos]

Maybe is your test you are using.....getting result crossed with other test will clear the situation!!

 

[Safedad]

Salt make up

Salt make up

I try to mix it to 1.024-25 by hygrometer. It isn't heated though. I will test it this evening. I use API test kits for pH and ALK. I have Seachem kit for calcium. The powder in the Ca kit has caked on me but my water still tests pretty close to the 425 calibration test liquid included. I will post the results tonight.
Of course, while this is going on I am getting a bloom in the tank from overdosing the Vodka. I had gotten up to 4ml am and pm. Have stopped dosing it for now. It did a great job of clearing up my hair algae while Zeozym has kept cyano at bay.

 

[Safedad]

Problem identified

Problem identified

Well, the salt water for water changes tested at 14 dKH. I have ordered some low ALK salt and will blend the reefcrystal salt off with the get tanked salt until I can lower the tank alk down.
My thoughts at this point is that it wasn't the vinegar bath but the new tank didn't have the same activity that the old tank had to lower the ALK. I have been using reefcrystals since last summer. I have also been adding a two part for ALK and Ca. Although I was using less and less of the ALK additive, my dKH was pretty steady at 8. I will repost in a couple of weeks to say whether I actually have a solution or not.