Oh boy! A little assurance please

[buck50bmg]

Well, I screwed up and while trying to dial in my Ca reactor, I overshot the Alk. Went from 6 dkh to 15 dkh.

My sps slimmed up, I did a water change, at 13 dkh now. Polyps are out and slimming stopped.

Should I worry? Ive had my tank at 12 dkh before and it went down to 6 dkh because of the new reactor and me not testing daily.

Thanks

 

[cloakerpoked]

I've run my tank in the 10-13 dkh range before, and haven't had any problems when it does hit 13, although I try to hit 11 more frequently. How quickly did you jump it to 15?

 

[raynist]

Hey Pat, how quickly did this happen?

I had mine go way down, to 4 while I was away on vacation. I SLOWLY let it climb back up to 7-8. I think higher is safer than lower. I wouldn't change to quickly again as to not stress them out any further.

 

[buck50bmg]

Id say in about 3 hours.....

 

[cloakerpoked]

Wow, that's a pretty quick change. Not sure how it would affect corals though, since it has more to do with pH buffering ability and the like. I'd be more concerned about some kind of precipitation event or something, which is annoying, but harmless. Was a large pH change a part of this event too, or just the alk?

 

[raynist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14411581#post14411581 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by buck50bmg
Id say in about 3 hours.....

:eek1: :eek1: :eek1: :eek1:

Whoa, that is fast.

That reactor must be a beast to change 150g that quickly.

I think you will be alright though. I think if you went the other way that quickly you would have real problems. My encrusting monti's fare badly when my alk swings. When I was dialing in my reactor I tested alk 2x's a day out of paranoia, I now test it every 3 days.

 

[cloakerpoked]

Yeah, I think when you drop really low, that's when you run into huge pH problems (like a possible pH crash), which would be a much larger problem on the whole than rapidly increasing the buffering capacity of the tank. If the polyps have extended, then I wouldn't worry overmuch about it right now, but I'd definitely keep an eye on it. You may have lost a lot of calcium since alk and calcium have an inverse relationship with each other...

On a related note...does anyone know how to lower alkalinity some in order to try to increase the calcium concentration in the water? I'm dosing kalkwasser as my primary calcium delivery method, and it's been keeping my tank pretty steady in the 350ppm calcium range with a dKh around 11 (give or take .5). Magnesium is at 1200 ppm. I'm trying to get closer to 400-450 calcium and dKh around 9 or 10, so any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[superstein61]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14411789#post14411789 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cloakerpoked


On a related note...does anyone know how to lower alkalinity some in order to try to increase the calcium concentration in the water? I'm dosing kalkwasser as my primary calcium delivery method, and it's been keeping my tank pretty steady in the 350ppm calcium range with a dKh around 11 (give or take .5). Magnesium is at 1200 ppm. I'm trying to get closer to 400-450 calcium and dKh around 9 or 10, so any suggestions? Thanks.

Nate - check this article out I think you are going to have to resort to a calcium supplement to get where you want to be

 

[Paul_PSU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14411728#post14411728 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by raynist
:eek1: :eek1: :eek1: :eek1:

That reactor must be a beast to change 150g that quickly.

I just saw his new reactor. You have no idea how much of an understatement that is....:lol:

Pat, I had my alk up to 16 once with no adverse reactions. It wasn't that quickly though. If you have it down to 13 and the corals look good you should be ok.

 

[buck50bmg]

Corals look good. I did the morning check with flashlight.

 

[Paul_PSU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14413732#post14413732 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by buck50bmg
Corals look good. I did the morning check with flashlight.

Good to hear.

After seeing your system all setup, I can probably just skip the behind the scene tour at the PGH Aquarium. Impressive!

 

[buck50bmg]

Thanks Paul

Heck I might run at a higher Alk now.... My pH droped a whole .02 the whole night.

I think as you all have said, its more important right now to keep it there and not let it drop. I bet when I get home it will have dropped 2dkh.

I guess the coral slimming and polyps only retracting at about 70% on most corals and then comming right out, and now fully out in night mode, means all is going to be OK.

 

[buck50bmg]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14411625#post14411625 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cloakerpoked
Wow, that's a pretty quick change. Not sure how it would affect corals though, since it has more to do with pH buffering ability and the like. I'd be more concerned about some kind of precipitation event or something, which is annoying, but harmless. Was a large pH change a part of this event too, or just the alk?

Ph went up .20 so all is fine. Ca is at 450ppm

 

[cloakerpoked]

Was thinking about it and I guess the effluent from the Ca reactor would balance your alk to a pretty good degree. Still it's saying something when your Calcium reactor raises your pH at all, especially by .2