frankb Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Since I switched to Red Sea Coral Pro salt, my alkalinity is hovering around 12 to 13 dkh. Is it too high for a reef tank with that range? What are the effects of high alkalinity to the corals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattv Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Im no expert but that sounds high to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-Dog Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 It shouldn't get that high with a normal water change. I know that Red Sea salt mixes at 12dkh.....what size water change did u do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankb Posted July 18, 2012 Author Share Posted July 18, 2012 It shouldn't get that high with a normal water change. I know that Red Sea salt mixes at 12dkh.....what size water change did u do? I do 10 percent water change weekly. I use hanna alkalinity checker so it should be accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriz2fer Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 The Hanna reads on the high side. 12-13 alk is pretty high but people run at those levels all the time with great success. I like to keep my tank really close to natural seawater levels so my tank runs 7-8 dkh. It's not what level you run your alk at, it's keeping it stable that makes the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I think I'm switching to Red Sea Coral Pro... I'm having to dose quite a bit (IMO) to keep my alk above 8 with IO Reef Crystals. If Red Sea is naturally that high, I probably wouldn't have to dose at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bswe22 Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I am having trouble keeping my alk up as well. I get it to around 9 and a couple days later it is back to 5.4. I just picked up a dosing pump to start taking care of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-Dog Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Frank, with 10% water changes, there is no way your alk should be that high. It might start climbing slowly with each water change, but it shouldn't jump up to 12-13 right away. Especially if u have coral that use alk....don't u have a bunch of SPS? Something isn't adding up (scratch) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I used kent brand salt on my 150 and she hovered around 10dkh with me dosing every 3 days and my tank didnt have many hard corals and vasically no colonies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fast5oranger Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Do you run a calcium reactor? If so, it could be the cause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alterego Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I wouldn't change a thing. Like was said above, it is stability that is important and 12 to 13 isn't that bad. If your tank is happy, then you are doing fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankb Posted July 19, 2012 Author Share Posted July 19, 2012 Do you run a calcium reactor? If so' date=' it could be the cause.[/quote'] I am running a calcium reactor and dosing at the same time. I think that was the cause of the problem. A few months ago, I had problem with low alkalinity. It dropped all the way to 5 dkh. I started dosing by mixing soda ash and baking soda. The alkalinity was slowly climbing up. When I switched to use Red Sea Coral Pro salt, I forgot to adjust the doser. I need to tune it down a little bit everyday to avoid the swing of alkalinity. It has been steady at 12 to 13 dkh lately. I assume that many reefers are keeping it around 7 to 9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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