Alkalinity at 19.2 dKH

[kc4mnp]

At a loss I have checked my Alkalinity 3 times with similar results using the RED SEA Foundation Pro Test Kit and my Alkalinity is at 19.2 dKH , Magnesium is at 960 ppm, Calcium is at 370 ppm , Phosphate is 0.50 ppm, PH shows 7.9 at 76.8 degrees, ammonia = 0 , nitrite = 0, nitrate - 10 ppm salinity = 1.024 or 34% @ 76.8 degrees ...I have to ocellaris clowns , 1 yellow tail damsel , and1 tomini tang . I also have 5 or 6 small groups of zoas, 3 mushrooms, 1 bubble tipped anemone, 1 favia, 1 pulsiing zenia, all the corals and the anemone except for the zoas were put in today and appear to be doing fine! the fish are about 3 and 4 months old and the zoas are 3 months old if memory serves me right ! It is a 65 gallon tank with about 30 lbs of white dead rock, and 22 lbs of coralline fake rock, and then 28 lbs of real live rock with multiple corals and mushrooms and some kind of tube worms on it! I am running a HOB 1.5 skimmer and a Aqueon Model 400 Cannister with the Black Plastic balls in the bottom , then ceramic ring media next then pond guru's brown colored media next (cant remember the name) then 3 different layers of filter foam and floss , then into 2 overflow boxes with carbon filtration into tank ! I dosed about 25 ml of soda bicarb that i made by baking some baking soda and mixing with rodi water about 2 months ago, and only dosed it once then i figured out i probably shouldn't do that without a test kit and went and got one ! oops. Also have a 300 watt and a 500 watt heater and two dual head power heads for extra flow! i have a hanna checker on the way to confirm if the RED SEA test kit is accurate or not ! in the mean time is there a way to lower my alkalinity without killing my livestock, or is 19.2 even a realistic number? Any help will be much appreciated ! I already lost a rock flower anemone 2 weeks ago and I hope im not fixing to loss more livestock! Please Help!

 

[KrisReef]

That’s fantastic.
You should not have a add alk for about 6 months of routine water changes it should be back towards normal.

I would not do anything or, or I might do a 50-75% water change if I had a large enough container to hold that much water?

Don’t add any more additives until you have a better understanding of how they work.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don’t believe the magnesium is accurate.

Try all of these kits on new salt water.

What brand and what salinity? Made with ro/di?

 

[Mschmidt]

I'd do daily 10% water changes till it's back down. You don't want to drop alk more than 1dkh per day.

or go slower than that, since you dosed 2 months ago, you can drop it more gradually.

fun story time:
I had a doser dump the whole reservoir one evening and after 5x 15% water changes (the largest single water change I can do) I was still over the max on my Hanna checker, so over 25dkh. I called it a night after 10 changes, figuring I'd been at it for the better part of 24 hours and what's done probably already happened.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'd do daily 10% water changes till it's back down. You don't want to drop alk more than 1dkh per day.

or go slower than that, since you dosed 2 months ago, you can drop it more gradually.

fun story time:
I had a doser dump the whole reservoir one evening and after 5x 15% water changes (the largest single water change I can do) I was still over the max on my Hanna checker, so over 25dkh. I called it a night after 10 changes, figuring I'd been at it for the better part of 24 hours and what's done probably already happened.

FWIW, if the alk is high due to using tap water for new salt water and it has alk in it, or due to test error, water changes will not help and I think he needs to rule out both before doing them.

 

[Mschmidt]

FWIW, if the alk is high due to using tap water for new salt water and it has alk in it, or due to test error, water changes will not help and I think he needs to rule out both before doing them.

Truth. Those should be ruled out first.

 

[Dburr1014]

It is a 65 gallon tank
Also have a 300 watt and a 500 watt heater and two dual head power heads for extra flow!

After we figure out the alkalinity situation, we can address this also.
You'd be able to put your tank outside in the dead of winter in the Northeast and your temperature would not fluctuate at all. That's a lot of heater!
You can probably do 200 watt max for that tank.

 

[Garf]

At a loss I have checked my Alkalinity 3 times with similar results using the RED SEA Foundation Pro Test Kit and my Alkalinity is at 19.2 dKH , Magnesium is at 960 ppm, Calcium is at 370 ppm , Phosphate is 0.50 ppm, PH shows 7.9 at 76.8 degrees, ammonia = 0 , nitrite = 0, nitrate - 10 ppm salinity = 1.024 or 34% @ 76.8 degrees ...I have to ocellaris clowns , 1 yellow tail damsel , and1 tomini tang . I also have 5 or 6 small groups of zoas, 3 mushrooms, 1 bubble tipped anemone, 1 favia, 1 pulsiing zenia, all the corals and the anemone except for the zoas were put in today and appear to be doing fine! the fish are about 3 and 4 months old and the zoas are 3 months old if memory serves me right ! It is a 65 gallon tank with about 30 lbs of white dead rock, and 22 lbs of coralline fake rock, and then 28 lbs of real live rock with multiple corals and mushrooms and some kind of tube worms on it! I am running a HOB 1.5 skimmer and a Aqueon Model 400 Cannister with the Black Plastic balls in the bottom , then ceramic ring media next then pond guru's brown colored media next (cant remember the name) then 3 different layers of filter foam and floss , then into 2 overflow boxes with carbon filtration into tank ! I dosed about 25 ml of soda bicarb that i made by baking some baking soda and mixing with rodi water about 2 months ago, and only dosed it once then i figured out i probably shouldn't do that without a test kit and went and got one ! oops. Also have a 300 watt and a 500 watt heater and two dual head power heads for extra flow! i have a hanna checker on the way to confirm if the RED SEA test kit is accurate or not ! in the mean time is there a way to lower my alkalinity without killing my livestock, or is 19.2 even a realistic number? Any help will be much appreciated ! I already lost a rock flower anemone 2 weeks ago and I hope im not fixing to loss more livestock! Please Help!

Don't suppose you've added a magic potion to increase pH? 800 watts of heat in a 65 gallon is a potential fish soup maker. I've got 100 watts (4x25w) in a 60 , but I know most folk use more.

 

[kc4mnp]

Well new report , the salt i was using was from a 22 year old bucket and old test kits got a new set of hanna testers and a new bag of instant ocean, did 2ea 15 gallon water changes in 10 days total was high on 1st change but didnt have new test kit in yet got new test kit in and low and behold paremeters are a lot better ! 13.048 dkH alkalinity and PH at 8.4 nitrate at 2.5 ppm magnesium 1440 calcium 370 ,,phosphate a little off i think at 0.25 best i can tell, salinity i at1.025 @78 degrees ! Yay , finally some good results , i know some things still need work but its a lot closer than i have been getting ! and yes i did put a ph buffer in when i 1st started out tying to get my ph up which was unsuccessful added one time and saw it didn't raise it any and looked on here and saw that it was bogus by most opinions so didn't dose any more! I appreciate all the info and links to info , i definately have a lot to learn ! Thank you all! Anymore info will be welcomed!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Glad the alk went down!

 

[kc4mnp]

Oh yea , using RO/DI from 6 stage system that is brand new! rinse it out for 1 1/2 hrs before using as per instructions !

 

[kc4mnp]

Going to pull my big heater out and save it as a backup, only livestock problem is my bubbletip anemone isn't happy all the time , but looks good most of the time...My tank is only about 4-5months old so it may not be stable enough yet! I lost a rock flower anemone after about 4 weeks so if this bubble tip doesn't make i will wait a while until the tank is more stable to try another anemone ! right now i feed reef roids and frozen brine and also mysis shrimp to the tank , plus flakes and pellets with algae mixed in both.!