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D-byrd

high alkalinity

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D-byrd
, 11-29-2010 at 04:18 PM (1663 Views)
I was wondering if its detrimental to have high alkalinity in my reef tank? My ph is fine @ 8.3 and my calcium is good @ 430ppm. But my alkalinity is @ around 3.6 mEq/l. The reasoning for the high alkalinity is prob due to my inconsistent dosing of ph/alkalinity buffer to keep the ph @ optimal parameters during a past calcium spike. All corals are doing fine except an acan and a blasto that I have. The acan hasn't opened its polyps as much as usual since the alkalinity started going up past 2.8. Another variable could be due to the increase in water movement in the tank due to the addition of some pumps. But even after moving it to an area of less flow it hasn't expanded as much as usual (and this after a day of observation). All other corals look good except some polyps of my blastomousa which haven't opened completely as well. There isn't any other factors that I can think of that have changed recently. Is this due to my high alkalinity? And if so how do u suggest I deal w/this prob? Thanks for your help.

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  1. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    As long as your pH is fine, I wouldn't worry about it. My corals start to suffer noticably when my alkalinity is low, but I've never noticed an adverse reaction to high alkalinity. If you've changed flow reacently it may take a couple weeks for some corals to adapt.
  2. D-byrd's Avatar
    Cool. Thanks. Yeah I was trying to research adverse events of high alkalinity but not much came up. The only thing that I read, is that high alkalinity can inhibit absorption of minerals by your corals. I try to be as attentive w/my tank as possible as to avoid any costly issues (death of my fav coral), but I probably am jumping to conclusions at this early of a stage. Now would it be best at this point to stop supplementing my ph/alkalinity buffer despite potential drops in Ph or maybe just cut back? Maybe it would be best to dose the additive in quantities that keep my ph at 8.1-8.2 rather than 8.3, in efforts to bring my alkalinity down slowly but surely?
  3. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    What are you using to buffer your pH with? I've always used either Kalk, and recently switched to soda ash, and if I keep my alkalinity up around 8 to 9 dKh my pH seems to stay right in the 8.2 to 8.3 range.

    I'm certainly no expert on reef chemistry, but I understand that before you reach dangerous levels of Alk or Ca it'll start to precipitate out.
  4. D-byrd's Avatar
    That’s good to know! I knew that calcium precipitates out when the tank has reached its saturation point, but I didn’t know that to be true w/alkalinity. I’m currently using Brightwell Aquatics Alkalin8.3-P KH Buffer which is in a powder form. In the past I was using B-Ionics two part calcium and alkalinity solutions with some success. But after a recent calcium spike (which was probably due to a multitude of other factors), I have temporarily stopped using it. Ideally I would like to use a good quality calcium reactor to keep my alkalinity levels stable, but unfortunately that’s not in my budget now. What would you recommend? Is soda ash a form of baking soda? I wish there was another way to automate the dispensing of a buffering agent to the appropriate levels w/o the use of a calcium reactor.