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builderofdreams 
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 Topic: Alkalinity Spike!
Posted: June 15 2012 at 6:42pm |
My alk is at 14. i have 150 gallon tank. How do i bring it down and how much water do i dare change at once?
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It's Not a Hobby It's an Obsession
150&210 Gallons of Madness and. Sanity! 801-850-4915
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Fatman
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Posted: June 15 2012 at 6:59pm |
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Biggest part of solving the problem is determining why it's out of range. Some salts have high borate which most alk tests count against true alkalinity. Have you done a recent water change? Anything else changed or what are you dosing? Can you post a picture of your water test?
I don't know if we can put links here but I'll PM you a link with some information.
Fat
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builderofdreams
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Posted: June 15 2012 at 7:00pm |
I double dosed (accidently) alk. My Fault. My calcium is at 430ppm. Your article says let it come down on its own. I have corals that are bleaching and not opening. Not sure how much longer they can handle it.
Edited by builderofdreams - June 15 2012 at 7:10pm
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It's Not a Hobby It's an Obsession
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http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65135&title=builderofdreams-feedback-post
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: June 15 2012 at 7:10pm |
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No worries mate.
Remember, the acceptable range is 8-14 dKH. It will be fine and will come down on it's own. There may be some negative reaction from coral and inverts but they should be okay very soon.
The way to post links is to choose the "Reply" arrow and click on the "chain link" button.
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builderofdreams
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Posted: June 15 2012 at 7:12pm |
Thats the issue they are not ok.
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Fatman
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Posted: June 15 2012 at 7:12pm |
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I'd do 50%, if you are worried about doing that big of a change, you could do one at 25% then wait a few hours and do another.
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ReefdUp
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Posted: June 15 2012 at 7:27pm |
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What's your normal alk? I would do a normal water change to see where that gets you. 25% should drop your alk to a more normal alk where your corals are fine. I would run some carbon due to the die off too.
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builderofdreams
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Posted: June 15 2012 at 7:29pm |
Always run carbon. normal is 9.
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wickedsnowman
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Posted: June 15 2012 at 8:23pm |
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Its prob not the 14 dkh that is bleaching your corals but the speed in which it was increased. It is only safe to raise 1 dkh per day. You said you did a double dose what are you dosing and how much/ how often? If you have a specific amount you dose per day you can calculate how much alk your tank uses each day using a reef calculator. It will then tell you how long it will take to go down. I wouldnt drop it too fast that can also cause things to die.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: June 15 2012 at 9:48pm |
Sorry, I didn't think about the sudden increase and didn't know that coral were burning. I agree that a water change is one of the answers here, to reduce the burning effect of the sudden rise in Alk and corresponding jump in pH. Another thing that will help and which I would do immediately, is to increase the Ca by 100 ppm. This will offset the Alk and if it precipitates, so much the better. Precip drops Alk very quickly, removing it from the water. A 100 ppm rise in Ca is totally safe. 
Edited by Mark Peterson - June 15 2012 at 9:50pm
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Fatman
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Posted: June 17 2012 at 12:02am |
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We're waiting to hear what you did to handle it and how it turned out. More information
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builderofdreams
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Posted: June 17 2012 at 10:39am |
Thanks to all that helped me on this. The article that you sent me explained alot. Here is what i did. 1- Raised Calcium 100ppm as Mark suggested. waited hour. 2-Changed 60 gallons of water. 3-Restested> That brought it down to a reasonable parameter. 4-Changed carbon and currently wet skimming the tank. 5-Tested again this morning 9.8 6-Changing another 30 gallons of water as we speak. Everything is open and looks like it is supposed to. Well not everything i burned a chalice that i am not sure is going to recover. I would really suggest that everyone reads the Article that Fatman sent me. It will explain alot on the Alk and Calcium and how the work together. Thanks again to All. Could have been alot worse than it was. Here is the link to the Article. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/chemistry#section-0
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It's Not a Hobby It's an Obsession
150&210 Gallons of Madness and. Sanity! 801-850-4915
http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65135&title=builderofdreams-feedback-post
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: June 18 2012 at 1:18pm |
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I'm curious. What level did the Alk test an hour after raising Ca by 100? In other words, how much did it drop?
Also, if the system holds 150-180 gallons of water, a 60 gal water
change would have brought the Alk down by about 2 dKH. Is that what
testing showed?
Not knowing all the other things that went on but that
would mean that adding Ca dropped Alk by around 3 dKH.
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