Question about alk

[Curtis_Rose]

Alright so when I started my first nano (13.5 gal) about  2 months ago I was using an uncalibrated refractometer. I didn’t know I was actually at 1.022 for about a month and a half. So all my tests were wacky and the levels were not correct. I brought my salinity up over two weeks. Now it’s 1.025. I did a my weekly 1-2 gal water change Saturday decided to see where my numbers were Monday and Alk 7.6 Cal 440 and mag 1440. So why is my alk low?  Will it come up over the next few water changes because it was so low during the period of low salinity? All livestock is happy and growing faster than I thought it would.

[Curtis_Rose]

Bump pls 

[paulsz]

Which salt are you using? 

[Curtis_Rose]

Fritz rpm. Didn’t happen to test when I mix I will for sure be doing that this Saturday before I change water

[paulsz]

I use Fritz RPM as well. I only tested it once after mixing at a salinity of 1.025 and I got a dKh of 8.1. They say it is 8 to 9 typically (based off their website). 

 

So it will come up over the next few water changes. But make sure you test the alkalinity in your mix first. Mine was 8.1 but it could very well mix higher/lower for you.

 

 

[Curtis_Rose]

Thanks would it be ok to raise alk slowly in the tank with soda ash? Or am I better off leaving it and seeing how it does in the next couple weeks?

[paulsz]

What level of Alk are you trying to get? I know a lot of people who run tanks at 7.5-8 and have no issues with it. 

 

At the end of the day, you'll want to have your alkalinity be whatever your salt mixes to. So if you want something higher than the the 8-9 that Fritz RPM gives, it'll be easier to just switch salts. That way when you do water changes, you won't have to worry about any alkalinity swing.

 

Right now you're at 7.6. If you make a new batch of saltwater and you see that it has an alkalinity of 8.5, you can raise yours to 8.5 with soda ash (instead of doing it with water changes).  I think you're safe to increase it by 0.5 dkh per day, and so you could do it in two days. 

 

 

[Curtis_Rose]

I want to keep it where to salt mixes so I guess I need to test my salt mix and see what it is. Is it ok to naturallly let it go down throughout the week? Or should I aim to keep it at a stable value?

[paulsz]

Are you keeping softies or LPS/SPS?

[Curtis_Rose]

I have 7 small corals 2 softies and 5 lps my main will be lps 

[Curtis_Rose]

No sps for this tank waiting till the new house to get a 180 (need more room)up and running gonna be awhile that will be a mixed reef sps lps and softies

[paulsz]

Softies you're okay doing water changes to replenish. The alk swing shouldn't be dramatic enough to hurt them. LPS I'm not too familiar with. I believe they don't like alk swings, but something like 0.5 dkh shouldn't hurt them. If (for example), you are at 7.5 at the end of the week and your water change brings it up  to 8, I think you're safe. If you're at 7 and need to bring it up to 8, I'd recommend dosing once in the middle of the week (manually), then you have your water change at the end of the week. Or do 2 water changes.

 

It'll all depend on how much is being consumed.

[Curtis_Rose]

Alright thanks for your consistent help! I’ll watch it over the next two weeks. I’ll only dose if I see the need and probably half way through the week. I’ll probbaly start by under dosing to make sure I don’t raise it too fast. Small slow changes are always best. And from my research I probbaly need to dose I. The morning before lights on so that my ph isn’t at its highest for the day.