Alkalinity Issue - Looking for advice

lee4029

lee4029

New Member
I am having an alkalinity issue with my tank. The issue being the alkalinity is to high. Does anyone know of a way to lower the alkalinity. I can find different ways to raise it but none to lower it.
Up until 2 weeks ago I had the perfect water conditions. Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates were, and are still at 0. PH was steady at 8.3. PH is giving a little fluxuation now (between 8.1-8.3) but I think this is due to the alkalinity issue. My alkalinity was normal until now. My calcium is 450-500.
The alkalinity issue started when I bought a defective hydrometer. It caused me to drop my salinity from 1.024 to 1.017. I lost my shrimp and a crab when this happened but discovered the issue quickly when I found that my hydrometer was measuring fresh clean water at 1.031.
Everything has since stabilized aside from the alkalinity. I have had several people tell me to do some large water changes. I started with a 10% last week, then a 50% the other day, now another 15% today. Still no change. I am using Oceanic salt which is a quality brand and a ph buffer to keep the ph stable.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
 
lee4029

lee4029

New Member
Thats a good question. My alkalinity test kit only shows by color (Low - Normal - High).
Yea I know ... I need a better one.
I am planning yet another water change today. I just can't help but think all the water changes are doing more harm than good.
I will discontinue using the buffer until things stabalize.
Any other ideas to lower the alkalinity?
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
I've got the same issue and I'm using Reef Crystals. My cal is at 400 and my alk is at 11dKH which is as high as is recommended. When I'm done with this bucket of salt I'm switching to something else.
Stop using buffer. It is raising your ALK.
Take a water sample to your LFS and have them give you a number.
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
Make sure you are testing your pH right before your lights go off. pH when the lights just come on tends to be lower than normal.
If your tank is larger and has a sump or refugium, you might want to try to run the refugium lights on a reverse cycle, it helps keep the pH stable.
As for the buffer, it will raise the ALK along with the pH.
 
teen

teen

Active Member
get a new alk kit and then report back. in most tanks, it shouldn't exceed 11dkh, but there are people who run it as high as 13dkh.
im gunna take a guess and say that even though that test kit is reading high, your dkh is at about 9 or 10, which is perfectly fine imo.
 
lee4029

lee4029

New Member
Ok ... just bought a Sera test kit and tested my alkalinity. I am between 9 and 10. I believe this is higher than it has been in the past but since my other test kit does not give a number I have no way of recording it.
I guess now I am just puzzled because my torch coral, long tentacle anemone, and yellow polyps are all very unhappy right now. The fish are fine. I have lost one coral due to this issue but it was a difficult coal to keep anyway.
I am going to hold off on my buffer for a while and see if things stabilize.
Ah to have perfect conditions again.
 
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