Stable Alkalinity

[Six2seven]

So my Alkalinity has been absolutely stable for the last 4 weeks in a row. testing twice a week and its held on to exactly 9.12dkh for every single reading. I even started testing other things to make sure it wasn't broken lol.

Now I am too scared to make water changes. 4 weeks now without a WC, i usually do 5g every week. don't really want to mess with it even if i buffer the alk of the new water. I dont want to touch anything. what should I do, just let it ride? maybe add some trace elements? phosphates are a little higher than wanted but nothing out of line,

 

[SC50964]

Are the corals doing fine? Do you have test kits to measure all the important metallic traces? If the corals are doing fine and algae isn't growing and the water clarify is still good, then just test them out to put your mind at ease. If no to any of the above then WC is needed.


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[xmas_one]

Can't you just adjust your WC water to match?

 

[Six2seven]

Are the corals doing fine? Do you have test kits to measure all the important metallic traces? If the corals are doing fine and algae isn't growing and the water clarify is still good, then just test them out to put your mind at ease. If no to any of the above then WC is needed.


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corals are doing great which is why i dont want to touch it. i dont test anything other than cal, alk, mag, and phosphates

 

[Six2seven]

Can't you just adjust your WC water to match?

yea and it should be my solution but I feel like I dont want to mess with a good thing lol

 

[xmas_one]

yea and it should be my solution but I feel like I dont want to mess with a good thing lol

Even if you don't match it, how much of a dent is a 5g water change going to make on a 150g+ system?

 

[Six2seven]

Even if you don't match it, how much of a dent is a 5g water change going to make on a 150g+ system?

true but same answer switched around. how much will if affect it if i dont lol

 

[xmas_one]

true but same answer switched around. how much will if affect it if i dont lol

Were you using WCs to mitigate your high PO4?

 

[lowbudget]

make sure your new water is 9.4 then you are golden

 

[GoReef165]

Nitrates good? Phosphates good? Alk and Cal good? What's the point of doing a WC if everything is good?

 

[lowbudget]

Nitrates good? Phosphates good? Alk and Cal good? What's the point of doing a WC if everything is good?

cause he likes to fiddle with it

 

[Six2seven]

Were you using WCs to mitigate your high PO4?

well I wouldn't say its high but I believe my regular water changes were holding my po4 at a reasonable level and now its seemed to move to the uncomfortable point. i'll start my WCs back up but I did not want to disturb anything. Sometimes i feel like my tank does better when i dont touch it at all.

 

[lowbudget]

well I wouldn't say its high but I believe my regular water changes were holding my po4 at a reasonable level and now its seemed to move to the uncomfortable point. i'll start my WCs back up but I did not want to disturb anything. Sometimes i feel like my tank does better when i dont touch it at all.

and its true sometime i over do it with the doing nothing method hahahahah

 

[xmas_one]

You might want to double check your test results with another method. I'm guessing you are using a digital tester? Having a read of the exact same kh to the hundredth of a kh for a whole month seems suspect.

 

[Six2seven]

You might want to double check your test results with another method. I'm guessing you are using a digital tester? Having a read of the exact same kh to the hundredth of a kh for a whole month seems suspect.

I know I bought the Red Sea test to check and it was off but still consistent to every reading. I like the hanna Alk test and that's what i've been using. I even bought a new regent and it was the same.

I'm not going to dwell on it, as long as it stays at 9 im happy. I was keeping it at 10 for a very long time but 9 is just as good. i see no difference.

 

[SJacob164]

If most of your corals have been in your tank for a bit slowly rising phosphates won't bother them much. If your corals are looking pale or not extending than I would definitely dose trace elements. Also try to lighten your bio load a bit or invest in an algae scrubber ,works wonders on phosphates. Don't forget iodine if you got softies makes em grow like crazy.

 

[Six2seven]

If most of your corals have been in your tank for a bit slowly rising phosphates won't bother them much. If your corals are looking pale or not extending than I would definitely dose trace elements. Also try to lighten your bio load a bit or invest in an algae scrubber ,works wonders on phosphates. Don't forget iodine if you got softies makes em grow like crazy.

yea no softies and small amount of fish now. SPS look good but the slow rise in po4 is why i need to start my water changes again. I don't run GFO. my FISh are

snowflake pair
Clown tang
Powder Blue tank
Yellow tang
Filefish
pair of yellow coris wrasse
a single chromis (one died last week)

 

[M3ace9]

So my Alkalinity has been absolutely stable for the last 4 weeks in a row. testing twice a week and its held on to exactly 9.12dkh for every single reading. I even started testing other things to make sure it wasn't broken lol.

Now I am too scared to make water changes. 4 weeks now without a WC, i usually do 5g every week. don't really want to mess with it even if i buffer the alk of the new water. I dont want to touch anything. what should I do, just let it ride? maybe add some trace elements? phosphates are a little higher than wanted but nothing out of line,

Thats an interestingly high Alk for running pellets. I personally would continue your regular routine. If you baby your tank too much they will not be very happy when something unfortunate does happen. It is all an on going process that in the long run will grow a stronger piece of SPS IMO.

 

[SC50964]

If I were you, I would also do a clarity check by getting a gallon or two into a white bucket. If it's still clear then it's good. If it's not then your corals could be over compensating by extending out more to get more lights.


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[Six2seven]

Thats an interestingly high Alk for running pellets. I personally would continue your regular routine. If you baby your tank too much they will not be very happy when something unfortunate does happen. It is all an on going process that in the long run will grow a stronger piece of SPS IMO.

Yea i noticed high alk and pellets dont really mix. I would never go above 10 with pellets anymore. Things are looking good so i might try to stay below 10 from now on. But then again, even without pellets high alk is dangerous. small swings can cause major damage.