ALk at 14.4, Please Help!!
 

I just got back from holidays to a mess of a tank. My doser overdosed and my alkalinity is 14.4. I am going to do a water change tomorrow but is there any way of lowering it a bit before tomorrow. My SPS look very unhappy.
Leanne

That's border line bad, but can wait until you do a water change tomorrow. Don't go too large as the swing might be worse than the current level.

Are water changes the best way to keep bringing it down?

You can mix muriatic acid to some water and add to the dt. It will lower alk but needs to be diluted. I'll see if I can find the info

It's the safest. Muriatic acid would do it, but it's got potent fumes, you should wear gloves and safety glasses and mixing with water is an exothermic reaction and has to be done right. Vinegar would be a safer acid, but not sure how much.
So much easier to just do a water change. Probably time anyway :)

I agree brad when I did it I had water in rotation only adding acid to water to be added to tank during water Change.

I'm a bad speller pre coffee lol

Personally if you have a fair
amount of Sps just let it fall on its own with consumption , continue to dose calcium but not alk. If your dropping .75 to 1dkh a day then that's fine.

It's hard coming home to a tank in bad shape. I know how you feel. Try to bring your alkalinity to 12 for the day. I would not leave it above 12 for any longer than 24 hours. I think the acid is kind of overdoing it but is a useable option. One way to bring Alk down is by adding Calcium. This can be done with additive. Just don't use Kalk as it will raise the Alk more. Try to get more oxygen in your house to bring CO2 down in the tank therefore bring Alkalinity down. Hopefully you have a small tank so water changes will be easy. After you get it to 12 lower it by one a day until you get back to where you want to be.

Johnny

Thanks for all the input. The whole acid thing sounds a little scary to me so I think that I will stick to water changes. This is the worst my tank has ever looked. The high alk is just the start of my issues as I had an automatic feeder and my parents opened the hole too much and there was too much food going in. I have algae every where and my tank smells horrible now. I'm trying not to freak out. Just water changes and cleaning everything and I am hoping that things will be all good in a few days.

How big is the tank? Can you do a 50 % change?

Johnny

IMO %50 water change is a bit too large for a system thats already stressed as there really is no need to drop your alk that fast lol.

i would do a smaller water change and let the alk fall normally , 12dkh or even 16dkh is high but its not crash a tank high , as long as your calcium is relatively in range and no precipitation then there is no need for acid or large water changes and other things that are just going to give you more instability.


if you never experienced any rtn then i would go about your normal water change amount to help flush the nutrients and allow the alk to drop over the next few days.

if you are previously dosing then obviously there was consumption to begin with.

Tank is 90 gallons. I am doing a 15 gallon change to begin with. I checked and the alk is 13.7 down from 14.4 so it is coming down. Ca is about 420. I just cleaned a power head that was really plugged up so things seem happier with more flow. It amazes me how fast algae can grow in 6 days. Hoping the sps will be happier after a water change and some more cleaning.

Continue on with your calcium dosing all will be well , that's a normal drop for alk so your going as expected.

IIf corals are growing they are consuming alkalinity , it has to be added so if you don't add anymore it will only drop from there . A fast drop is bad too but your levels are fine at that drop.