Does water change cause an alk swing ?

SkullV said:
You guys may want to consider finding a salt mix better suited to your parameters/needs.
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riv said:
I was thinking about that.
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i already decided ..

red sea coral salt ( not pro) seems like a viable option with 7.8 – 8.2 Alk and 420 – 440 calc and 1250 – 1310 mag ...instead of

red sea coral pro salt at 12.3 – 12.7 Alk and 455 – 475 calc and 1360 – 1420 mag

any other suggestions for a good salt mix with around 8 dkh ?
 
Sawdonkey said:
Yeah, I'm not advocating running reactors on smaller tanks. I've got a lot of wiggle room with my tank.



I agree that this is a pretty big swing. Maybe you should try dosing some kalk to see what it takes to maintain this alk, rather than change it. The issue is that 7.0 is on the dangerous side of stable. A little drop from there, and you're in the danger zone.

I've been dosing Kalk for nearly a year and I've gotten pretty good at keeping it somewhat stable with only Kalk. If I see that my Kalk is getting high (above 8.0), I'll not add Kalk to my ato for a couple of days. If its where I want it, I'll just add Kalk to keep it stable. If I see alk dropping I'll add vinegar to the Kalk solution to supersaturate it. I test it pretty often and I'm guessing I'm in for a change now that spring has arrived an my evaporation rate will change.

Here is my alk chart. You can see how it went up to 9.0 when I started adding vinegar to my solution. I had to back off the vinegar, and you can see that I backed off too much when it dropped down to 7.0. It's good to know that as my tank starts to demand more, I've got an alk turbocharger.

View attachment 1743
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How do you have alk tracked? Its there a new probe I am missing out on?
 
tinman said:
i already decided ..

red sea coral salt ( not pro) seems like a viable option with 7.8 – 8.2 Alk and 420 – 440 calc and 1250 – 1310 mag ...instead of

red sea coral pro salt at 12.3 – 12.7 Alk and 455 – 475 calc and 1360 – 1420 mag

any other suggestions for a good salt mix with around 8 dkh ?
Click to expand...

Tropic Marin PRO is made to have nsw levels similar to the regular Red Sea (not their Pro)
 
Aquapros carries the regular Red Sea salt(blue bucket). They sell it for a good price too, since u aren't paying to have it shipped.
 
Irsug1 said:
How do you have alk tracked? Its there a new probe I am missing out on?
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I wish. I use a Hannah checker and log it with aquatic log. Click on my signature below. Their phone app allows you to easily enter test results and water changes. The website allows you to enter your livestock and track individual colony growth with pics.
 
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