SPS tanks, what ALK level do you keep?

What is your ALK level

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  • 8

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  • 10

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  • I don't test

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  • Total voters
    2
Well i raise mine to ten all the time then i get lazy dont check it drops to lik 6 then i raise it back up to 10 and well u know. Only thing in my tank that dont stay stabile i need to invest in doser. When its at ten i see the most cral growth when it drops the growth slows down but still grows guess thats y i let it go sometimes
 
jrpark22000 said:
Nice to see what you run your tank at Menard. I've seen photos of your stick tank, simply great. How low do you keep phos, nitrate, and detritus load?
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I used vinegar and GFO as for detritus very good circulation around the tank,filter sock, oversize skimmer. Phos stays around.03 to .08 , nitrate at 2.
 
ReefDweller said:
I used vinegar and GFO as for detritus very good circulation around the tank,filter sock, oversize skimmer. Phos stays around.03 to .08 , nitrate at 2.
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Thank you. That gives me all the more reason to try to increase ALK to 8-9 from the 7-8 I keep.

While waiting for the ALK to come down I lost 9 sps colonies and frags to narcosis, a few others took serious narcosis or color hits, and yet many others were completely unaffected over the last 6 weeks. Torts and similar species were completely decimated. Everything but the last dying tort colony has normal PE again. Narcosis started at the tips and high light areas first and tissue left shaded areas last. Maybe there is something I am missing, but I can’t find anything else that changed.
 
jrpark22000 said:
Thank you. That gives me all the more reason to try to increase ALK to 8-9 from the 7-8 I keep.

While waiting for the ALK to come down I lost 9 sps colonies and frags to narcosis, a few others took serious narcosis or color hits, and yet many others were completely unaffected over the last 6 weeks. Torts and similar species were completely decimated. Everything but the last dying tort colony has normal PE again. Narcosis started at the tips and high light areas first and tissue left shaded areas last. Maybe there is something I am missing, but I can’t find anything else that changed.
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Constant bal. is the key my friend, if u wanna shoot for higher dkh make sure ur ca. is high also. With that being said example, range betweem 8 to 10 dkh.ur Ca. should be in the upper 450's with mag. of 1400, specific gravity of 1.025 to 26. And as for the Phos. and Nitrate this 2 has to be equal also keep the no. low but not zero. anything under .1 is good for both montis. and acros. U wanna keep a low nutrient environment for ur SPS not completely sterile environment that would be a disaster, brutal for some species of SPS specially montis.
Hope this helps
 
Menard, yes it does help. It confirms my reading and my practices. I’ll keep them in the target range while very slowly increasing and watch for negative reactions.

I’m a stickler on constant parameters and knowing what they are. I do keep a lower Mg, 1300-1350. Otherwise I’m right on with your numbers, alk7-8 for Ca 420 at 1.026 with No3 just detectable or below (4 ppm or below) and 10-15 ppb phosphorus(.03-.05ppm phosphate). I use lamotte titration, a certified hydrometer to calibrate my salinity meter, but my weak point is the hanna phos checker. The Milwaukee mi412 Po4 meter is on my list to buy. A fairly heavy bioload as the fish are all fat and are feed 4 times daily. All sps are target fed a mix of foods every 4 days.
 
I'm at 10.4 with Ca at 450 and Mg 1400..I use kalk in ATO..one of the best things I ever added to my tank to keep params stable.
 
My target is 175 ppm. It's a struggle though. I only dose alk because my salt takes care of my calcium. My corals suck out all the alk and hovers around 95 if I don't dose.
 
EricTheRed said:
They burn white. However, new acro growth can also look white too.
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Just as Eric said, the very end of the branches will turn white. It could happen overnight or take up to a week if caused by an ALK swing. In more severe cases all tissue will drop off the tips leaving the pure white skeleton behind. This skeleton will then grow algae and get a brown or red fuzzy appearance. These more server cases are usually called slow tissue necrosis (STN.) I tried finding a google image to share, but couldn’t find anything showing just tip burn. There are many google image results for STN.
 
ReefDweller said:
And as for the Phos. and Nitrate this 2 has to be equal also keep the no. low but not zero. anything under .1 is good for both montis. and acros. U wanna keep a low nutrient environment for ur SPS not completely sterile environment that would be a disaster, brutal for some species of SPS specially montis.
Hope this helps
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hmm interesting very interesting my montis pe be pretty chitty my forest fire had none then I put colony in buddies tank and bam pe was wondering what the heck was up
 
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