The Great Memorial Day Alk Crash

[chadfish]

Crazy couple of days, finally got some time for the reef and whoops! The Alk dosing container is empty and whoops! One of my Monti Caps is bleaching. Tests showed Alk crashed from 9.7 to 6.7!!

What are my next steps? My plan is to bump it up 0.5 every other day until back to 9.5 or so. Thoughts?

 

[Slombardi]

I think the monti should come back. 0.5 a day is a solid plan.

 

[Duds]

Agreed slow and steady. They claim you can raise it 1.4 in a day but I stick to 0.5 and have never seen an ill effect from it. Sorry to hear hope it makes a comeback!

 

[chadfish]

Agreed slow and steady. They claim you can raise it 1.4 in a day but I stick to 0.5 and have never seen an ill effect from it. Sorry to hear hope it makes a comeback!

I count myself lucky, it’s just the one monti, everyone else is looking healthy and happy. I hope I can get it back to normal before any other shock sets in.

 

[Chris A.]

imo the worst thing of a alk swing is not getting it back to at least half of what it swung right away. corals adjust slowly to shifts not fast.

 

[chadfish]

imo the worst thing of a alk swing is not getting it back to at least half of what it swung right away. corals adjust slowly to shifts not fast.

So you think I should raise it another point right now, and take the rest slow?

 

[Chris A.]

If you look at it , you drop 3 dkh in 24 hours that’s not a slow drop. Why would you stress the corals to adjust to such a low dkh to just keep increasing it slowly. If they are healthy, they won’t feel a thing by going back up.

 

[chadfish]

If you look at it , you drop 3 dkh in 24 hours that’s not a slow drop. Why would you stress the corals to adjust to such a low dkh to just keep increasing it slowly. If they are healthy, they won’t feel a thing by going back up.

I think I dropped 3 dKh over a couple of days. It’s been a blur of a long weekend. It could have been 3 days, I hadn’t tended to the sump area in a while.

 

[chadfish]

I think I dropped 3 dKh over a couple of days. It’s been a blur of a long weekend. It could have been 3 days, I hadn’t tended to the sump area in a while.

But I hear what you are saying, nobody is acclimated to the new low, so why not spike it back up to where we were last week before any stress develops elsewhere

 

[dz6t]

I agree with Chris. Adjust the alkalinity back to normal asap.

 

[Chris A.]

But I hear what you are saying, nobody is acclimated to the new low, so why not spike it back up to where we were last week before any stress develops elsewhere

That’s why I say at least half of what it dropped. I’ve had all swings because of the same issue ( my lack of attention lol ) and have gone from 11dkh to 7.7 and then corrected 2 dkh right off the bat. Your mileage may very lol. I’m just not inclined to follow the slow n steady when it comes to abrupt changes. I do recommend slow changes while dialing in the system.

 

[chadfish]

I agree with Chris. Adjust the alkalinity back to normal asap.

Thanks Dong

 

[Duds]

Interesting I didn’t think of it that way. So the thought is with it being that significant of a drop, you’re better off getting it back up closer to what it should be before more stress settles in due to the low swing. Then the upward swing shouldn’t affect them as it’s back closer to target alk?

 

[iKenreef]

Yup get it leveled out to normal

 

[ScionFRSguy]

So you think I should raise it another point right now, and take the rest slow?

I wouldn't stress too much because 6.7 KH is still within neutral range. Neutral range being somewhere between 7 to 8 KH.