How can I drop my alk

[karina97]

The alk is at 10.8 dhk but the cal has Ben at 490 for the past two days mag 1380

 

[stingythingy45]

A water change would be the best way.
But really,your numbers aren't that terrible.
The corals on the other hand don't look too good.Did the alk spike high before dropping to the 10.8 dkh?

 

[karina97]

It spiked to 17.2 dhk before dropping

 

[MikeG]

A water change would be the best way.
But really,your numbers aren't that terrible.
The corals on the other hand don't look too good.Did the alk spike high before dropping to the 10.8 dkh?

It's not her numbers that are the issue but the instability in her numbers over time that is most likely causing a lot of the issues.

Have you done some good sized water changes and are you running arbon to rule out any type opf toxin being introduced into the tank? Based on the types of coral you posted, I would not suspect a pest as there really isn't anything that will effect what looks like a brain, digitata and a birdsnest (best guesses on the first and last based on pics).

I would have your numbers confirmed if your alk has dropped significantly but there has been little to no change in calcium and you are not dosing anything at the moment.

 

[stingythingy45]

It spiked to 17.2 dhk before dropping

That's not good.Spikes in Alk like that can cause damage that will result in the loss of most SPS corals.
I've lost Birdsnest from spikes less than that.
I didn't read through he whole thread as I just clicked on the post from the main forum page.So it took me to the last post for this thread.
Didn't notice there was already 21 post.

 

[karina97]

im going to do a 20% water change tonight and retest the water tomorrow morning.

 

[wrassefan]

I would do 20% every other day for the week and see if you can get it back inline. Did you test the newly mixed salt water to see what the baseline out of the bucket/box is?

 

[JohnK]

And to add...

If there is a large discrepency between the fresh water change water and the tank water, consier going even slower, maybe only 10-15% per day. Can't stress it enough, CHANGING alk is often just as, or even more stressful than having alk too high or low.