2-Part Dosing - Needing way too much

[Eclyps19]

I have a 139 total water volume tank. The corals that I have in here are pretty minimal. A few hammers, a bunch of mushrooms, and a bunch of zoas and a GSP rock. I’m currently dosing 12ml of ALK and Calc 12 TIMES PER DAY! Seems like way too much to keep my alk at 9 and Calc at 420.

I dose each one at every other hour, so there’s always an hour between them. The dosing tubes drip it right into my return chamber so that it immediately gets sucked up and pushed out into my DT, which I assume is turbulent enough to mix thoroughly.

What else should I be looking for to help figure out why I need to dose so much for so few corals? I’m looking to double my coral load over the next few months, but it seems unreasonable to need to dose 250+ ml per day.

 

[Chuk]

What 2 part are you using? Are you seeing any precipitation/build up in the tank or is your sand bed rock hard? Check the heaters solubility is lowest in hot water.
For the corals you listed it does seem high. Also if it’s a DIY supplement like the BRS 2 part check to see if you mixed them at the correct levels if your concentration of solution is low you’ll have to dose more.
The only other thing I can think of is to test 30 minutes after you dose one day shut off the dosing for 24 hrs and retest at as close to the same time as possible. That will give you your daily consumption and then we can calculate what your dosage should be based on the 24 he usage.

 

[Gtinnel]

Corals are not the only thing in your tank that consume cal/alk. Do you have a lot of coralline algea growth, because that also uses them? If you double the amount of stony corals in your tank that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be doubling the consumption rate.
I agree that it would be a good idea to not dose for a day to see how much your alk drops.

 

[Eclyps19]

Corals are not the only thing in your tank that consume cal/alk. Do you have a lot of coralline algea growth, because that also uses them? If you double the amount of stony corals in your tank that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be doubling the consumption rate.
I agree that it would be a good idea to not dose for a day to see how much your alk drops.

Absolutely tons of coralline algae on the back of my tank. That could definitely be it...

What 2 part are you using? Are you seeing any precipitation/build up in the tank or is your sand bed rock hard? Check the heaters solubility is lowest in hot water.
For the corals you listed it does seem high. Also if it’s a DIY supplement like the BRS 2 part check to see if you mixed them at the correct levels if your concentration of solution is low you’ll have to dose more.
The only other thing I can think of is to test 30 minutes after you dose one day shut off the dosing for 24 hrs and retest at as close to the same time as possible. That will give you your daily consumption and then we can calculate what your dosage should be based on the 24 he usage.

Using the BRS 2-Part. Followed the mixing instructions so they should be correct. Good idea on holding off on dosing for a day, I’ll give that a shot. Thanks!