3 Dkh drop in 24 hours?

[Dj City]

Hello reefers,

I set up a frag tank. it's a 20 gallon long. The tank is a holding place for some corals from my 110 gallon tank. The frag tank will serve as a QT tank for new corals as time moves on.
I'm in the process of a 180 gallon build and needed a place to store the corals while I get the 180 up and running. (It's gonna be a long process)

I tested my water 2 days ago and my dkh was about 5. I raised it to 9 dkh where it was at yesterday when I tested.
Today's test shows 6 dkh.
Calcium remains at 440 but dkh is taking a huge hit.

Is this normal?

The tank has a Aqueon quiet flow hob filter rated for 50 gallons. It also has an old Aquaclear 110 hob filter that has been converted to a hob refugium.
For flow, I added 1 mp10 toward the top right side of the tank and a Tunze 6105 on the bottom left under the eggcrate.
The tank is lit with a GalaxyHydro 165w LED.
Tank has been up since March 4th.
Corals went in March 16th, 2019

Is a 3 dkh drop within 24 hours normal?

 

[Billldg]

Question, u raised it from 5 to 9 dkh in one day, that's raising it alot, its not recommended to raise dkh no more than 1.4 daily, I wonder if u had some precipitation due to the amount dosed.

 

[Dj City]

Question, u raised it from 5 to 9 dkh in one day, that's raising it alot, its not recommended to raise dkh no more than 1.4 daily, I wonder if u had some precipitation due to the amount dosed.

Yeah...
I did not MEAN to raise it that much that quickly. I misread Seachem fusion 2 dosing directions. I'm happy I did not raise it more than I did.
I saw no evidence of precipitation.
Test one day was 9 dkh and 6 dkh the next day.

 

[Billldg]

How long after dosing did you take a measurement. Personally, I wait 24 hours because I want if fully desolved, watching my apex when I raise my alk, as soon as I add some sodium bicarbonate I see a spike and it stays for a while. Just trying to come up with some ideas.

#reefsquad

 

[Dj City]

I think I tested about an hour after raising and got 9 dkh. The next day it was still 9 dkh then last night I got 6 dkh.

 

[Billldg]

Short of saying it was just a bad test maybe, I'm out of ideas, maybe the #reefsquad has some ideas.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Short of saying it was just a bad test maybe, I'm out of ideas, maybe the #reefsquad has some ideas.

If it tested 9dkh one day and the next it's reading 6 dkh, then either a bad test or it precipitated out.

 

[Abhishek]

Even with huge 8 inch monti colonies , my dkh
Never dropped 3 in a day . What test kit are you
Using ?
Call me crazy but I test always twice with 2 reagents in Hanna just to make sure there’s no reagent error .
I would retest with either different test kit or reagents .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Dj City]

I tested 3 times
1st using Hanna checker
2nd using API manual test
3rd using API reagent in Reefbot.

Ok. Precipitation.
If that is the case, how do I go about raising the dkh without hurting anything and not precipitation?

 

[ihavecrabs]

I agree with the above comments around test kit error or precip.

Do you have a dosing pump you can utilize? Slowly over the course of a full day would be the way I would recommend.

You mentioned the three kits used, what were the results from each? A lot of variability?

 

[lapin]

Instead of dosing maybe think about using salt mix that has a higher alk. With water changes it will naturally rise. You could couple that with your dosing of the seachem stuff. Just go slow on the seachem.

 

[Dj City]

All kits showed just about the same.
hanna 9.4
API manual test 9
Reefbot using API 9

Salt used was Red Sea Black Bucket

 

[Flippers4pups]

What's your current calcium and magnesium?

 

[Dj City]

What's your current calcium and magnesium?

Calcium is 440
I need to test mag. It "might" be low. That would be an explanation for rapid alk loss.
I will test when I get home and post results.

 

[Hemmdog]

calcium is 440
I need to test mag. It "might" be low. That would be an explanation for rapid alk loss.
I will test when I get home and post results.

My thoughts exactly. If mag is low, your alk could rapidly drop due to precipitation like your experiencing.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Did you know what those levels were before the drop in alkalinity?

 

[Dj City]

Just tested mag...
1485

That's if I'm reading the kit right.
Im using salifert mag test. The syringe is at just a bare over 0.1 which I believe works out to mag 1485.

Am I reading the test correctly?

 

[Dj City]

Alk started at 5 dkh
I raised it to 9 dkh
Within 2 days it dropped to 6 dkh

Is still at 6 dkh.

 

[Hemmdog]

Alk started at 5 dkh
I raised it to 9 dkh
Within 2 days it dropped to 6 dkh

Is still at 6 dkh.

Maybe your rocks absorbed a lot if you had been keeping your alk that low for a long time.

 

[Dj City]

Maybe your rocks absorbed a lot if you had been keeping your alk that low for a long time.

This is still a brand new frag tank.
There is no long time.