Alk and 2-part dosing

[ReeferPat]

Hi,

My tank is about 10 months old. During the first 8 months, alkalinity hovered at 9.3-9.5. Last month it suddenly dropped and now it's between 7.9 and 8.3. I was dosing Seachem 2-part calcium and alkalinity by hand but I started getting some noticeable precipitation and my calcium kept going up, so I stopped. During the past couple weeks, I have only dosed a few ML of alkalinity daily and my alkalinity has stabilized at 8.1-8.2, which I think is fine as long as it stays there.

My question is: is it ok to only dose Alkalinity and skip the calcium part of the 2-part as long as calcium stays stable?

40-gallon AIO Aquatop cube

Parameters:
Temp: 76-77
Salinity: 1.026
PH: 8.4
Nitrates: 5-10
Phosphates: 0.25
Calcium 440-470
Alkalinity dKh: 8.1-8.2
Magnesium: 1360-1380

I do a 10 percent weekly water change and test alkalinity daily and the rest every few days.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Yes, no problem dosing one until the calcium gets in line.

 

[ReeferPat]

I figured, but I'm glad I got it confirmed.

 

[uhgster1]

What salt are you using?

 

[ReeferPat]

What salt are you using?

IO Reef Crystals

 

[Bayareareefer18]

I dose alk daily and ca one a week. My tank happens to use equal amounts daily but all tanks are different. My CA consumption really shot up after my coraline exploded.
I dose 30ML alk daily to match my .5dkh consumption. CA will go from 425-400 in a week
So that gets dosed weekly just for ease.

 

[uhgster1]

IO Reef Crystals

I use that salt too. It’s a reef spec salt so as you do water changes you’re finding out, (as I did), that if you don’t have coral consuming the extra elements in the salt you’re bumping up the numbers every time. I think normal sea water is supposed to be 7.9 to 8 dkh. Reef crystals is like 11. It doesn’t hurt much if you’re doing small water changes but it can if you do a major one 40% +.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you are using Reef Fusion, it is not properly designed for equal parts dosing.