Alk drop in new tank

[Woodneers]

I recently started up and transferred to my new 225 gallon. I moved all rock over to the new tank and added some previously cycled rock to make it full. The tank is dripping .5dkh a day. Is this fairly normal? BRS calculator states to dose around 100ml to correct a .5 dkh drop. Does this all sound right? Makes me nervous and I don’t want a huge alk swing! The tank had a medium elegance, couple torches and a handful of zoas.

 

[[Cameron]]

Is your calcium changing at roughly the same rate? How stable is your pH?

 

[Woodneers]

Everything else is super stable. Here is some data.

 

[Woodneers]

PH in a better scale

 

[Woodneers]

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It is fine to boost the alkalinity if it is needed. 0.5 dKh per day is on the low side for a mixed reef, but I know this one is new.

Rising nitrate will deplete alkalinity, but you also may be forming calcium carbonate and just cannot yet detect the calcium drop as it is pretty small even if balanced with the alkalinity drop.

Amount to dose obviously depends on the product used, which you do not mention.

 

[Woodneers]

I’m currently dosing 20ml of liquid soda ash a day and it’s still dropping is it as simple as dosing more?

 

[Woodneers]

For a bit of back info, when I mixed the water and filled the tank initially the mix (fritz blue box) came out right at 9 within a day it dropped to 8.5 once tank transfer was completed. It has since dropped 1/2dkh each day and I’ve been dosing since. Calcium and mag have stayed constant and I have not dosed any of those elements.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’m currently dosing 20ml of liquid soda ash a day and it’s still dropping is it as simple as dosing more?

Yes.

In the future, it is worth noting in your posts what the product actually is. I'll assume it is my DIY recipe #1 (BRS uses it), but just saying liquid soda ash doesn't define a concentration.

 

[Woodneers]

Yes sorry meant to note the actual product. I buy the pharma pouch soda ash from bulk reef supply. I’ll keep monitoring for a few days and incrementally increase the dose to maintain 8.5 which seems logical.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes sorry meant to note the actual product. I buy the pharma pouch soda ash from bulk reef supply. I’ll keep monitoring for a few days and incrementally increase the dose to maintain 8.5 which seems logical.

Still need to know the concentration. lol

Not everyone uses sodium carbonate at the same concentration, but just saying the BRS recipe or Randy's recipe #1 is adequate.

 

[Woodneers]

I just follow the instructions on the pouch. I’ll check what the contents of the bag are exactly but it’s one bag to a gallon of rodi.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I just follow the instructions on the pouch. I’ll check what the contents of the bag are exactly but it’s one bag to a gallon of rodi.

Yes, thanks, that's sufficient.

 

[Woodneers]

Is half a point in dkh drop each day appropriate for almost 300 gallons with only a handful of coral in the tank? This seems a little out of the norm!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is half a point in dkh drop each day appropriate for almost 300 gallons with only a handful of coral in the tank? This seems a little out of the norm!

It may be mostly abiotic precipitation or it may be rising nitrate. I would not be concerned about it unless you see issues like sand hardening.

 

[Woodneers]

It may be mostly abiotic precipitation or it may be rising nitrate. I would not be concerned about it unless you see issues like sand hardening.

Exactly why I’m worried, my last tank had clumping issues! Trying to not mess it up!

 

[blasterman]

There's nothing out of the ordinary here. Even when you forklift a bare bottom tank to a new tank there will be a new mini cycle to an extent, especially if you have fish. You are exposing new rock surfaces, and bacteria will want to grow to coat the glass surfaces and bottom. Try as I can I've never forklifted a bare bottom tank to a new tank without some form of instability. It's still far better than starting fresh though and your core nitrogen cycle bacteria will almost certainly stay healthy and intact. So, there's no need to worry about fish or corals provided the original tank was healthy.

Alkalinity is used by all the microbiology in a tank from bacteria to algae, and given the tank is settling back in alk will be unstable and consumed for awhile. However, calcium will stay steady because:

"The tank had a medium elegance, couple torches and a handful of zoas."

None of which consume calcium in any meaningful degree, even in an established tank. In a 225gal that kind of coral load wouldn't dent calcium in 6 months....maybe a year. Even minimal monthly water changes will keep calcium and magnesium stable. Alkalinity however may take a while to settle down for the reasons above.

Again, we have a lot of marketing in this industry that wants us to buy two part dosing when we don't need to.

 

[Woodneers]

Well said and I agree. I am just trying to judge how normal the daily alk drop is. How long would you guess it will be like this? Is this a 6 month issue or will it stabilize in a week or two? Opinions and personal experience is all I’m after here. Photos for a little fun! RG was pi**ed at a chromis!

There's nothing out of the ordinary here. Even when you forklift a bare bottom tank to a new tank there will be a new mini cycle to an extent, especially if you have fish. You are exposing new rock surfaces, and bacteria will want to grow to coat the glass surfaces and bottom. Try as I can I've never forklifted a bare bottom tank to a new tank without some form of instability. It's still far better than starting fresh though and your core nitrogen cycle bacteria will almost certainly stay healthy and intact. So, there's no need to worry about fish or corals provided the original tank was healthy.

Alkalinity is used by all the microbiology in a tank from bacteria to algae, and given the tank is settling back in alk will be unstable and consumed for awhile. However, calcium will stay steady because:

"The tank had a medium elegance, couple torches and a handful of zoas."

None of which consume calcium in any meaningful degree, even in an established tank. In a 225gal that kind of coral load wouldn't dent calcium in 6 months....maybe a year. Even minimal monthly water changes will keep calcium and magnesium stable. Alkalinity however may take a while to settle down for the reasons above.

Again, we have a lot of marketing in this industry that wants us to buy two part dosing when we don't need to.

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

Hard to tell in the pictures, but I see a little bit of coraline. As Randy has said in previous posts on here, a large tank filled with coraline will suck up alkalinity like a sponge. This could be where your alk is going.

 

[Woodneers]

Hard to tell in the pictures, but I see a little bit of coraline. As Randy has said in previous posts on here, a large tank filled with coraline will suck up alkalinity like a sponge. This could be where your alk is going.

Yeah there is a good deal of coraline on a few large rocks from the old tank. I’m currently dosing 30ml a day of BRS soda ash to keep up. That just seems crazy to me but hey I guess it is what it is at this point