Alk really low need dosing advice

[Rscott]

So this is a newish tank 3 months old

Started to accumulate some frags
7 little frags

Mostly easy stuff , zoa , Xenia ,
Only sps is a cyphastrea and a monti cap

Noticed for the first time my alk dropped between when I. Normally do my 2 week water changes

Down to 7.2 yesterday
Calcium was 350 and mag like 1400

Last night I used the Red Sea ABC kit
For the first time

Put in 5ml of mag
10 ml of alk
And 5 of Calc

In that order with 10 minutes between in addition

Tested this morning and alk still at 7.2?

What should I do? I am new to the dosing thing

I have the following items at my disposal also
A friend gave me the powders
Not even sure what the do

I was planning to start dosing kalkwasser
I made up a gallon last night and let it settle over night

Any recommendations

 

[djray77]

Following this one as I'm getting the same thing happening in my tank. It doesn't seem to matter how much I do the numbers stay the same. I am using this calculator also. maybe you could try that?

Dosing calculator

Calculate dosages for the balling method or adjustment of a single water parameters. Supports the most common additives for raising calcium, carbonate hardness and magnesium.

reefapp.net

 

[Journeyman]

Do you use an ato? One way to keep all stable is to put the kalk in your ato. There's a brs video on kalk that explains it.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Alk at 7.2 is ok. Between 7-8 is usually pretty safe. Higher levels are a little trickier. With only two SPS corals and the rest soft corals, you shouldn't have much Alk uptake, especially in a 450L tank. Water changes should be able to keep up with your Alk needs.

Wait three days until you measure Alk again. Measure it at the exact same time as you measured your Alk the last time. Alk can fluctuate, so taking measurements at the same time of day will help. If you get a reading of 7-7.5, I wouldn't dose Alk, I would just do water changes.

Edit: You do seem to have a little imbalance with Calc and Mag. Mag should be about 3 times your Calc amount, so you could work on slowly bringing up your Calc. What does your salt mix say it is suppose to mix to?

 

[Rscott]

Following this one as I'm getting the same thing happening in my tank. It doesn't seem to matter how much I do the numbers stay the same. I am using this calculator also. maybe you could try that?

Dosing calculator

Calculate dosages for the balling method or adjustment of a single water parameters. Supports the most common additives for raising calcium, carbonate hardness and magnesium.

reefapp.net

How far off are you?
The calculator tells me that I sneed 35ml

How much have you tried?
I know the 3 major elements interact with each other that’s why last night I upped them
All instead of just alk

If I can’t figure it out today I’m going to be doing a water change

 

[Rscott]

Do you use an ato? One way to keep all stable is to put the kalk in your ato. There's a brs video on kalk that explains it.

Was exactly my plan
Just trying not to do so much at once

 

[Journeyman]

Start with a more dilute dose, like 1 teaspoon every 2 gallons to start. Test when you refill your reservoir. Bump up or down as needed. Then test again next time you refill until you are at the level you want. Then just maintain at that level.

Kalk is fully saturated at 2 teaspoons per gallon. I usually do half that and my tank is at 8. If I add another half teaspoon, I get up towards 9.

 

[djray77]

Well, I was at 8.3dkh on 8/22 I want to be around 9dkh so the calculator told me to dose 30ml alk. I just tested it now and I'm at 7.9dkh. So its going down rather than up and im not sure why. My cal is at 450 and mag at 1400. I dont have huge colonies just a bunch of frags. I cant imagine its taken all that alk.

 

[W1ngz]

3 months in is about the time I'd expect coraline algae to be really taking hold. That's probably the cause of your drop. If you added and still ended up testing right back where you were, this makes the testing suspect also. Try and do the test about a half hour after the correction is made to confirm you got where you are trying to be, instead of a day later.

You don't mention your tank volume, or your desired alkalinity level. 10 ml of red sea will have a very different impact depending on volume.

You have 3 solutions in front of you right now, the red sea, the BRS bulk 2 part (sodium bicarb and calcium) and the kalkwasser. You need to pick one and commit to it for a few months. Bouncing from one to the other because one 'didn't work' isn't going to get you where you want to be.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

3 months in is about the time I'd expect coraline algae to be really taking hold. That's probably the cause of your drop. If you added and still ended up testing right back where you were, this makes the testing suspect also. Try and do the test about a half hour after the correction is made to confirm you got where you are trying to be.

You don't mention your tank volume, or your desired alkalinity level. 10 ml of red sea will have a very different impact depending on volume.

You have 3 solutions in front of you right now, the red sea, the BRS bulk 2 part (sodium bicarb and calcium) and the kalkwasser. You need to pick one and commit to it for a few months.

I agree with this. The tank is 450 liters, so adding 10 ml of the RedSea Alk would only raise the dKh by 0.1. Not sure that the test kits are accurate enough to say that you would see a change of 0.1 dKh.

 

[Rscott]

Thanks all

I’m testing with the Hannah all theater which is suppose to be one of the best for alk
Calc and mag tests are Red Sea

I went really light on the alk last night just to stay in control but as @IslandLifeReef said it’s 120 gallons so it probably wasn’t nearly enough

Is it ok to do that much at once?
Calculator says 35 ml

Can I run that much alone with out adding mag or Calc?

 

[djray77]

Thanks all

I’m testing with the Hannah all theater which is suppose to be one of the best for alk
Calc and mag tests are Red Sea

I went really light on the alk last night just to stay in control but as @IslandLifeReef said it’s 120 gallons so it probably wasn’t nearly enough

Is it ok to do that much at once?
Calculator says 35 ml

Can I run that much alone with out adding mag or Calc?

The calculator will show you a graph on the bottom of the page, it breaks it up into how much per day if its to much at once which is really nice.

 

[W1ngz]

35 ml is fine, on a 120 gal that seems to be a target of 8dkh, which is within the usual recommendation of a 1dkh change per day. Dose half the 35ml, wait 15 minutes and dose the other half.

For a dhk of 8.0, you'll also want to correct your calcium. 350 is really low. It should be pushed up to 420 or so. You need about 160ml for that correction.

I would do:

1/2 of the 35ml alk, and wait 15 minutes
1/2 of the required 160ml calcium, and wait another 15 minutes
Finish the alk, wait
finish the calcium, wait.

Test both levels after you've waited for it to completely move through the water column.

Test both daily for 3 or 4 days to determine your daily consumption, and then base your future dosing on that.

 

[Rscott]

The calculator will show you a graph on the bottom of the page, it breaks it up into how much per day if its to much at once which is really nice.

I didn’t see that
On my end the calculator shows you how much to add per day based on your consumption

 

[Mykawl]

Well, I was at 8.3dkh on 8/22 I want to be around 9dkh so the calculator told me to dose 30ml alk. I just tested it now and I'm at 7.9dkh. So its going down rather than up and im not sure why. My cal is at 450 and mag at 1400. I dont have huge colonies just a bunch of frags. I cant imagine its taken all that alk.

Are you using Hanna checker?
Edit: didn’t read all but following along

 

[djray77]

I didn’t see that
On my end the calculator shows you how much to add per day based on your consumption

For daily consumption I put 0 in that box.

 

[Rscott]

For daily consumption I put 0 in that box.

Right but then the graph shows adding it all it once because we are not trying to account for up take but instead just a correction

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

As above I'd say get your calcium up. I was hesitant about kalk in ato but when I did my sps took off. It grew that well that kalk couldn't keep up. I does make it easier as I doses in balance.just get the levels up to where you want them 1st. I run mine at 7.7 dkh 420 cal and 1350 mag.

 

[Rscott]

Just as a follow up, I added 55 ml of alk per the calculator

Let it sit for about 5 minutes just to see if I could tell the result to verify tester is ok

Hannah now says 8.8

So I imagine in about 30 more
Minutes it will settle down a bit so that’s good.

I will probably start dosing kalkwasser tonight
At ml every 2 hours

I watched a video from someone that has a similar tank and that was what they calculated

Might go maybe 3ml to watch effect

Thanks for all the support

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Just as a follow up, I added 55 ml of alk per the calculator

Let it sit for about 5 minutes just to see if I could tell the result to verify tester is ok

Hannah now says 8.8

So I imagine in about 30 more
Minutes it will settle down a bit so that’s good.

I will probably start dosing kalkwasser tonight
At ml every 2 hours

I watched a video from someone that has a similar tank and that was what they calculated

Might go maybe 3ml to watch effect

Thanks for all the support

Start low and retest as its easier to add more but harder to remove.