Alkalinity Consumption Overnight

[Joey.S]

Hey all,

I have a 90 gallon soft only reef tank running for about 6 months now. I got about 8 soft corals in the tank so far. I tested my DKH yesterday around 4:30 PM, the result came back at 9.0 DKH. I tested again the next day around 1:00 PM, and the result came back at 8.2 DKH. Anyways my question was is it normal for the alkalinity to drop like that in less than 24 hours especially with only softies? And is that a big drop? Thank you!

 

[ichthyogeek]

Bumping this up.

 

[Hallowhead]

That's your daily alk consumption. Do you have coralline growing ? Does it continue to drop ?

 

[Joey.S]

That's your daily alk consumption. Do you have coralline growing ? Does it continue to drop ?

I haven’t seen any coralline yet, I ended up dosing b ionic after seeing the drop, just to keep it stable, so I don’t know if that’s the amount it would drop everyday.

 

[Ippyroy]

You need to test and find a trend. Test daily at the same time or wait 2 -3 days but be sure it is at the same time. I wouldn't go longer than 3 days though because it might fall too low. My tank which is 50 gallons mixed goes through more because of coraline beginning to take off.

 

[Hallowhead]

I haven’t seen any coralline yet, I ended up dosing b ionic after seeing the drop, just to keep it stable, so I don’t know if that’s the amount it would drop everyday.

What you can do is test today and than test tomorrow again and that's your drop. You should than dose that amount daily to ensure your tank doesn't swing.

 

[Joey.S]

What you can do is test today and than test tomorrow again and that's your drop. You should than dose that amount daily to ensure your tank doesn't swing.

Yes that’s what I did before dosing 2 part for the first time, the first result was 9.0, then 24 hrs later it was 8.2, so I assumed that’s my drop, once I saw that I dosed the amount to bring me back around 9-9.3 DKH.

 

[Joey.S]

Yes that’s what I did before dosing 2 part for the first time, the first result was 9.0, then 24 hrs later it was 8.2, so I assumed that’s my drop, once I saw that I dosed the amount to bring me back around 9-9.3 DKH.

Also is that too much of a swing?

 

[Duffer]

You want to try not to let alk swing more than .5..

 

[Uncle99]

I would test at the same time.