Alkalinity Consumption Question

[dbjonesjr]

All, I have a JBJ 65 tank I setup about two months ago. I started putting corals in it, including SPS, about three weeks ago. My question is this: how much do you dose, and if so, how much stony coral do you have in your tank? I am now allowing my Alkatronic to dose for me, and am no longer going to be using kalkwasser in the top off water. I find it weird that this soon with so little coral I am now using roughly 15 mL every two hours and it's not keeping up with my demand (Alkatronic is still working on finding the right level, hopefully soon). This puts me at 180 mL of BRS sodium bicarbonate every day. I have (3) Montipora Spongeodes frags about 1" wide each, (1) Sand Dollar Porites frag about 1.5" wide, (1) Montipora Setosa frag about 3" tall but not encrusting anything, (1) PC Rainbow Acropora frag roughly 2" tall fully encrusting the plug, (2) ORA Purple Rim Montipora frags about 1.5" and 3" wide, and (1) JF Violet Orange Montipora about 3" wide but bleached. Should I be expecting this kind of consumption, or is it possible something is wrong with my dosing solution?

 

[Uncle99]

Depends on the concentrate of the BRS solution mix. Measure consumption in ppm

 

[Crabs McJones]

Theres got to be a miscalculation somewhere. Improbable that a 65 gallon tank with a few frags is using 180ML a day unless it's extremely watered down. My 75 has several acropora and montipora frags and I'm only dosing 17ml per day. Have you tested alkalinity against what your alktronic is reading? What is alkalinity currently at?

 

[Auquanut]

I gotta go with @Crabs McJones on this. I have a 125 that is HEAVILY stocked with corals and inverts and I'm dosing 200 mg daily Alc and Calc. And I consider that high.

I would suggest some other testing procedure. You don't want things to get out of hand.

 

[dbjonesjr]

Thanks for the reply all! I want to be running between 8.5 dKH and 8.7 dKH. Current level is 8.2 dKH. Keep in mind 180 mL of what I am using is equivalent to 90 mL BRS soda ash (what I believe most people normally use). Salifert has confirmed the Alkatronic is spot on. I’ll check the dosing pump calibration tomorrow, because that could be an issue as well.
Again, thanks for seconding my suspicions. I ordered new soda ash from BRS to mix up a new jug. This should help.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Thanks for the reply all! I want to be running between 8.5 dKH and 8.7 dKH. Current level is 8.2 dKH. Keep in mind 180 mL of what I am using is equivalent to 90 mL BRS soda ash (what I believe most people normally use). Salifert has confirmed the Alkatronic is spot on. I’ll check the dosing pump calibration tomorrow, because that could be an issue as well.

Sounds good even still though, 90ML is alot to be dosing in a tank this new. I would expect with your stocking list to be somewhere in the 5 to 10ml a day range.

 

[dbjonesjr]

Sounds good even still though, 90ML is alot to be dosing in a tank this new. I would expect with your stocking list to be somewhere in the 5 to 10ml a day range.

For example:

 

[Crabs McJones]

For example:

Weird! Definitely let us know what you find

 

[Pdash]

I hate to be too obvious, but what are your magnesium and calcium levels? Do you have clumping sand in your tank lots of white specks where you dose?

 

[dbjonesjr]

I hate to be too obvious, but what are your magnesium and calcium levels? Do you have clumping sand in your tank lots of white specks where you dose?

Magnesium is 1260 ppm at the moment. Calcium is 430 ppm. Don’t have any precipitation where I dose, or anywhere that I’ve noticed so far.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Check to see if the sand seems to be hardening at all.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

90 mL is only 1 dKH per day in 65 gallons. That does not seem troubling to me.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Randy since I’m new at this (29 years reefing), what is sand gardening mean?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy since I’m new at this (29 years reefing), what is sand gardening mean?

it means nothing. I’m answering most questions on my little phone and so make way too many typos with my fat fingers. In this case, Apple thinks hardening is not a word and changed it to gardening.
It was meant to be hardening. The sand goes from free flowing grains to like a solid clump due to precipitating calcium carbonate between grains.

 

[ScottB]

I gotta go with @Crabs McJones on this. I have a 125 that is HEAVILY stocked with corals and inverts and I'm dosing 200 mg daily Alc and Calc. And I consider that high.

I would suggest some other testing procedure. You don't want things to get out of hand.

Time for CaRx @Auquanut !

 

[dbjonesjr]

Thanks all. So far I’ve checked the sand bed, the dosing pump calibration, made a sample solution to test if the sodium bicarbonate is the proper strength, and other levels. Nothing seems irregular or out of the ordinary. Thanks everyone for help and suggestions on what to check.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

it means nothing. I’m answering most questions on my little phone and so make way too many typos with my fat fingers. In this case, Apple thinks hardening is not a word and changed it to gardening.
It was meant to be hardening. The sand goes from free flowing grains to like a solid clump due to precipitating calcium carbonate between grains.

LOL!! Maybe the next few years of reefing I’ll be able to figure this kind of autocorrect out!

 

[dbjonesjr]

Welp. I am becoming even more baffled. It’s not making much sense now.

 

[Phyber]

I have a 65g with SPS frags, lps, derasa clam, and only am currently dosing 9.5ml per day of BRS alk/Cal to keep levels at 9.0/470.

 

[Auquanut]

So from 9AM to 8AM it says that 291.43 ml were dosed. It almost has to be the sodium bicarbonate solution. I can't imagine that even with considerable precipitation that your alk wouldn't be going through the roof. Are you dosing any calcium chloride at all?