alkalinity

jose hernandez · Mar 10, 2020

looking at my parameters on my trident ive noticed they are goin up n down i added some frags and a large clam on sunday
alk was 8.2 sunday then 8.3 dropped to 7.53 yesterday so i added alk still goin up n down now its 8.82
calcium was 505 sunday dropped to 465 yesterday now its 443
mag was 1359 sunday dropped to 1364 yesterday it was 1165 so i added some mag now its 1307
is this normal tank is still fairly new

Dom · Mar 10, 2020

As I understand it, Corals require calcium and carbonate (ALK) for their skeletal construction.

So when you added frags, the consumption of the elements will increase, which may be why you are seeing a drop in ALK and Calcium.

You might want to consider supplementing via your top off reservoir.

jose hernandez · Mar 10, 2020

i put 5 sps frags and a blue maxima clam which is about 7' in size my total water volume is 200 gallons being they are frags i wouldnt think they would consume so much or is it possible the clam consumed most

W1ngz · Mar 10, 2020

Can you confirm those numbers with a regular test kit? The alk makes sense to me, the calcium use seems high and the mag consumption doesn't make sense at all.

Sosuke · Mar 10, 2020

Clams take in a lot of calcium for their shell especially a large one, you'll probably have to start dosing

jose hernandez · Mar 10, 2020

Gonna get some 2morrow to confirm gave them away thinking I didn’t need them due to my trident silly me will test 2morrow and take it from there keep everyone posted thnks

redfishbluefish · Mar 10, 2020

@Sosuke said it......clams are calcium carbonate hogs.....they suck it up. With a large clam, you will need to daily dose.

jose hernandez · Mar 10, 2020

Figured that but my concern was the alk as well

Robert Binz · Mar 10, 2020

You added a clam with the tank still "fairly new"? I've always heard clams needed a really established system

tank of gems · Mar 10, 2020

Keep a close eye on the clam. Large clams suck up a lot of calcium. What you need to figure out how much calcium you are losing in a day
So test your calcium about 1 hour after the lights come on then do another test the same time the next day and see how much difference your calcium went down and that will give you a rough estimate on how much a daily dose you need to dose

jose hernandez · Mar 11, 2020

just woke looked at my parmeters on my trdient
alk 8.73
cal 470
mag 1294
still dont understand whats goin on

homer1475 · Mar 11, 2020

You do realize that with the trident many people are realizing that hourly/daily fluctuations are now being seen, and are totally normal?

Like how many are seeing the consumption of ALK go up at night, and not during the day during photosynthesis as originally thought. Although the drastic swings your are seeing is either testing or user error IMO.

Are these hard numbers or just daily fluctuations? I would get a couple salifert kits just to confirm the tridents readings.

FWIW, you did calibrate the machine prior to trusting the testing results?