Can seem to get my Alk Dialed in

[Undertaker]

I've been manually dosing my alk and cal at the rate of 80ml a day to keep my alk at 8.0 and cal at 400. I bought the apex classic and two BRS dosing pumps. set them to dose the 80 ml over a twenty-four hour period dosing every three hours. my cal seems fine but my alk is down to 7.0 I raised it to 90 and it is still around 7.0. How or what do I need to do to get it dialed in?

 

[Undertaker]

I've been manually dosing my alk and cal at the rate of 80ml a day to keep my alk at 8.0 and cal at 400. I bought the apex classic and two BRS dosing pumps. set them to dose the 80 ml over a twenty-four hour period dosing every three hours. my cal seems fine but my alk is down to 7.0 I raised it to 90 and it is still around 7.0. How or what do I need to do to get it dialed in?

I forgot to mention my mag is around 540 and can't seem to get it to go down.

 

[Reefer40b]

I forgot to mention my mag is around 540 and can't seem to get it to go down.

I hope you mean 1540... this will go down in time I wouldnt worry about it. How full is your tank with coral? SPS dominant? what size tank? Dosing in a high flow area?

 

[Undertaker]

yes, 1540! I have a red sea reefer I have calculated around 80 total water volume. I only have a small piece of birds nest and 8 lps frags and a nice size Duncan 30 or 40 heads and a hammer with 4 heads. and a good bit of coralline growing. I have a powerhead in my sump where i dose my BRS two part

 

[Reefer40b]

And when I say that the MG will go down on its own is only if your not using a high mg salt like reef crystals.. How long did you wait to test in between the 80 to 90ml?

 

[Undertaker]

And when I say that the MG will go down on its own is only if your not using a high mg salt like reef crystals.. How long did you wait to test in between the 80 to 90ml?

I use the redsea blue bucket, and i waited 24hr

 

[Reefer40b]

well only a 10ml up in a day will raise it .2 dkh ish, I think over a week you may see a slow rise which is good or a constant 7.0 which also isnt terrible. As things settle in and start a growth spurt you can expect your alk to drop fast. I would test in a couple days and see if you get a drop or a slight rise or a constant. If after those few days your still around 7.0 then just add a little more alk. Also double check your timer, to make sure you have setup them up correctly in the first place

 

[Undertaker]

well only a 10ml up in a day will raise it .2 dkh ish, I think over a week you may see a slow rise which is good or a constant 7.0 which also isnt terrible. As things settle in and start a growth spurt you can expect your alk to drop fast. I would test in a couple days and see if you get a drop or a slight rise or a constant. If after those few days your still around 7.0 then just add a little more alk.

Ok thx reefer. I’ll keep you posted

 

[Neo Jeo]

I’m having probs as well. I’m changing to Reef Crystal Salt to see if it helps.

 

[Reefer40b]

I’m having probs as well. I’m changing to Reef Crystal Salt to see if it helps.

The only way this would help is if your doing water changes to maintain Alk. If your only doing weekly, bi weekly changes this is only going to cause a spike in alk for the time that you do it basically depend, on the size of the water change also. its best to pick a salt that matches what your alk target is.. and then maintain with dosing.

 

[Salt Creep]

You might be dosing too much and it is precipitating. Are you dosing calcium and alk at separate times? I would stop dosing, test, then test 2 days later. Divide by 2 to get the average and recalculate your dosing. That just seems like a lot for not a lot of stony coral.

 

[Reefer40b]

You might be dosing too much and it is precipitating. I would stop dosing, test, then test 2 days later. Divide by 2 to get the average and recalculate your dosing. That just seems like a lot for not a lot of stony coral.

I would have to agree, this is also worth considering...

 

[Undertaker]

I lose 1.4 dkh a day will I be ok if it’s below 7 for two days?

 

[Undertaker]

You might be dosing too much and it is precipitating. Are you dosing calcium and alk at separate times? I would stop dosing, test, then test 2 days later. Divide by 2 to get the average and recalculate your dosing. That just seems like a lot for not a lot of stony coral.

so I just tested (with the hanna checker) and it came back at 7.0. I turned off the dosing pumps and will test in two days. with my alk being below 7 for a few days will my tank be ok? also, what do I do after that? I'm really new to dosing

 

[Reefer40b]

I would test in 24 hrs at the same time and see how much you drop. You could also cut your dose in half ish 30ml instead of turning off the doser completely and see if your tank maintains or drops. if it maintains you know you were dosing too much. using BRS soda Ash? Would you say your PH is in the normal range? If you have a ton of coraline algae then I think that a 1.4dkh is possible for a drop, but with the amount of coral you got that seems high.

Use a reef calculator like the one from BRS to calculate how much per day you drop then start up your dosing to dose that amount per day to maintain.
so your at 7 now, with the dosing pump off, say you drop .5dkh in 24hrs, using BRS calculator for soda ash solution that would require 28.5ml to bring back to 7. so dosing 28.5 should keep your tank right around 7 if that is your consumption. So that would mean you set your alk BRS doser to 27mins per day if its a 1.1ml per min dose pump.

 

[Undertaker]

I would test in 24 hrs at the same time and see how much you drop. You could also cut your dose in half ish 30ml instead of turning off the doser completely and see if your tank maintains or drops. if it maintains you know you were dosing too much. using BRS soda Ash? Would you say your PH is in the normal range? If you have a ton of coraline algae then I think that a 1.4dkh is possible for a drop, but with the amount of coral you got that seems high.

Use a reef calculator like the one from BRS to calculate how much per day you drop then start up your dosing to dose that amount per day to maintain.
so your at 7 now, with the dosing pump off, say you drop .5dkh in 24hrs, using BRS calculator for soda ash solution that would require 28.5ml to bring back to 7. so dosing 28.5 should keep your tank right around 7 if that is your consumption. So that would mean you set your alk BRS doser to 27mins per day if its a 1.1ml per min dose pump.

I do use soda ash, and like I said when I was manually dosing I was losing 1.4 a day. Not to say it was not precipitating out. I would check it after 10 minutes of dosing and it would be at 8.0 . Then the next night it would be at 6.7 to 6.6 That’s where I got the 80ml a day. So I will leave my pumps off till tomorrow night and test. And go from there. My pumps calibrated out st 1.8 a minute and 2.0 a minute. I will let you know where I sand tomorrow.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’m having probs as well. I’m changing to Reef Crystal Salt to see if it helps.

What sort of problem?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I lose 1.4 dkh a day will I be ok if it’s below 7 for two days?

Yes. 1.4 dKH a day is not excessive, but it still may be partly or mostly abiotic precipitation.

What is in the tank that may be using alk and calcium?

Demand depends STRONGLY on the alk level. At 8 dKH it will be much faster than at 6.6 dKH, so the alk demand you "averaged" is not going to be the same as at 8 dKH 24/7.

 

[Undertaker]

Yes. 1.4 dKH a day is not excessive, but it still may be partly or mostly abiotic precipitation.

What is in the tank that may be using alk and calcium?

Demand depends STRONGLY on the alk level. At 8 dKH it will be much faster than at 6.6 dKH, so the alk demand you "averaged" is not going to be the same as at 8 dKH 24/7.

A good bit of coralline, 7 lps frags, a Duncan with around 30 heads, a hammer with 4 heads, and a nice size frag of birds nest.

 

[Undertaker]

Randy I have my dosing pump off how long do you suggest I leave them off before I try dialing it in?