Can you get a bad batch of 2 part?

[nim6us]

I've had my RS 425XL running for about a year now. I've been dosing SeaChem Reef Fusion Part 1 and Part 2 for 7 months. It took a little bit of time to dial in my dose but then I was all set. It was steady for 4-5 months. Then out of nowhere my alk started dropping.

I watched it fall slowly from 8.5ish over the course of 2 weeks until it hit 7 dKh. I didn't want to start screwing with the dose in case it was some fluctuation that just needed to stable out. During that time I've added nothing new to the tank. The corals I have are minimal, 4 groups of acans each about the size of a pancake. A smallish octospawn, and 2 BT nems, again not very big.

I was dosing 24ml of Reef Fusion Part 2, 12ml in the morning and 12ml in the evening. When it alk hit 7dKh I upped it to 28ml a day and saw it rise until it hit 8.2 and then it hit a wall. I upped it to 30ml, then 34, 40ml, and it would not budge past 8.2, I use a Hanna checker, but I also tested with my Red Sea kit just to make sure I wasn't crazy.

Then I saw something on BRSTV that said when alk won't rise it could be that you're dosing too much. So I decided to stop dosing alk all together and just let any excess get used up. I left it for 4 days, testing each day and it dropped to 6.2dKh. Meaning the tank consumes about .5 each day. I thought great, now I know, time to get back on track. And that's where the pain began.

All the dosing was done around 6pm each day, I start by testing the current alk then make my adjustments. Per SeaChem's dosing calculator I should not dose more than 70ml a day. This is the chronology:


Tues 6.4 dosed manually 30ml waited 1 hour now 7.2
7.2 dosed manually 30ml waited 1 hour now 8.2

Wed 7.1 dosed manually 70ml now 8.9

Thur 7.2 dosed manually 40ml waited 1 hour now 8.2

Maybe it's too much all at once and I should use the doser to split up the dose

Fri 7.2 - Set doser to 20ml at 5ml 4x a day

Sat 7.1 - Set doser to 16ml at 4ml 4x a day

Sun 7.0 - Leaving doser setting

Mon 6.8 - Set doser to 24ml at 6ml 4x a day

Tested doser into graduated cylinder to measure the correct amount is being dosed.. it is.

Tues 7.2 - Leaving doser set

Wed 7.1 - Set doser to 32ml at 8ml 4x a day

Thur 7.3 - Turning off doser

Fri 6.9 - Doser still off

Sat - Water Change

Sun - 6.5 - Set doser 8ml 1x a day at 11:30am

Mon - 6.4 - Set doser 15ml 1x a day 11:30am

Tues - 6.4 - Set doser 24ml 1x a day 11:30am

Wed - 6.8 - Leaving doser set

Thur - 6.5 - Leaving doser set, changed Hanna Alk reagent it may have been contaminated

Fri - 6.7 - Set doser 30ml 1x a day 11:30am

Sat - 6.7 - F@%k my life!

So as you can see I've dosed a very little, I've dosed a very lot, and I can't raise the GD alkalinity! Also I've been dosing RF 1 and it's been stable calc and mag the whole time. It's only alk that's gone off the rails. I got a new jug of RF 2, but I didn't record when I started using it. I want to say it was right before I started having these problems. Wondering if that's related to my issue? Can a batch go bad?

The biggest issue I have is you can in the beginning I hit the tank with these mega doses, and at one point its at 8.9 but the very next day it's down to 7.1. My tank only uses .5 how can it drop 2 dKh in one day?

I know this was long.. I'm just at the end of my rope. PLEASE can anyone help?

 

[ndrwater]

As corals settle in, they tend to have growth spurts and can take up drastically more 2part.. especially Alk..
Base on your last paragraph, looks to me like your assumption that the tank only uses .5 DKH a day is wrong.. not trying to beat you up on this, just wanted to let you know that tanks can have ebbs and flows regarding Alk consumption..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

A change in demand of 1.5 dKH over 2 weeks is very small and perfectly ordinary. Just up the dose a small amount.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Many tanks, even soft coral tanks, can use 2 dKH per day.

 

[nim6us]

I guess I just feel like I’ve been over dosing. I was seeing white crust all over the glass where my doser drips. I was told that’s where the Alk isn’t being absorbed. I’ve got a little power head directly under the dosing tube so it’s definitely getting mixed up.

Testing every day I thought would give me a clearer picture. But you can see some days I increase the dose and nothing changes. No increase or decrease. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

I guess I’ll start upping it really high and see if I can put a dent in it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

White crust by the dosing point can be reduced by dosing to a higher flow area, diluting before dosing, and dosing a lower pH alk product. It is normal for some very high pH additives, but it can be reduced or eliminated.