Can't keep alkalinity up - help!

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sroot17

sroot17

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Help! Im having trouble keeping my Alk up.

Tank is 50 gallons and 6 years old. Note I moved a few months ago and replaced my sandbed at that time.

Currently doing brs 2 part and using Red Sea coral pro salt.

Current parameters
Calc - 470
Alk - 7.8
Mag - 1500
Sg - 1.026
I do a 10 gal water change 3 times a month.

I've had to increase my dosing to about 260ml of Alk a day and my levels still only hover around 7.5-8dkh. Plus I've been adding about 100ml of sodium bicarbonate every other day as well with hopes to get up to around 10 dkh with no luck.

What could be eating up my Alk? I'd really like to stop having to dose so much and finally get back up to 10-11dkh.

Thanks!
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
If you replaced your sandbed, then you don't have as much denitrification going on, which means that your alkalinity is being used up during the nitrogen cycle and not released at the end.

That's one theory, anyway. :)
 
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Randy Holmes-Farley said:
That is a massive dose. Likely too big. The two part alone (if made properly) is adding more than 7 dKH per day.

Can you post a picture of it?
Click to expand...

I agree it is a massive dose which doesn't make sense. Next step is to check my doser to be sure it's dosing the correct amount although I'm going through a gallon of Alk in 3-4 weeks so probably about right.

Also using a Hanna checker that's a few years old, perhaps it's not working properly anymore.
 
Wow! That's a massive amount of Alk you're burning through. Unless that tank is packed with clams, wall to wall, I'd have someone else test your tank....friend, LFS, whatever. I'm having a hard time believing that number. Granted, every tank is different, but I have a mixed reef, 90 gallons, and only dose about 50 mls each per day.
 
Update- I cleaned out my sump over the weekend which was filled with calcium precipitation so obviously I'm over dosing something.

I checked the output of my doser and all was ok there.

I've cut back my dose by about 75% and will wait to see what happens. So far my calc and mag are stable but Alk has dropped to 6.

My last hope is that something is wrong with my Hanna meter. Have a Redsea test kit arriving tomorrow to confirm. Even if that is the case it still does not explain the high Alk consumption I'm experiencing.
 
sroot17 said:
Update- I cleaned out my sump over the weekend which was filled with calcium precipitation so obviously I'm over dosing something.

I checked the output of my doser and all was ok there.

I've cut back my dose by about 75% and will wait to see what happens. So far my calc and mag are stable but Alk has dropped to 6.

My last hope is that something is wrong with my Hanna meter. Have a Redsea test kit arriving tomorrow to confirm. Even if that is the case it still does not explain the high Alk consumption I'm experiencing.
Click to expand...
Have you tried testing freshly mixed salt water?
 
AS
Redsea test kit arrived today. Bummer, my Hanna is still spot on.

Redsea - 5.9
Hanna - 6.1

So my Alk is low and dropping. I'm currently dosing 53ml a day of soda ash. Where do I go from here?

Should I raise using sodium bicarbonate 1dkh/day and keep soda ash dose the same?

I'm at a loss
 
Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Can you post a picture or describe what is in the tank?

Does it have a sand bed and is it getting hardened?
Click to expand...

Yes I have a shallow sand bed and no I have not experienced any clumping or hardening.

I'll take some post some pics this weekend. The tank contains about 25 different types of SPS and LPS corals as well as about 30 pounds of live rock.
 
Well, if you do not see hardening sand or excessive precipitation on the glass or on pumps, then I'd dose more to maintain at least 6.5-7 dKH.

How do the corals look? Are they growing rapidly? much coralline?
 
How close of a time are you dosing cal and alk. I dose every hour and alternate each. It gives it ample time to get mixed into the water.

I used to have mine 10min apart and noticed I wasn't getting any raise in Alk so I kept increasing. Turned out everything was precipitating out
 
Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Well, if you do not see hardening sand or excessive precipitation on the glass or on pumps, then I'd dose more to maintain at least 6.5-7 dKH.

How do the corals look? Are they growing rapidly? much coralline?
Click to expand...

I definitely experienced precipitation in my sump when I was dosing 250ml/day. Corals look good, growth is somewhat slow but they are healthy.

I've dropped my dose down to about 60ml a day and am going to use baking soda to raise it up to around 9 and hope that 60ml a day will maintain those levels.
 
Avast
Luke Schnabel said:
How close of a time are you dosing cal and alk. I dose every hour and alternate each. It gives it ample time to get mixed into the water.

I used to have mine 10min apart and noticed I wasn't getting any raise in Alk so I kept increasing. Turned out everything was precipitating out
Click to expand...

Interesting. I dose 20 minutes apart. I just added a small powerhead to my sump where my dosing tubes are hoping it will help reduce precipitation.
 
Someone on another board recommended switching from soda ash to sodium bicarbonate. Anyone have experience with one being more effective then the other?
 

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