Dialing in alk

[Matthias7]

I have been having some issues with my tank over the past few months. I have been trying a couple of things to get everything back in line. I believe I am heading the right direction with the help of these forums. I currently dose 2 part (have been for a while) but I always have to adjust the dose up or down on my jebao doser. The alkalinity always seems to move up and down between 6-9 over time not quickly. Does anyone else have this issue? Can it be the doser or is it a technique issue?

 

[Sabellafella]

I have been having some issues with my tank over the past few months. I have been trying a couple of things to get everything back in line. I believe I am heading the right direction with the help of these forums. I currently dose 2 part (have been for a while) but I always have to adjust the dose up or down on my jebao doser. The alkalinity always seems to move up and down between 6-9 over time not quickly. Does anyone else have this issue? Can it be the doser or is it a technique issue?

Do you do water changes frequently?

 

[Matthias7]

Daily automated water changes 1 gallon per day

 

[Sabellafella]

Daily automated water changes 1 gallon per day

How large is the tank, and whats the alk level of your saltmix? This could also alter your dosing routine, so youll have to take into account of a daily addition

 

[Matthias7]

350 gallons of water. Recently changed saltbrands was using Kent then changed to aquaforest. I have given up on all the special stuff for now and plan on running it on instant ocean again. Seems like a lot of change but this has drug out for a while and I'm trying to get back to basics

 

[ahammer]

I am not sure what you mean entirely. How fast does the fluctuation occur? From morning to night my alk drops about 1.2 dkh. I manually dose at night. What seems to be your problem?

 

[Matthias7]

This is over time- days, but I am constantly adjusting the doses up or down I can never leave it dosing the same dose

 

[ahammer]

How are you testing alk?

 

[Matthias7]

I use a salifert test. I also sometimes check with api

 

[ahammer]

How many corals do you have and what type? Could be issues with your testing.

 

[Matthias7]

Had quite a few acros but my tank is in a state of decline at the moment the only large peices left are birdsnest and 2 monti's, everything else is lps and frags. my biggest issue is I feel like I shouldn't have to change the Alk dose every other day. I check with 2 different testers and the numbers match

 

[Jamie 1020]

Are you matching your dosing levels with the levels of the salt e.g all in your salt mix alk is 10 and your display is at 8 it will be fluctuate up and down I always get my water change water the same as my tank.

 

[Matthias7]

So today I received a ph Alert from apex 8.54 which I thought was odd I usually run it between 8-8.3. When I got home from work I looked at my alk dosing container and it appears that a large amount was dosed today. I checked the programming and I should have dosed only 80ml but looking at the containable it was much more. I tested the alk and sure enough it went from 8 yesterday to 11 today. Going to try to bring it down again but I'm sure I'll lose more sps. I am giving up on the cheap doser. I have a calcium reactor on the way. Lesson learned. I believe this to be the cause of all the fluctuations in my alk and the declination of the tank