Dropping Alk

Reefer125g · Sep 2, 2019

So my 180 SPS tank is eating Alk like crazy. In 24 hrs I will go from 8.5 to 7.2 or less if I dont add 4 tsp of baking soda. I am running a dual 6" reactor with ARM media. Out of chamber 1 my effluent is 6.9 out of the second chamber I am getting 8.0 . My tank Ca is solid at 438 , Ph 8.2 ,Mag 1380. Why is my reactor not keeping the tank in balance ??

Reefer125g · Sep 2, 2019

Reactor flow is 45 ml per min .

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 2, 2019

Reefer125g said:
So my 180 SPS tank is eating Alk like crazy. In 24 hrs I will go from 8.5 to 7.2 or less if I dont add 4 tsp of baking soda. I am running a dual 6" reactor with ARM media. Out of chamber 1 my effluent is 6.9 out of the second chamber I am getting 8.0 . My tank Ca is solid at 438 , Ph 8.2 ,Mag 1380. Why is my reactor not keeping the tank in balance ??

Do you have any idea how much alk your reactor is adding? That's the first place to start. Maybe it is poorly adjusted. Calcium will always seem stable relative to alkalinity because there's so much more of it in seawater than alkalinity. So when over or under dosing, alkalinity changes show much sooner.

Reefer125g · Sep 2, 2019

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Do you have any idea how much alk your reactor is adding? That's the first place to start. Maybe it is poorly adjusted. Calcium will always seem stable relative to alkalinity because there's so much more of it in seawater than alkalinity. So when over or under dosing, alkalinity changes show much sooner.

Just tested with Hanna checker 8.9

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 2, 2019

Reefer125g said:
Just tested with Hanna checker 8.9

What does that mean? That is the difference between the reactor effluent and tank water in dKH?

Reefer125g · Sep 2, 2019

Reactor water is at 8.5 tank is at 7.4 Ca reactor is 450 tank is 435.

Reefer125g · Sep 2, 2019

Also this was after 4 tsp of sodium bicarbonate last night 8 pm . Tank dkh was 8.5 one hour after the dosing at 9 pm . Was thinking could my RO DI water be the cause of the drop from my ATO.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 2, 2019

Reefer125g said:
Reactor water is at 8.5 tank is at 7.4 Ca reactor is 450 tank is 435.

The reactor is hardly doing anything. Usually, it is 10-30 dKH higher than the tank water. Ignore the calcium in it. The kit is not sensitive enough to monitor that way, I’d suggest checking out an article on how to set and adjust a CaCO3/CO2 reactor.