Excessive Alk usage?

[AdamNC]

How is it possible in a 10g tank with about 8 gallons volume to use 3dKh of Alk in 4 days while dosing 10ml/day of Red Sea Foundation Part B? So it dropped from 11.4dKh to 8.4dKh. Ca on the other hand has gone up from 450ppm to 485ppm dosing 5ml/day of Red Sea Foundation Part A. Corals include a 3 head Duncan, 2 head large polyp Blasto, 2 10 head Acans, 2 Ricordea and 5 small Zoa Colonies. No fish but a decent sized cuc. And the tank is about 6 months old. Test kits are the Hanna dKH and Red Sea Pro for Ca. Reagents are good cause I tested my 40br SPS tank and the levels are spot on where they should be 8.1dKh and 430ppm.

 

[Rybren]

A drop of 3 dKH over 4 days isn't really all that much. Maybe 10ml/day of Part B isn't enough to meet the demand of your tank. How long have you been steady at 10ml/day and has it been holding your alk steady?

 

[AdamNC]

A drop of 3 dKH over 4 days isn't really all that much. Maybe 10ml/day of Part B isn't enough to meet the demand of your tank. How long have you been steady at 10ml/day and has it been holding your alk steady?

I had been at 5ml/day and just last Friday I doubled it because it couldn’t keep up. I’m aiming for the Red Sea Mixed Reef Recipe and it states to be at 11.5dKh. I’ve had good success on my 40br using the SPS Dominated Recipe so I figure I’d try the mixed on the new tank. As I said everything looks good, full polyps, multiplying. I’m just curious how it’s using so much so early on.

 

[jeffww]

Those numbers seem normal for a nano. I dose 5mL of ESV two part every day to 6g of water which works out to be close to 3dkH daily.

 

[blasterman]

It takes about 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda to raise dKH a full point in my 10 gallon frags. Checking reef calculators my numbers are pretty much spot on.

I have a hard time believing 5ml of these overpriced products, which are nothing more than baking soda dissolved in water or sidewalk de-icer dissolved in water contain that much sodium bicarbonate.

I've had a lot of small tanks with coral bioload a lot heavier than the OPs and they dont consume anywhere near that amount of alk *if the tank is mature and well past cycling. A young tank a few months old can crush dKH, but this levels off once bacteria colonies establish.

A 6month old 10gal tank that's otherwise stable and long since cycled consuming that much alk makes me concerned. Usually this means theres a big algae or bacteria bloom in progress; cyano etc. Something is eating all, and it's not those corals.

Pay close attention to the tank. The common consumers of alk that I mention will show themselves soon enough. Or, it could just be a harmless bio strata shift. In any respect, you will either see a nuisance organism show up shortly or alk will stabilize. It wont keep getting consumed at that rate.

 

[jeffww]

It takes about 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda to raise dKH a full point in my 10 gallon frags. Checking reef calculators my numbers are pretty much spot on.

I have a hard time believing 5ml of these overpriced products, which are nothing more than baking soda dissolved in water or sidewalk de-icer dissolved in water contain that much sodium bicarbonate.

I've had a lot of small tanks with coral bioload a lot heavier than the OPs and they dont consume anywhere near that amount of alk *if the tank is mature and well past cycling. A young tank a few months old can crush dKH, but this levels off once bacteria colonies establish.

A 6month old 10gal tank that's otherwise stable and long since cycled consuming that much alk makes me concerned. Usually this means theres a big algae or bacteria bloom in progress; cyano etc. Something is eating all, and it's not those corals.

Pay close attention to the tank. The common consumers of alk that I mention will show themselves soon enough. Or, it could just be a harmless bio strata shift. In any respect, you will either see a nuisance organism show up shortly or alk will stabilize. It wont keep getting consumed at that rate.

There's more than one chemical out there that can raise alk. Sodium carbonate is one and gram for gram raises alk by a lot more. 1/4tsp is also only ~1.3mL by volume also.

 

[Robert Ranciato]

How is it possible in a 10g tank with about 8 gallons volume to use 3dKh of Alk in 4 days while dosing 10ml/day of Red Sea Foundation Part B? So it dropped from 11.4dKh to 8.4dKh. Ca on the other hand has gone up from 450ppm to 485ppm dosing 5ml/day of Red Sea Foundation Part A. Corals include a 3 head Duncan, 2 head large polyp Blasto, 2 10 head Acans, 2 Ricordea and 5 small Zoa Colonies. No fish but a decent sized cuc. And the tank is about 6 months old. Test kits are the Hanna dKH and Red Sea Pro for Ca. Reagents are good cause I tested my 40br SPS tank and the levels are spot on where they should be 8.1dKh and 430ppm.

11.5 seems high to me

 

[AdamNC]

11.5 seems high to me

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Well everything in the tank seems to like it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

A 6month old 10gal tank that's otherwise stable and long since cycled consuming that much alk makes me concerned. Usually this means theres a big algae or bacteria bloom in progress; cyano etc. Something is eating all, and it's not those corals.

Algae and bacteria do not generally consume alkalinity.