Is this normal Alk consumption??

Reef_a_holiks · Feb 9, 2016

Hey Reef2Reef, I am having a hard time stabilizing Alk levels in my 90 gallon, never had this issue in any other reef tank ive previously had. a few months ago I notice my GSP not opening up like they used to, I thought it was weird since these guys seem to be the hardiest ones in the tank. I check parameters everything seems fine except Alk. Alk was at 6dkh on day 1 of noticing GSP not opening up. All other corals seem fine. Tank is mixed reef with sps, zoas, softies, and etc. about 50% load with coral. I dosed 2 part ESV B-ionic to raise it back up to about 8dkh. Well ever since its been hard to keep my Alk at anything higher than 6-7dkh. I like to keep my Alk between 9-11dkh. I dose 90ml of both parts of B-ionic 3 times a week and even this doesnt seem to keep up with dropping Alk levels. So I decided to does this amount everyday for about a week to saturate the tank to the desired Alk level. Doing so I was able raise it up to 11dkh. So now im planning to go back to my regular dose schedule of dosing 3days of week, but after missing the first day after dosing daily Alk is back down to 7dkh. Is this even possible for the tank to consume 4dkh of Alk in 24 hours? What you guys think? hoping Randy with chime in this one.

jcdeng · Feb 9, 2016

Its possible if you have a lot of stony corals. My doser doses 42.5ml of alk and cal daily, and the alk is still slowly dropping (due to sps colonies getting bigger). Maybe try 55ml daily and see if it will stablize at your desire alk lvl?

jcdeng · Feb 9, 2016

btw, if you run phosphate binders they can lower alk too.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 9, 2016

When you say it is hard to keep the alkalinity up, that just seems to be an issue of adding enough. Many people add alkalinity every day or even many times per day.

Are you seeing precipitation of calcium carbonate anywhere?

4 dKH per day is high, but not impossible, but it probably wouldn't take that much to maintain 8-9 dKH, and I'd try that end rather than pushing it even higher.

My suggestion is to add 1-2 dKH every day and see where that gets you.

FWIW, some people get into a situation where they need to add more and more to maintain a specific level. Sort of like a drug addict, but I've never seen a good explanation of why it happens.

Have you ever measured magnesium? pH?

Reef_a_holiks · Feb 10, 2016

Thanks for the replies, Im not using any kind of phosphate binders.

Reef_a_holiks · Feb 10, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
When you say it is hard to keep the alkalinity up, that just seems to be an issue of adding enough. Many people add alkalinity every day or even many times per day.

Are you seeing precipitation of calcium carbonate anywhere?

4 dKH per day is high, but not impossible, but it probably wouldn't take that much to maintain 8-9 dKH, and I'd try that end rather than pushing it even higher.

My suggestion is to add 1-2 dKH every day and see where that gets you.

FWIW, some people get into a situation where they need to add more and more to maintain a specific level. Sort of like a drug addict, but I've never seen a good explanation of why it happens.

Have you ever measured magnesium? pH?

Hey thanks for your reply Randy, was hoping you would. I really dont see any calcium carbonate precipitation anywhere. Yea its super high compared to what im used to seeing. Yea Im gonna give dosing 1-2dkh a day a shot. weird thing is all love stock was tranferred from a smaller tank which was about 90% loaded with coral, it was transferred to my new 90 gallon, so its not like theres more coral to consume Alk. never had this issue with my previous tank . So yesterday morning I tested alk after missing one day of dosing. Like I stated before I 7dkh of Alk when it was 11dkh the day before. So I dosed yesterday to bring it back up, yesterday late afternoon tested Alk and it was 9dkh , then again this morning and back down to 7dkh. My test results this morning were:

ALK 7dkh
Mag 1220
Cal 400

I havent tested Mag or Cal since you told to me test mag, but my Mag and Cal levels seem a bit low . My previous tank had stable parameters of:

Alk 10dkh
Mag 1360
Cal 460

Not sure why this change occured now. What you think Randy?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 10, 2016

Is there sand in the tank?

Sand hardening with deposits of calcium carbonate may be one possible sink.

I might boost the magnesium since it tends to reduce such precipitation.

Reef_a_holiks · Feb 10, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Is there sand in the tank?

Sand hardening with deposits of calcium carbonate may be one possible sink.

I might boost the magnesium since it tends to reduce such precipitation.

Yes I do have sand, and now that you say that I think I have seen some parts hardening. Any way to correct this? Will dosing more of B-ionic also raise magnesium?

Reef_a_holiks · Feb 15, 2016

Been on top of this issue this past week, I feel like im wasting my B-ionic, just dont feel its normal I have to dose this much. tested parameters this morning Cal 410, Alk 7dkh, Mag1250. dosed 90ml of both parts of B-ionic right after.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 15, 2016

Reef_a_holiks said:
Yes I do have sand, and now that you say that I think I have seen some parts hardening. Any way to correct this? Will dosing more of B-ionic also raise magnesium?

B-ionic will add magnesium, but should not raise it noticeably. It should just keep magnesium about where it is when you begin dosing.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 15, 2016

Reef_a_holiks said:
Been on top of this issue this past week, I feel like im wasting my B-ionic, just dont feel its normal I have to dose this much. tested parameters this morning Cal 410, Alk 7dkh, Mag1250. dosed 90ml of both parts of B-ionic right after.

This can be a tricky issue without an obvious solution, but I'd try dosing less to let alk fall a bit (not the 7 dKH low, but the high reached after dosing), and maybe switch to a lower pH alk additive. Also spread out the dosing more and dose at the lowest pH time of day (late night or very early morning).

Reef_a_holiks · Feb 15, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
This can be a tricky issue without an obvious solution, but I'd try dosing less to let alk fall a bit (not the 7 dKH low, but the high reached after dosing), and maybe switch to a lower pH alk additive. Also spread out the dosing more and dose at the lowest pH time of day (late night or very early morning).

Thanks for the reply randy, I will give your way try and see what happens. Since you brought up precipitation, ive also been on the look out for that and did notice some in my sump around the edge of the filter socks chamber.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 15, 2016

Reef_a_holiks said:
Thanks for the reply randy, I will give your way try and see what happens. Since you brought up precipitation, ive also been on the look out for that and did notice some in my sump around the edge of the filter socks chamber.

Where is that in relation to dosing?

Reef_a_holiks · Feb 15, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Where is that in relation to dosing?

I dose in the display infront of a koralia that is right next to my overflow, which drains into the filter socks chamber. Could this be the cause?

Reef_a_holiks · Mar 8, 2016

Hello Randy, so im still having this issue, its actually gotten worse. I noticed my zoas closing up and some even wasting away, checked my Alk and got a reading of 5dkh. I dont understand im dosing 2 part B-ionic 90ml every other day and doesnt seem to raise it or stabilize it. I thought maybe low mag might be the issue as ive been getting reading of 1220-1280 from my red sea test kit, so I dosed Mag and brought it up to 1400 but still having the low alk issue. Not sure what to do next.

Reef_a_holiks · Mar 8, 2016

Bump, someone give your input. Need a fix

TUSI · Mar 8, 2016

Can you check the concentration of the b ionic before you dose it, maybe you got a bad batch and it's not concentrated enough

Sabellafella · Mar 8, 2016

Reef_a_holiks said:
Hello Randy, so im still having this issue, its actually gotten worse. I noticed my zoas closing up and some even wasting away, checked my Alk and got a reading of 5dkh. I dont understand im dosing 2 part B-ionic 90ml every other day and doesnt seem to raise it or stabilize it. I thought maybe low mag might be the issue as ive been getting reading of 1220-1280 from my red sea test kit, so I dosed Mag and brought it up to 1400 but still having the low alk issue. Not sure what to do next.

Not sure if i came across this in your thread but do you do waterchanges?