Low alk in new setup

ZachP · Jan 25, 2017

I have a nuvo fusion 20 that was setup in November. I'm using Red Sea coral pro salt and only corals so far are 2 zoas frags and a small monti cap.
Ph: 8.3
Alk: 7 dkh
Cal: 420
Mag: 1360
Nitrates: 12ppm (somewhat high, I've been working on this)
Phos: .009
I know 7 dkh isn't horribly low but seems low for an empty tank. I'll keep testing daily to see if it's actually dropping or just started low. I'll also be mixing up new water tomorrow to see what that tests out at. The Red Sea salt bucket says it should mix to 12.3-12.7. Any ideas why it's that low?

CodyRVA · Jan 25, 2017

What test kit are you using? I personally always have low ALK issues when establishing a new system. Until the coralline really takes hold, then the ALK seems to come up. I run bio pellets, and my ALK is consistently 7.6 dkh.

ZachP · Jan 25, 2017

CodyRVA said:
What test kit are you using? I personally always have low ALK issues when establishing a new system. Until the coralline really takes hold, then the ALK seems to come up. I run bio pellets, and my ALK is consistently 7.6 dkh.

I'm using Red Sea test kits. I'm only concerned because I plan on a lot of sps eventually. I'm going to start tracking my levels now to get an idea on stability before I add any expensive frags

Tori · Jan 25, 2017

That does seem unusually low. How often have you done water changes? I would also consider trying a different test kit to verify.

ZachP · Jan 25, 2017

Tori said:
That does seem unusually low. How often have you done water changes? I would also consider trying a different test kit to verify.

I've been doing water changes twice weekly because of the nitrates, until this week now I'm only doing once a week unless they rise more. I can take some water to the lfs tomorrow and have them test to see what they get. I'm almost wondering if I got a weird batch of salt

Tori · Jan 25, 2017

ZachP said:
I've been doing water changes twice weekly because of the nitrates, until this week now I'm only doing once a week unless they rise more. I can take some water to the lfs tomorrow and have them test to see what they get. I'm almost wondering if I got a weird batch of salt

Yeah, something's not right.

nervousmonkey · Jan 25, 2017

Your nitrates are not so low that you should be doing water changes that much unless you want to. 12 ppm NO3 is fine, esp. since you don't have anything that warrants lower NO3 levels. Coralline algae consumes alkalinity; strange that your alkalinity increases when coralline gets established. Either way, I wouldn't worry about your alkalinity until you start keeping something that consumes it.
What is your salinity? Since you are doing that many water changes, it stands that your alk should be the same as what you are mixing. What are you measuring salinity with?

ZachP · Jan 25, 2017

nervousmonkey said:
Your nitrates are not so low that you should be doing water changes that much unless you want to. 12 ppm NO3 is fine, esp. since you don't have anything that warrants lower NO3 levels. Coralline algae consumes alkalinity; strange that your alkalinity increases when coralline gets established. Either way, I wouldn't worry about your alkalinity until you start keeping something that consumes it.
What is your salinity? Since you are doing that many water changes, it stands that your alk should be the same as what you are mixing. What are you measuring salinity with?

Well the nitrates were higher, I think I had nitrates leaching from dry rock from a previous tank that I used. Now that I have them to where they are reasonable I'm going to calm down with the water changes. Salinity is 1.026 measured with a refractometer. I'll test some fresh mixed water tomorrow to see if it's the salt mix that's low. The only reason I'm concerned with alk right now is I plan on keeping a lot of sps in this tank.

nervousmonkey · Jan 26, 2017

Ok, gotcha man. Sounds like a great plan. Hope your salt mix is good. I think you'll be fine running SPS in that tank. There are people that purposefully target levels of alkalinity that are 7 to 8. Since you are keeping your nitrates low, that works out great for SPS. There are a lot of people that keep levels like that, IMO, you'll be fine.

ZachP · Jan 26, 2017

nervousmonkey said:
Ok, gotcha man. Sounds like a great plan. Hope your salt mix is good. I think you'll be fine running SPS in that tank. There are people that purposefully target levels of alkalinity that are 7 to 8. Since you are keeping your nitrates low, that works out great for SPS. There are a lot of people that keep levels like that, IMO, you'll be fine.

Ok thanks for the help. I'll test the new water tomorrow and have the lfs test my water. That way I'll at least know where the problem is coming from. If it's the salt I might just switch to something else. That's the nice thing about having an empty tank, I have the chance to switch things up if needed without harming corals

ZachP · Jan 26, 2017

Also thanks for all the quick replies. This forum really is awesome

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 26, 2017

I'm not really sure I see a problem. Unless you are dosing alkalinity, it will decline.

Even a soft coral tank can drop 2 dKH per day (yours is much less) due to coralline algae and other calcifying organisms.

ZachP · Jan 26, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I'm not really sure I see a problem. Unless you are dosing alkalinity, it will decline.

Even a soft coral tank can drop 2 dKH per day (yours is much less) due to coralline algae and other calcifying organisms.

Do you think I should start dosing already? Or wait until it starts dropping lower then that

nervousmonkey · Jan 26, 2017

No, what Dr. Holmes-Farley is saying is that you don't need to do anything, there is no issue with your alk, and you do are not experiencing a drop in alk from your corals, so don't do anything. Keep measuring it, but there is not a problem with the alkalinity in your system.
Don't start dosing, what would you be dosing for? There is not an organism in your system that requires dosing.

ZachP · Jan 26, 2017

nervousmonkey said:
No, what Dr. Holmes-Farley is saying is that you don't need to do anything, there is no issue with your alk, and you do are not experiencing a drop in alk from your corals, so don't do anything. Keep measuring it, but there is not a problem with the alkalinity in your system.
Don't start dosing, what would you be dosing for? There is not an organism in your system that requires dosing.

Ok I'll just let it be now. It just seems a little low. Once I start adding a lot of sps and it drops further I don't have much room for it to drop before it's what is considered too low.

ZachP · Jan 26, 2017

Had lfs test and they said they got 6 dkh for alk. Not sure what test kit they used

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 26, 2017

I'm just saying that what you are seeing is normal: alk will drop if you do not supplement it.

Whether you supplement or not depends on where you want to maintain it. Folks typically maintain 7-11 dKH.

ZachP · Jan 26, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I'm just saying that what you are seeing is normal: alk will drop if you do not supplement it.

Whether you supplement or not depends on where you want to maintain it. Folks typically maintain 7-11 dKH.

I would like to maintain around 9 dkh and 425 ppm calcium. Maybe I need to look into a dosing pump to start going that route