Low alk

fanandy8 · Feb 17, 2015

I've never gotten into testing my water before except checking salinity when I would do water changes but since I never really had much success I've decided to start testing regularly. So I got the red sea test kit with calcium, alk and mag and also the API kit with pH, nitrate etc. I've tested and I my pH is good at 8.3, ca is 420, mag is 1320 and alk is 6.4. I've tested the last three days and everything is staying OK except the alk it keeps dropping a little each day. I only have a few frags in my tank, some zoas and three sps frags so I can't see it being used that much. I have the BRS two part stuff but have held off mixing it up until needed. So I guess what I'm wondering is whether I should use the BRS stuff and just bring the alk up or mix up some kalk and use that in my ATO. I want to get this sorted out so I can have a successful tank.

mike007 · Feb 17, 2015

If you trust your test results I would bring the alk.level up to where you want it and then go 3 days without dosing and see if your alk level goes down. If it goes down divide the results by 3 and then that will tell you your daily consumption.Then you can go to the reef calculator and determine how much you need to dose to maintain levels. I really think you might what to have your test results double checked by lfs or other test kit. Also what salt mix are you using?

fanandy8 · Feb 17, 2015

I'm going to take a sample to a LFS tomorrow and see if they do alk tests and compare. I will do the three day wait and test after bringing level up. I have been using omega one premium reef salt.

mike007 · Feb 17, 2015

It could be your salt mix Is deficient in alk. You will know after another test. I don't see that what you have is consuming it that quickly. Keep us posted.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 18, 2015

It is normal for alk to drop in a reef tank, and is the first thing that reefers notice when needing to dose.

beaslbob · Feb 18, 2015

is you alk 6 dkh? If so I would add some baking soda to get it a little higher. say around 8 dkh or so. But then actually 6 is not extremely super duper low also.

fanandy8 · Feb 24, 2015

Just saw I had some replies, I mixed up a fresh batch of saltwater using the omega one salt and tested it and the alk was measuring 6.5. I've dosed some BRS alk mix in my tank and brought it up to 8 over a few days. I've tested the last couple days and it is staying steady.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 24, 2015

fanandy8 said:
Just saw I had some replies, I mixed up a fresh batch of saltwater using the omega one salt and tested it and the alk was measuring 6.5. I've dosed some BRS alk mix in my tank and brought it up to 8 over a few days. I've tested the last couple days and it is staying steady.

That sounds good.