Low alkalinity in my nano

[Subliminal]

So I have an evo 13.5, and the general consensus I heard was to not worry about testing and just do large water changes on a weekly basis…which I’ve been doing.
However, I recently decided to set up a new tank which will be a little larger and stumbled into a few test kits. Right now just alkalinity, with phosphate test reagent coming tomorrow.
Anyway, it’s been roughly a week since my last water change and my alkalinity was 6.4…tested several times with consistent results.
I tested my new salt water and it was 10.3

I did a (roughly) 2.5 gallon water change (the max amount I can do with minimal sticks out of the water) and tested at 7.5…which I think is also a little low.

just wanted to check and see if anyone had any pointers?

thanks!

mostly mixed reef, mostly sps, and reef crystals. Only thing I supplement is trace e

 

[doubleshot00]

Just looking through your build you have a good amount of SPS. Link here

You probably need to dose. I dose 1 ML a day of alk into my nano as i dont like doing WC's.

 

[Subliminal]

Just looking through your build you have a good amount of SPS. Link here

You probably need to dose. I dose 1 ML a day of alk into my nano as i dont like doing WC's.

Thanks, brother for the link. Yeah. I’m definitely going in the direction of the sticks.
What do you dose?

 

[doubleshot00]

Thanks, brother for the link. Yeah. I’m definitely going in the direction of the sticks.
What do you dose?

Since your going the SPS route i would test all of your parameters. Also 2.5 gal wc isnt enough. Your sticks can stick out when you do a wc its not like they are going to dry up in the 10-20 min WC you are doing.

What salt are you using?

 

[Subliminal]

Reef crystals. 2.5 gallons is probably about 25% for my tank.

 

[Subliminal]

Since your going the SPS route i would test all of your parameters. Also 2.5 gal wc isnt enough. Your sticks can stick out when you do a wc its not like they are going to dry up in the 10-20 min WC you are doing.

What salt are you using?

I plan to start testing everything, but waiting to find a good deal on the other tests. I’m too poor to just buy them all at one time.

 

[doubleshot00]

I plan to start testing everything, but waiting to find a good deal on the other tests. I’m too poor to just buy them all at one time.

Cant go wrong with the Salifert and red sea tests. Ebay and Amazon

 

[doubleshot00]

Reef crystals. 2.5 gallons is probably about 25% for my tank.

I would do more or change salts to a different brand like red sea that has higher alk.

But at this point i would just dose and keep doing WC's

 

[JoeReefer81]

I dose AFR, and my ALK maintains high 8's to low 9's. I use the same salt and I also do roughly 2 gallons WC a week. I have a mix of SPS, LPS and softies in my Evo.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It surprises me how many people claim that one should keep a small or new reef tank based on water changes alone.

That cannot possibly ever maintain alk against more than a tiny demand unless you do large water changes daily or at least very frequently.

Example:
New salt water: 11 dKH
Current tank water, 7 dKH.

A 20% change boosts alk by 0.8 dKH.

Doing that daily may work. Doing it weekly obviously does not unless demand is less than 0,2 dKH per day.

 

[nothing_fancy]

I would also choose AFR for a small tank like this and set up something easy to dose and program. I used to dose AFR twice a day, small doses like 5 mil each but you will have to measure your consumption. AFR is good if you aren't using something to test your alkalinity a lot like a trident for instance. If your dKH consumption is high and you have a lot of SPS calcium consumption is also likely going to trend the same way so AFR is probably once again your easiest option at this point.

 

[Subliminal]

It surprises me how many people claim that one should keep a small or new reef tank based on water changes alone.

That cannot possibly ever maintain alk against more than a tiny demand unless you do large water changes daily or at least very frequently.

Example:
New salt water: 11 dKH
Current tank water, 7 dKH.

A 20% change boosts alk by 0.8 dKH.

Doing that daily may work. Doing it weekly obviously does not unless demand is less than 0,2 dKH per day.

Live and learn. Maybe not usually a big deal as not too many are doing SPS in these lil guys. Or if they are, its a side project from their bigger tank.

 

[face]

add alk