My alk getting low.

[eqbal9947]

Hey everyone, My alk is getting low. it was at 7.5 this morning and i used some baking soda to get it higher.
Its currently at 9.5 but I would only use baking soda if I really had to.
I have the red sea 4 head doser which hasn't come out of the box yet which I can use.
I also got in a few Zoas and a mussa in today so I think I should start dosing.
What would everyone's suggestions be for brand/what to dose right away.

 

[blaxsun]

I use/like Nyos, but it's harder to find - so in Ft. McMoney (or nearby) you might have better luck sourcing Aquaforest or Red Sea. You could also look at tropic Marin All-For-Reef.

 

[eqbal9947]

I use/like Nyos, but it's harder to find - so in Ft. McMoney (or nearby) you might have better luck sourcing Aquaforest or Red Sea. You could also look at tropic Marin All-For-Reef.

awesome! thanks

 

[jrmailo]

What corals do you have at the moment?

Zoas and softies consume dismal amount of alk and are not very demanding. So If you have fairly little loads ( especially LPS or SPS corals), manual incremental dosing every few days might be ideal. I say this because going from Dkh 7.5 to 9.5 instantly isn’t good and will stress out the coral.

 

[eqbal9947]

What corals do you have at the moment?

Zoas and softies consume dismal amount of alk and are not very demanding. So If you have fairly little loads ( especially LPS or SPS corals), manual incremental dosing every few days might be ideal. I say this because going from Dkh 7.5 to 9.5 instantly isn’t good and will stress out the coral.

I have
Frog spawn 1 head
hammer 2 heads
3x zoanthids (small)
2 favias (small)
my DK plummeted from 12 to 7 in less than a week of having a dew corals.
I'm not sure if its the hanna tester but i just opened the bottle and it showed 12dkh which was accurate because that's what the salt is supposed to mix at.

 

[jrmailo]

I have
Frog spawn 1 head
hammer 2 heads
3x zoanthids (small)
2 favias (small)
my DK plummeted from 12 to 7 in less than a week of having a dew corals.
I'm not sure if its the hanna tester but i just opened the bottle and it showed 12dkh which was accurate because that's what the salt is supposed to mix at.

That’s is quite a high Dkh shift for such a low demand tank. Usually at this bioload, I would say that you can get away with weekly water change for alk replenishment without having a massive spike between each week.

What is the volume of your tank?
What is you Mg levels?
Did you change you salt recently?

 

[eqbal9947]

That’s is quite a high Dkh shift for such a low demand tank. Usually at this bioload, I would say that you can get away with weekly water change for alk replenishment without having a massive spike between each week.

What is the volume of your tank?
What is you Mg levels?
Did you change you salt recently?

Tank is 170 display 200 total gallons
MG like 1450
No, red sea coral

 

[jrmailo]

Tank is 170 display 200 total gallons
MG like 1450
No, red sea coral

That is weird, I too have about 200g of total volume but with more than 4x of your alk-demanding corals and I’m only seeing ~ 0.8 Dkh consumption per day.

That mg level is high enough to not cause calcium carbonate precipitation and lower your alk reading.

How much coralline algae do you have?

 

[Dburr1014]

I have
Frog spawn 1 head
hammer 2 heads
3x zoanthids (small)
2 favias (small)
my DK plummeted from 12 to 7 in less than a week of having a dew corals.
I'm not sure if its the hanna tester but i just opened the bottle and it showed 12dkh which was accurate because that's what the salt is supposed to mix at.

Is it possible this is testing error?
Did you make sure;
no fingerprints on the cuvette
Put the cuvette in the same direction(rotation)
Do avoid ups and downs more than 1.0 in 24 hours of possible.
7 is not horrible, plenty of wiggle room still.

 

[eqbal9947]

Is it possible this is testing error?
Did you make sure;
no fingerprints on the cuvette
Put the cuvette in the same direction(rotation)
Do avoid ups and downs more than 1.0 in 24 hours of possible.
7 is not horrible, plenty of wiggle room still.

Did all those steps.
I didnt think that it was going to get boosted so much.
a website said to balanlce so 1 TSP per 10 gallons. I did half of that and got a huge boost

 

[Ef4life]

You need to figure out what you want to dose, get the product, then figure out how much you need to dose.

I suggest daily alk and calcium tests at the same time every day. Write down your results. And do this for about a week. Figure out your average daily consumption then start dosing and continue testing every day for another 2-3 weeks or until everything is stable. Continue weekly testing at a minimum to reevaluate your dosage and adjust accordingly.

Remember tests are only hobby grade so they aren’t the absolute most accurate tests, so the are more guides than an actual hard numbers. when testing you need to perform the tests consistently every time to eliminate as much variation as possible. And you don’t want to stress over the numbers too much just keep your levels within a certain range, and try and minimize any and all parameter swings.

 

[Spare time]

Hey everyone, My alk is getting low. it was at 7.5 this morning and i used some baking soda to get it higher.
Its currently at 9.5 but I would only use baking soda if I really had to.
I have the red sea 4 head doser which hasn't come out of the box yet which I can use.
I also got in a few Zoas and a mussa in today so I think I should start dosing.
What would everyone's suggestions be for brand/what to dose right away.

Brs 2 part is the cheapest and one of the cleanest. I'd avoid red sea alk and calcium as theirs is more complicated to dose (its not a 1:1 ratio)