Need help with alkilinity issues and dosing

[ItouchedThebutt]

I have a 10 gallon nano mix reef, 1 sps, 1 acan, few hammers and frog spawn, alot of zoas and few mushrooms and 1 fish. Heres where my honest confession comes in. When i started this tank 10 to 12 months back i never heard or read on alkilinity and calcium and all that. So i never tested for any of it. So last saturday i tested for alkilinity and calcium. They read 5dkh and Ca was 440ppm. So sunday i picked up red sea kh/alkilinity foundation B. Followed the calculator for dosing to get it to 9dkh per recomended by LFS. It called to dose for 3.5ml for 4 days to get it up there. Made a small mistake there and put 10 gallons on the calculator not counting for the rocks and sand. So tested monday and got 10dkh re tested and got 7 dkh. Adjusted for tank volume and picked a lower number (7gal) just to be safe. Dosed 2.75ml that monday after testing. Tested today after work around same time as last and now my dkh is 10 after two tests. (api test kit) so now im kinda worried to dose more for fear of it going rapidly higher and i still have yet to do the 4 day drop to see how much is consumed. Im kinda on a point where i have no idea what to do because it jumped from 7 to 10. Do i keep dosing the 4 days and amount it says? Or just start the 4 day brake now?

Also my dkh from store bought saltwater is 6.
My solinity is .025
Temp is 78
Calcium 440

Any help or advice would be apreciated

 

[Wieloch89]

I would recommend above all to invest in some quality test kits. API kits you really need to be flawless and consistent when you test and the color charts are a pain to read. Red Sea and Salifert seem to be two of the most popular kits... I personally use Red Sea.

I honestly wouldn’t touch anything until you got a reliable test kit because you can do more damage jumping from 5dkh to 10, and then back down to 7.

Whenever you start to dose, I would dose HALF of what you think you need. Test your water before dosing a couple of times to get a solid and consistent number, then dose half of your calculation. Wait 20-30 minutes and test a couple of more times to see where it ended up. Then you can pretty much get a good idea from there how many much solution gets you so many DKH.

Be sure to raise or lower your DKH slowly over a few days to get it where you want it. Also, I think 9DKH a little high, unless you have more of a nutrient rich system. Also, if it hasn’t been explained to you yet, don’t just pour the Alk in all at one time. Pour in a little at a time in a high flow area and wait for the white fog to disappear before your next splash. Hope this helped a little.

 

[ndrwater]

What he^^^ said.. absolutely spot on..

 

[ItouchedThebutt]

Okay. I was looking at getting a hanna for alk. But that's 10$ a refil for 25 tests.

So what should i do nowthat i have screwed up and dosed? Just let it sit, water change, or dose smaller?

Honestly none of my corals look effected at all. Yet atleast. If anything one of my zoas that have been closed even opened up.

 

[ndrwater]

Let it sit. Test regularly if not daily to get an idea of what your ALK consumption is in YOUR tank.
The thing with directions on the bottle of whatever supplement you are using is a guideline at best. By testing regularly with a quality kit, you can get a real feel for what YOUR tank needs.
I highly recommend the Hanna DKH tester. Takes !ess than a minute to use and is very accurate. Fwiw, BRS sells the refills for about $7..

 

[Mikedawg]

I wouldn't do anything until I got a better test kit; since you got a 10 and then retested to get a 7 yesterday I would have little confidence in the validity and reliability of your alk scores. In fact, if you take action based on them you may be increasing your risk. Doesn't seem from message above that you need to do anything immediately, so maybe get a better kit, get a couple of LFSs to test your water and then identify your options. Want to be careful altering that small a volume of water.
BTW, I really like the Hannah's digital readout and have used API, Salifert and RedSea in the past; it is rare that I got the same reading across these different tests.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have a 10 gallon nano mix reef, 1 sps, 1 acan, few hammers and frog spawn, alot of zoas and few mushrooms and 1 fish. Heres where my honest confession comes in. When i started this tank 10 to 12 months back i never heard or read on alkilinity and calcium and all that. So i never tested for any of it. So last saturday i tested for alkilinity and calcium. They read 5dkh and Ca was 440ppm. So sunday i picked up red sea kh/alkilinity foundation B. Followed the calculator for dosing to get it to 9dkh per recomended by LFS. It called to dose for 3.5ml for 4 days to get it up there. Made a small mistake there and put 10 gallons on the calculator not counting for the rocks and sand. So tested monday and got 10dkh re tested and got 7 dkh. Adjusted for tank volume and picked a lower number (7gal) just to be safe. Dosed 2.75ml that monday after testing. Tested today after work around same time as last and now my dkh is 10 after two tests. (api test kit) so now im kinda worried to dose more for fear of it going rapidly higher and i still have yet to do the 4 day drop to see how much is consumed. Im kinda on a point where i have no idea what to do because it jumped from 7 to 10. Do i keep dosing the 4 days and amount it says? Or just start the 4 day brake now?

A few comments.

First, the 3 or 4 day drop method is only a very crude approximation of the actual demand. If the alk does drop a lot, say 8 dKH to 6 dKH, that tell you almost nothing as the first day it might drop 1.5 dKH and on the fourth day might only drop 0.1 dKH because the demand is a function of the alkalinity, and drops off fast below 7 dKH.

I agree that a better kit would be useful, but some folks do use the API alk kit.

Just monitor and watch the alk for a while.

 

[ItouchedThebutt]

Well can i ask this, my friend was very concern that i have a normal calcium level but a really low dkh, cause he said they are usually coralated tk eachother.

As previously stated i use store bought water. Fresh and salt.
Why would my dkh be so low to begin with but have normal calcium?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Well can i ask this, my friend was very concern that i have a normal calcium level but a really low dkh, cause he said they are usually coralated tk eachother.

As previously stated i use store bought water. Fresh and salt.
Why would my dkh be so low to begin with but have normal calcium?

Because he's not entirely accurate with his statement. lol

I do not know what sort of water the store uses for salt water, but suppose it is perfectly normal 35 ppt natural seawater.

The alkalinity will be a bit under 7 dKH. let's say 6.44 dKH. Calcium is about 420 ppm.

If you then deposit a little bit of calcium carbonate somehow, the alk could drop by 1 dKH to 5.44 and calcium would only drop by about 6.8 ppm, to 413 ppm, which you'd be inclined to say is normal (I expect).

 

[ItouchedThebutt]

Okay so if i can get all your opinions would i be wiser for me to mix my own sakt water with rodi water or just figure out this doesing and just dose my tank every day? If i go with making my salt water what salt would best be recomended?

Also bought a red sea alk tester and still get huge differences in readings. Did 2 different tests back to back cleaning everything in the process imbetween and first test got 12.5 dkh and second about 7.5 to 8 dkh.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Okay so if i can get all your opinions would i be wiser for me to mix my own sakt water with rodi water or just figure out this doesing and just dose my tank every day? If i go with making my salt water what salt would best be recomended?

Also bought a red sea alk tester and still get huge differences in readings. Did 2 different tests back to back cleaning everything in the process imbetween and first test got 12.5 dkh and second about 7.5 to 8 dkh.

I don't think those are either/or choices.

Most reefers at this site both make their own salt water and doses calcium and alkalinity.

 

[ItouchedThebutt]

I don't think those are either/or choices.

Most reefers at this site both make their own salt water and doses calcium and alkalinity.

Well i dont see how it couldnt be a better choice since the alk in my salt water is starting out so low to begin with.