overthinking water stability

[MyNameIs]

Alright so im probably overthinking this but this little change is driving me insane. I have a 40 gallon breeder mixed reef sps, lps etc. I do not use any dosing pumps i do it all manually. I use oceanic salt which as we know i believe has more calcium then alk? I use Bionics 2 part however i rarely have to dose Calcium. I may have to dose calcium once a month it is usually always stable between 450ppm - 460ppm. However my ALK has never been that stable ive had to test it in the morning to double check but it would be at 8.6 and by the time i would top off drop to 7.6 i would add daily the ALK from bionics it would go up. Now all of a sudden since my last water change last week the ALK has somehow been staying stable according to my test results at 8.6. Im sure this is possible and im overthinking it but i just want to clarify its possible for this to have happened so suddenly. Its really throwing my brain around im worried im going to wake up to dead sps due to bad test results, however testing over and over i get the same result. What would have caused my ALK to all of a sudden stabilize so much?

 

[Steven R]

ALK OR PH IS 8.6 I am not use to seeing it not rounded up or down like that I usually see it like 7dkh or 8dkh what test kit are you using?

 

[MyNameIs]

sorry yeah i was really specific about it. ALK 8DKH to sum it up. Red Sea is what i am using now, was using Salifert but honestly before i made the switch i made sure they were providing me the same result.

 

[MyNameIs]

I should also mention Magnesium is kept between 1300 -1400.

 

[Aquaph8]

Are you testing for mag? If your mag is low, it canals it very difficult to keep the other two stable. Also what are you testing with?

 

[Aquaph8]

Haha, too slow

 

[MyNameIs]

Yes, I test mag, cal, and alk very religiously. Calcium is currently at 450ppm, Alk is 8 to round it off, and magnesium is currently reading 1400. All the levels are fine but since i do not use reactors to keep a constant drip i was dosing every night and all of a sudden apparently my tanks alk is just stuck at 8 and hasnt moved in days. I guess im just very surprised and want to know if its possible for it to have become that stable without a constant drip, and obviously because of this i havent added any alk to my tank in 3 days.

 

[beaslbob]

IME a little baking soda would raise kh to 9-10 degrees and drop calcium down some.

my .02

 

[Aquaph8]

I think that's possible depending on your stock

 

[Steven R]

how old is the tank? and how often do you change your water? what kind of salt?

 

[MyNameIs]

yeah i have heard this as well, however i don't want to lower the ALK or raise it really. i want to keep it at 8dkh as my sps and corals seem to be happy. Dont want to fix what isnt broken. I was just concerned as I had this daily dosing ritual with ALK and since 3 days ago its stayed steady and hasnt needed dosing. Do you manual dose or do you have a reactor that does it for you?

 

[MyNameIs]

how old is the tank? and how often do you change your water? what kind of salt?

I use oceanic salt
40 gallon breeder, I do a 5 gallon water change every 2 weeks. The tank is probably i want to say a year old now.

 

[Fieroguy19]

I think that you should be dosing every day to help stabilize alk from swinging. By starting and stopping dosing you can get end up causing things to swing. Just find a daily dose that will keep things stable.