rising Alkalinty

[adamsfour]

Okay I am pretty sure I may have asked this in the past but still having an issue.

I have a 115 gallon tank. I am using Neptune trident to monitor the level (saintly checking with Hanna) and the level seem to be fairly accurate. My Mag is about 1340, Cal about 430 and right now Alkalinity hovering around 10. Alkalinity continues to rise even with zero dosing. The only way to stop is to turn off both Alkalinity and Calcium and then it falls. When both are off Calcium falls but no where near as much as I would expect. This implies my coral are not taking in Calcium. I have a mix of SPS and LPS corals and they all look good but they certainly are not growing very fast. I am at totally loss of what to try next. There has been a number of ideas presented to me most center around the tank not being dirty enough as my Phosphates are almost zero. My filtration is Refugium running 7 hours (backed it down from 14 hours), Bio Pellete reactor, and I have Chemipure carbon. The fish load is 4 fish (two clowns, 1 Flame Angle, 1 Yellow tang) I am using 3 Hydra 26 to light the tank and the lighting values are set per BRS video. I am open to trying anything and thanks for the help

 

[CuzzA]

Your alkalinity is way too high for a ULNS. I would lower it to closer to 8. Give or take a few tenths either way and raise nitrates and phosphates. I am using Brightwell CoralAmino for nitrates and Polylab Reef Roids for phosphates, as anecdotally that is the parameters that seem to be effected by each product. Go sparingly with both until you find an equilibrium with what the tank consumes.

Modern filtration is too good these days and so we need to find that nutrient stability like we do with calcium and alkalinity.

 

[adamsfour]

Actually I have reef Rods but certainly don’t add as much as instruction indicate. I also have amino additive just a different brand

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t understand. Why not just reduce the dosing? It doesn’t make any sense that stopping calcium dosing is the only way for alk to drop, unless it is a calcium product that contains alk.

 

[adamsfour]

I totally agree it doesn’t make sense but in reality neither Alk or Calcium are moving very much which explains why the coral are not growing. If I look at very successful tanks they are consuming loads more Alk and calcium. I am using sea chem calcium so unless they are cutting it with something like buffer it doesn’t seem possible but test bear it our

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Which exact Seachem calcium?

 

[adamsfour]

It claims it pure calcium. Just google it and see. I am wondering if they add anything else to maintain PH

 

[esse]

It claims it pure calcium. Just google it and see. I am wondering if they add anything else to maintain PH

get a picture or something

 

[adamsfour]

It’s just a product for sale from seachem.

 

[Uncle99]

If your dosing Alk and CA using Seachem products, are you not supposed to be using Seachem Fusion 1 & 2 for increasing both or either.

Your pic shows the Seachem product used to maintain CA, (without affecting PH), not increasing it.

 

[adamsfour]

Not sure what you are talking about I am using Seachem Calcium to maintain the calcium level in the tank. That’s it. But for some reason even when by Alk dosing is turned off my Alk increases. That means something else is adding Alk. I am wondering if Seachem adds a buffer compound to prevent a change in PH. Other products I have read do.

 

[Uncle99]

But don’t you want to replace the CA that’s used by corals?

same with AlK

only Seachem fusion 1&2 do this

that stuff you have will not work, tried it, useless......

Replace the ions used, don’t maintain them

 

[W1ngz]

Throwing it out there, maybe @Randy Holmes-Farley can confirm, but that's calcium polygluconate. The polygluconate is a carbon source, so unknown or unintentionally, wouldn't that imply carbon dosing? It's a more complex form of carbon than just vinegar of vodka, but is a source of carbon nonetheless. I have no idea if it's bio-available carbon for bacteria.

Carbon dosing not only reduces nitrates and phosphates, but is also known to increase alkalinity.

FAQ: What exactly is calcium polygluconate?

A: In chemical terms, it is a complex of ionic calcium and polygluconate. The end result for the hobbyist is that you get a more stable, more concentrated form of calcium than can be found in kalkw...

seachem.zendesk.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

We have a winner!

that’s a terrible product from Seachem that adds calcium and some uncertain amount of alkalinity from metabolism of the poly gluconate. I pointed this out to them more than a decade ago and they, sadly, continue to sell it as a calcium additive despite the fact that neither they or anyone else can say how much alk it adds because it depends on how much of the polygluconate is metabolized and how much is removed by skimming, precipitation, or other means.

Use calcium chloride as your calcium additive.

 

[adamsfour]

Well finally someone with knowledge. Thank you. I will move aware from it. Hopefully this will help explain what’s going on.

 

[CuzzA]

Well finally someone with knowledge.

Well yeah. That's why everyone is here trying to help. But someone can't help with when the response is "just Google it and you figure out what I'm using."

I don't understand why it's like pulling teeth with so many on this forum when they ask for help and others ask for more info. It's like posting blue pictures and asking for an ID. Drives me nuts. I don't even bother.

 

[Uncle99]

Well finally someone with knowledge. Thank you. I will move aware from it. Hopefully this will help explain what’s going on.

Nice

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Well finally someone with knowledge. Thank you. I will move aware from it. Hopefully this will help explain what’s going on.

Before dissing folks trying to help, you should realize this is actually a very complex chemistry question, which even Seachem is likely to answer incorrectly if you asked them. Be as patient as possible when folks helping you ask for more info.

 

[adamsfour]

Well any one in this hobby certainly know who Seachem is. To ask what is seachem calcium is pretty lame. Just my opinion. Google would answer in like millisecond

 

[W1ngz]

Seachem have more than one calcium product. There's no way anyone could have guessed what you have.