Should I be dosing with kalkwasser this early?

[xrouter]

Return to the hobby after 15ish year and back in the day I did not test / dose alk. Just good old water changes because I was too ignorant to know better although there wasn't the kind of knowledge back then. Anyway I wanted to be better this time so now I'm obsessing with levels but I assumed that water changes were going to see me though the first 6+ months given I only have 5 small/med frags (Hammer, Torch, Zoa, Mushrooms, GSP) but this is what I'm seeing.

Is this kind of uptake what one would expect for LPS at this stage or could something else be afoot? I am hoping to fix in around the 8.5 to give me edge room but I was thinking water changes using a good salt (Red sea SPS) would take care of that mainly doing around 10-20% a week.

Either way I have started dosing very slowly with a kalkwasser soultion to edge back up but I just wanted some opinions on what people think. Could my kit be reading wrong (already considering a different brand to double check), is this expected usage for LPS and some how back in the day my corals were just making do. Is something else uptaking the alk that is a process assoicated with new tanks? I do have coraline forming as I used dry rock, could it be that?

 

[92Miata]

You want to be maintaining alkalinity from day one. (That may, or may not mean dosing) Everything from corals to coralline to algae to the early parts of the nitrogen cycle consumes alkalinity.

A drop of 3 dkH over a month is really low - many tanks do that over a couple of days.

 

[xrouter]

A drop of 3 dkH over a month is really low - many tanks do that over a couple of days.

I guess I has just expected that the uptake would be a lot less at the start and ramp up over time as I added corals / they grew but what you say makes sense if I could be looking a 3 dkH over days once the tank is in full swing. Not looking forward to keeping up with that kind of demand

 

[HuduVudu]

First day my tank was up I went from 7.8 to 7.0. Biological processes consume alk also. Depending on the load this can cause a significant alk load.

 

[nereefpat]

There aren't a ton of data points there, at 6 tests. But, to me, it looks like the numbers asymptote (level out) at around 7. That's about natural seawater levels of alk.

Coraline algae will consume alk, and so will certain biological practices.

You can dose if you want to. If you want alk at 8.5 instead of 7, use a solution of baking soda and water to raise the alk over a few days. Then start with small amounts of kalk, and test alk daily for a week or so to get the dose dailed in.

Hope that helps.

 

[Pntbll687]

I guess I has just expected that the uptake would be a lot less at the start and ramp up over time as I added corals / they grew but what you say makes sense if I could be looking a 3 dkH over days once the tank is in full swing. Not looking forward to keeping up with that kind of demand

what size is the tank?

Seems like testing might be off if it's not a nano tank.

And what are your magnesium and calcium levels? Could just be precipitation and not consumption causing the drop in alk.

 

[xrouter]

what size is the tank?

Seems like testing might be off if it's not a nano tank.

And what are your magnesium and calcium levels? Could just be precipitation and not consumption causing the drop in alk.

100 Gallon. And I've not been testing mag / cal again because it is early days I just assumed from my research that water changes would keep those well within range with a very low coral load but I'm going to start recording now.

 

[Pntbll687]

I would expect minute impact from having 5 small/medium frags and coraline just starting to grow in the tank. With margin of error in testing that 3dkh drop could be significantly lower.

Water changes should definitely be able to sustain what you have going on.

 

[92Miata]

I would expect minute impact from having 5 small/medium frags and coraline just starting to grow in the tank. With margin of error in testing that 3dkh drop could be significantly lower.

Water changes should definitely be able to sustain what you have going on.

It's over the course of a month. 3dkH over a month *is* miniscule. I'd expect that much just from abiotic precipitation.

 

[xrouter]

I should have said I have a big chato refugium, could this perhaps account for the usage?

I understand that people have said I should expect usage and mine is small in the scheme of things but I did go with red sea salt specifically because it should by default be boosting me up to 8dkH and I wanted to just use the water change method for 6 months. I'm not unhappy about it I will adapt I just would like to understand where its going and why my plan / research was wrong

If I am doing 10% every week of 8dkH (so 40% over a month) but I've lost 3dkH then actually I'm using a lot more?

But my plan of action is to boost alk with red sea foundation b and start my calcium / mag test routine as well as now increase alk testing to understand where I am at.

 

[SMSREEF]

You pretty much can’t go wrong either way, 2 part, or Kalk. Kalk I dripped with a doser at night for the pH boost. 2 part you can just dose in a high flow area to make corrections, so it’s easier.

Just make sure your test is correct by either taking water to LFS or getting 2nd kind of test as a back up.

Here is a good calculator to use when dosing.

Reef Chemistry Calculator

 

[xrouter]

So calcium test kit arrived and my level is 425 which seems exactly where it should be (note I have been slowly dosing Kalk) so unsure where this was. But my Alk is heading down despite dosing 1 & 1/2 tsp of Kalk:

This would suggest as has been suggested that I need to only dose alk at this point using 2 part but I'm still scratching my head as to why it is dropping even faster now, its clearly not running in tandem with calcium unless that was crazy high at the start.

My two part is arriving today anyway so I will dose part B using the calculator (but in small lots over the week) to hopefully bring in back in line then test every day to work out my usage.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So calcium test kit arrived and my level is 425 which seems exactly where it should be (note I have been slowly dosing Kalk) so unsure where this was. But my Alk is heading down despite dosing 1 & 1/2 tsp of Kalk:

This would suggest as has been suggested that I need to only dose alk at this point using 2 part but I'm still scratching my head as to why it is dropping even faster now, its clearly not running in tandem with calcium unless that was crazy high at the start.

My two part is arriving today anyway so I will dose part B using the calculator (but in small lots over the week) to hopefully bring in back in line then test every day to work out my usage.

No, it doesn't say you should do that (IMO). The calcium decline is far less than the alk decline, and the calcium rise dosing both equally to raise alk will be far lower than the alk.

Jiggerign doses constantly leads to a roller coaster of alk and calcium, which is why a two part was invented in the first place.

If your goal is to get alk to, say 8 dKH, calcium will only rise from 425 to 435 ppm.

Stick to equal parts dosing (when using a two part designed for equal parts dosing, not all are) unless calcium is actually already too high or too low.
If your

 

[xrouter]

No, it doesn't say you should do that (IMO). The calcium decline is far less than the alk decline, and the calcium rise dosing both equally to raise alk will be far lower than the alk.

Jiggerign doses constantly leads to a roller coaster of alk and calcium, which is why a two part was invented in the first place.

If your goal is to get alk to, say 8 dKH, calcium will only rise from 425 to 435 ppm.

Interesting, I could try upping the kalk dose as 1tsp is no where near enough, calculators are showing 16tsp so maybe I will try going for some 6tsp a day boosts and monitor the results.

 

[xrouter]

For the record from the 4-5th I dossed a total of 15ml of part B and got a 1 dkH boost. This was roughly in line with my calculations although I calculated it would be a .5dkH so maybe down to test margin of error.

I then dosed today a total of 4tsp of kalk in order to start maintenance and maybe boost a little...but this would suggest I'm using .5dkH a day or my calculation for Kalk usage are way off the mark.....I guess just keep the 4tsp for a few days and see if sticks around this level? I can then just tweak up to hit that 8.5 mark.

Also will my PH top out at some point or is that likely to become a problem with using Kalk? I have been dosing in the morning when its low.