Stability issue

[TK_KW]

#reefsquad

Current-
260g volume
Dkh- 9.8
Cal- 342
mag- 1340
(trident)

over the last few months, my calcium and alkalinity have become out of whack it seems. When it was steady, alk was 8.8ish and cal 460ish. I used to dose equal parts to both, around 94ml each, spread out over 24hr period with Dos.

Them I noticed cal creeping up and alk dropping, I then adjusted. Reducing calcium by 8ml per day.

Everything seem to be fine with that spread between the two elements for awhile, until this past few weeks when dkh creep up to 10.6 at its highest and calcium steadly dropping.

Two days ago I turned off Dos for alk, to let it drop back down gradually, but....

Two days ago calcium was 385, now today its down to 342. What am I missing here? I'm confused.

Need help balancing these two back out please

 

[Flippers4pups]

I would dose calcium and alkalinity independently. I learned a long time ago to by pass the independent by dosing kalkwasser. The other way to fast track it is through use of a calcium reactor which would be a last resort depending on the amount of hard corals you have.

 

[nereefpat]

Two days ago calcium was 385, now today its down to 342. What am I missing here? I'm confused.

Need help balancing these two back out please

That would be a lot of Ca usage. That would equate to over 3 dKH alkalinity use a day. Does that sound right?

There could be some testing error in there too. It seems like our Ca kits are usually +/- 20 ppm. What kit are you using?

 

[flampton]

First thing I would do is measure calcium by kit instead of trident and see if the numbers are close

 

[TK_KW]

Edit: sry cal was 375 three days ago.

Using hanna up until a few days ago. Added trident three days ago.

Tested prior to trident install, and hanna and trident were close. (Trident isn't calibrated yet though)

Dkh was 9.9 with hanna, and 10.3 with trident

Cal was 365 with hanna, and 375 with trident.

That test was Friday night.

 

[TK_KW]

I would dose calcium and alkalinity independently. I learned a long time ago to by pass the independent by dosing kalkwasser. The other way to fast track it is through use of a calcium reactor which would be a last resort depending on the amount of hard corals you have.

I do dose them separately, separated by 30min intervals between the two

 

[TK_KW]

I'll go do another Haana test right now and report back

 

[TK_KW]

Dkh
Hanna 9.5
Trident 9.98

Cal
Hanna 382
Trident 349

I guess for one thing I should not pay attention to trident until calibration. But, I dont under stand while over time my consumption levels have changed from one another. And for cal to drop, and alk to raise. I'm not sure what threw them out of balance.....

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There are a variety of reasons for alk and calcium demand to not match exactly, but by far the most common are fake (test error), water changes with a mix not matching the tank, and dosing errors.

IF you believe the calcium is accurate, give it a one time boost with calcium chloride spread over 2-3 days.