Tank crushing alk

Aere · Sep 4, 2020

Hello.

My tank is 2 months old. I have 10 fish. And a cleanup crew. And about 15 frags. Mostly zoas. A couple acans. And a birdsnest.

My alkalinity consumption seems strange.

I dosed last night at 10pm. Brought alk to 9, CA to 460 and mg to 1400.

This morning at 8am alk was 7.67 verified with 3 separate tests including trident.

These drops are pretty normal as of late.

Does this seem normal? And can I keep dosing to 9? I know its not needed right now. But I would like to stay in the habit of stability.

300 gallon tank, 40 gallons or so in the sump.

Aere · Sep 4, 2020

Also should note water crystal clear. Super polished. No precipitation

BlennyTime · Sep 4, 2020

Are you using RODI water? Do you have an ATO?

Aere · Sep 4, 2020

BlennyTime said:
Are you using RODI water? Do you have an ATO?

Yeah. Pretty baller setup really. Can click badge next to username to check the build. But 0tds top off. Change resin religiously. Use apex atk.

Aere · Sep 5, 2020

Still having issues. Yesterday my tank ate 2-2.5 alk, and today it dropped from 9 to 6. No visible precipitation. I'm confused and not sure dosing from 6 to 9 everyday is a good idea?

Using 3 seperate tests and even brought water to the LFS to verify. And yup. Two month old tank with a handful of frags is crushing alkalinity.

Shirak · Sep 6, 2020

Magnesium levels and pH? My thought is the Ca and carbonate ions are binding to other calcium carbonate items in the tank. Is your sand bed turning into a solid block?

Aere · Sep 6, 2020

Mag is 1410 ca is 431
Ph is 8.2
Sand seems normal. Just checked. Would coralline use that much alk? 2-3 a day in a 300 gallon? I don't see any yet. Definitely algae on.

JaykS · Sep 6, 2020

Aere said:
Hello.

My tank is 2 months old. I have 10 fish. And a cleanup crew. And about 15 frags. Mostly zoas. A couple acans. And a birdsnest.

My alkalinity consumption seems strange.

I dosed last night at 10pm. Brought alk to 9, CA to 460 and mg to 1400.

This morning at 8am alk was 7.67 verified with 3 separate tests including trident.

These drops are pretty normal as of late.

Does this seem normal? And can I keep dosing to 9? I know its not needed right now. But I would like to stay in the habit of stability.

300 gallon tank, 40 gallons or so in the sump.

Strange, mine is about 2.5 months old with roughly the same number of corals, however, it is 95% acros and a few LPS and only consumes 0.4 in a week

Aere · Sep 6, 2020

JaykS said:
Strange, mine is about 2.5 months old with roughly the same number of corals, however, mine is 95% acros and a few LPS but mine consumes 0.4 in a week

Yeah it is super strange. Been perplexing me for a week or two now. Can't seem to figure it out. At first I thought it was a testing error or trident error. But I've used 3 seperate tests, and had my lfs test it as well to only all come up with the same results. I'm completely perplexed. I even took apart pumps and powerheads to see if there was any buildup/precipitation, but none.

magicwhistle · Sep 6, 2020

I’ve been having the same issue on a smaller scale.
40B with 20gal sump.

No SPS only LPS and Softies. Been dosing since 6dKh tank is now around 7.5-8 but no matter how much I dose it will drop back down to around 7-7.5. Can dose enough to go up 1dKh test the next day down to 7dKh.

I talked to my LFS today and they said to stop testing super frequentlycontinue dosing and test every other day. And note large changes from there. If the tank seems stable around that 7.5dKh then to just roll with it basically. They also recommended to test mag.

Still seems weird though that I can dose say 25mL b-ionic which should bring my dkh up by 1 only to later have it drop by 1... it has to be going somewhere...

Aere · Sep 6, 2020

magicwhistle said:
I’ve been having the same issue on a smaller scale.
40B with 20gal sump.

No SPS only LPS and Softies. Been dosing since 6dKh tank is now around 7.5-8 but no matter how much I dose it will drop back down to around 7-7.5. Can dose enough to go up 1dKh test the next day down to 7dKh.

I talked to my LFS today and they said to stop testing super frequentlycontinue dosing and test every other day. And note large changes from there. If the tank seems stable around that 7.5dKh then to just roll with it basically. They also recommended to test mag.

Still seems weird though that I can dose say 25mL b-ionic which should bring my dkh up by 1 only to later have it drop by 1... it has to be going somewhere...

Yea. I know it is a lot to ask a tank to be stable 2 months in. But 3 alk drop in a 20 hour period seems to me like somethings up. And seems to be getting progressively worse everyday.

jaredef · Sep 6, 2020

Aere said:
Yea. I know it is a lot to ask a tank to be stable 2 months in. But 3 alk drop in a 20 hour period seems to me like somethings up. And seems to be getting progressively worse everyday.

Have you checked your ceiling or carpet for limestone deposits?

I’ma tempermental coral · Sep 6, 2020

Just a thought here but there was another member having a similar issue not to long ago and I think what turned out to be the culprit was an imbalance in his bacteria! I can’t remember the name but there is a company that will run tests on your water to tell you how many of what kinds of bacterias are in your water and they found one to be much to high and that apparently was what was consuming his alk. Please don’t quote me on this I may be misrepresenting that situation but that’s what I remember.

lavoisier · Sep 6, 2020

Stability in a 2 month old tank would be quite rare. You are working towards stability and dosing will be a part of that. Be patient.

EMeyer · Sep 6, 2020

7 DKH is much better than 9 DKH anyway (no place in the ocean has 9 DKH). So the easiest solution to your challenge is let the tank settle where it wants to settle, which is also what corals are used to.

It sounds like you are doing a single dose all at once? I suspect its mostly precipitating if so.

Coralline growth can take up a surprising amount too.

But really, just leave it at 7, problem solved

Aere · Sep 6, 2020

I’ma tempermental coral said:
Just a thought here but there was another member having a similar issue not to long ago and I think what turned out to be the culprit was an imbalance in his bacteria! I can’t remember the name but there is a company that will run tests on your water to tell you how many of what kinds of bacterias are in your water and they found one to be much to high and that apparently was what was consuming his alk. Please don’t quote me on this I may be misrepresenting that situation but that’s what I remember.

Interesting. I'll have to look into that for sure.

EMeyer said:
7 DKH is much better than 9 DKH anyway (no place in the ocean has 9 DKH). So the easiest solution to your challenge is let the tank settle where it wants to settle, which is also what corals are used to.

It sounds like you are doing a single dose all at once? I suspect its mostly precipitating if so.

Coralline growth can take up a surprising amount too.

But really, just leave it at 7, problem solved

Sure. But it doesn't stop at 7. As of this morning my alk is 5.... and I've only been dosing it all at once the last 48 hours. Prior to that I've had my dos hooked up. I wanted to see how big the drops were over 24 hours. Same result.

ReeferWarrant · Sep 6, 2020

I’m dealing with something similar. Accidentally raised my Calcium too high 530 range. Which causes Alk swings, 8.3 to 7.4 over night, dosing only Alk now until it reduces on its own. May be worth checking your Calcium again.

Aere · Sep 6, 2020

ReeferWarrant said:
I’m dealing with something similar. Accidentally raised my Calcium too high 530 range. Which causes Alk swings, 8.3 to 7.4 over night, dosing only Alk now until it reduces on its own. May be worth checking your Calcium again.

True that. Today's water change day. Going to do a thorough cleaning of everything and test everything again.

magicwhistle · Sep 6, 2020

Following advice from this thread on the clumping sandbed I went and checked mine and that seems to be my issue.

Oddly most spots are fine and some the top layer it’s looser but if I dig down slightly it’s chunky and visually without shifting through it the sandbed looks normal.

I’m assuming you already gently shifted through the top bit of sand though?

Aere · Sep 6, 2020

magicwhistle said:
Following advice from this thread on the clumping sandbed I went and checked mine and that seems to be my issue.

Oddly most spots are fine and some the top layer it’s looser but if I dig down slightly it’s chunky and visually without shifting through it the sandbed looks normal.

I’m assuming you already gently shifted through the top bit of sand though?

I did. I'm doing a water change here in an hour or two and going to take a closer look. Plan on cleaning sand anyways. I'll let ya know