Alkalinity help

[mario420]

I am trying to get my alk back up to 9DKH when I had it there I was finally getting my SPS to grow. Now it is stuck at 7. I have the BRS soda ash and I have been dosing 1 tsp a day for the last 4 days. Is it possible that I am losing that much ALK every 24 hrs?

CA 430
Mag 1500
ALK 7.1

Used Red sea for for all three.

Used seachem to double check alk.

Tank 54g corner, 20 gall sump,

I have a bunch of LPS,
And a few small SPS frags excluding a orange plating coral that just doesn't stop growing.

 

[mydeck07]

its probobly the red plate coral:hammer:

 

[kgross]

Yes that is very possible. That is only about 1.5 DKH, and if you have lots of coralline algae growing it can drop your alk by as much as 2 dKh a day. Up it to 1.5 a day and see what happens.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

how old are your test kits? maybe they are expired?

Why do you suspect a kit problem? (hopefully it is not like your other posts to get yourself to 50 posts :lol: )

 

[mario420]

I just bought the red sea kits 2 weeks ago and the salifert I believe is 1 year old now it expires in 2015

Assuming I am losing my alk due to coraline what do i do then? Dose alk everyday?

I willl do as suggested and add 1.5 tsp per day. And see what happens.

 

[kgross]

Yes. It is very normal to have to dose alk every day. Also make sure when you add the alk, it is dissolved in RO water and added slowly to a high flow area of your tank, just to make sure you are not precipitating some of it out of the water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Dosing alk every day is almost universal for reef tanks. You can do it manually, by timed dosing pump, by an automatic top off system, or with a CaCO3/Co2 reactor.

 

[mightymizz]

you say you dose 1 teaspoon a day... Even for a 54g that doesn't seem like very much. Of course I would consult their calculator and maybe you already have.

If you are actually trying to raise the Alk level and not just maintain it, 1 teaspoon just seems too little.

 

[mario420]

Thanks guys for all the help.

 

[Ansphire]

Have you considered Kalk in ATO.. Helps Maintain daily use in my case.. I use Alk mix only when I need to raise it.