Dosing less with more corals

[Heres_doe_]

So i was dosing about 25ml per day keeping my ALK at about 8.65 before carbon dosing with vinegar. I've been carbon dosing about 5 weeks and nitrates sit alot more stable but it seems I'm dosing less ALK now. I've added a bunch more sps. Am i crazy or what. I'm dosing 15.5 ml per day now and sitting pretty stable at about 9.07-9.12 currently for about 2 days. Tanks been running about a year and pretty stable and doing great. Was just curious what's going on.

 

[JohnL]

While I don't have an answer, I just want to say welcome to Reef Central and what a beautiful tank you have! How long has it been running? Can you provide a brief description of the setup?

 

[Heres_doe_]

Thanks a ton. It's a 35 gallon with a 12 gallon sump. About 40 gallons total water volume. Running shy of a year. Mostly lps bunch of new SPS coming in. Gotta hob skimmer on the sump. Nyos Torq reactor running GFO. Jbj nano ato. Apex trident,dos. Dosing 2 part. Mp10 wave maker. Flame hawkfish,2 clowns,ywg and pistol shrimp pair, mandarin Goby.

 

[JohnL]

What lighting are you using?

 

[Heres_doe_]

I forgot about those lol viparspectra 165 12 hours a day

 

[Heres_doe_]

 

[JohnL]

I forgot about those lol viparspectra 165 12 hours a day

The colors of your corals are amazing! Nice job.

 

[JohnL]

Back to your question... What are you dosing?

 

[Heres_doe_]

I'm dosing vinegar to keep nitrates in check so i don't have to do as much water changes and as big. Before dosing vinegar i was doing weekly 15 gallons sometimes 20 gallons. Now I haven't done a water change in 2 weeks and nitrates have only went up 2 ppm in 2 weeks. But like i mentioned i went from 25 ml a day to 15.5 ml a day. Only changes I've made were bring my ALK up to 9 from about 8.65 and carbon dose.

 

[Heres_doe_]

I'm not complaining that's just weird to me how i added like 10 new pieces and i actually dosing less alk

 

[JohnL]

I'm dosing vinegar to keep nitrates in check so i don't have to do as much water changes and as big. Before dosing vinegar i was doing weekly 15 gallons sometimes 20 gallons. Now I haven't done a water change in 2 weeks and nitrates have only went up 2 ppm in 2 weeks. But like i mentioned i went from 25 ml a day to 15.5 ml a day. Only changes I've made were bring my ALK up to 9 from about 8.65 and carbon dose.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear. What are you dosing for Ca & Alk?

 

[Heres_doe_]

Fritz ALK and calcium. As far as calcium i wasn't getting any real drops in it because i was using reef crystals doing weekly water changes so i didn't have to dose. Now i been dosing a tiny amount by hand since i haven't done a WC in 2 weeks.

 

[JohnL]

You should create a build thread in our Tank Journals & Builds forum.

You have a really beautiful tank

 

[Heres_doe_]

The problem is i don't update it enough. I made one on reef2reef and barely update it lol

 

[Dean Fielding]

If you're dosing hasn't increased I'd be careful to check that your phosphates aren't getting to high and inhibiting growth. This caught me out and caused me problems around a similar amount of time into my new tank. I have also found that running a hose to outside and taking the cover off the tank to increase airflow and having an ATO for improved stability of salinity has really boosted growth in my corals.

 

[JohnL]

Welcome to Reef Central @Dean Fielding

 

[Dean Fielding]

Welcome to Reef Central @Dean Fielding

Thank you. Been meaning to join for ages, hope I can bring some benefit. When I get around it it I have some hopefully useful information to share about my experience with my latest reef tank, which is a slightly unusual SPS dominated, dry rock, NSA scape, bare bottom tank running Triton method with large sump. So far so good. Just over 1 yr old.

 

[JohnL]

I have some hopefully useful information to share about my experience with my latest reef tank, which is a slightly unusual SPS dominated, dry rock, NSA scape, bare bottom tank running Triton method with large sump. So far so good. Just over 1 yr old.

We would love to read and see more about your tank.

 

[Uncle99]

So i was dosing about 25ml per day keeping my ALK at about 8.65 before carbon dosing with vinegar. I've been carbon dosing about 5 weeks and nitrates sit alot more stable but it seems I'm dosing less ALK now. I've added a bunch more sps. Am i crazy or what. I'm dosing 15.5 ml per day now and sitting pretty stable at about 9.07-9.12 currently for about 2 days. Tanks been running about a year and pretty stable and doing great. Was just curious what's going on.

That seems in check to me, less Alk.
Carbon dosing slowly decreases nitrate and when there less nitrate in the waters, it consumes less Alk.
The opposite is true as well, when nitrate is increasing, we may need to dose a bit more.

That tank falls into the absolutely stunning, thus, no question, your doing all the right things consistently.

 

[Habib]

More or less what @Uncle99 said.
When nitrate is produced from organics, it consumes alkalinity.
When nitrate is reduced by denitrification then alkalinity is produced.

If your nitrate is stable, the depletion of alkalinity and calcium is primarily due to coral growth.

If your corals look healthy and do show good growth signs then the above might be the explanation.

TBH, you should also have to dose calcium, but the depletion will take longer to see compared to alkalinity depletion because for growth 20 ppm calcium is consumed for every 2.8 dKH consumption. The last mentioned one is a huge amount and easily picked up by testing.