Having trouble keeping Alkalinity up

lubyone1

New member
I've had my tank tank up for almost a year now and I'm having a hard time keeping my alk at 8-9. It will fall to around 7 if I don't dose a condsider amount daily. It usually sits between 6.5-7.

I've got an aquamedic doser that handles my alk/cal. Calcium sits steadily at 460-480.

I'm using Randy's two part and I almost have to dose twice as much alk as calcium to maintain it at 8 dkh...any thoughts as to why this is...is it normal?

Other parameters are pretty normal

SG - 1.024
pH - 8.0 taken at 1am (I have a 10 gal fuge that runs on reverse cycle)
temp - 79-81 (dual stage controller)
Trates - >10
Phos - undetectable on kit
Mag - testing for mag shortly and will post.
 
I use Kent superbuffer mixed with ro/di water. And dose Kalkwasser for top offs.

Make sure you got a good test kit. If it ain't a Salifert you may not get a good reading. I'm not a salesman trust me.

I kept trying to get good calcium levels using a Red Sea test for example and all it did was allow me to clean my pumps once a month. I got a Salifert test and I was way high...

Some test kits are crap. And if ya bought one at the store? I have seen Jan 2002 on some.

Not saying Red Sea is bad but I may have purchased an old one. I stick to Salifert if you want an accurate reading. Hey I have 4 thermometers! I want to make sure. :)
 
I haven't ever had to measure Magnesium. If your using all the standards you should be good. And your basic testing for Phosphate, Nitrate, Calcium, KH. I don't even test PH anymore (Altho I did today. First time since about 2004) it will always be good.
 
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