Low alkalinity?, but no corals

[Thornbreaker]

I recently picked up a red sea pro kit and a Hanna checker (alk). I wanted to start testing calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity before adding any coral down the line. (few lps, maybe a softie)

My alk is been from 5.6 to 7 on a few red sea tests over the past couple of weeks. 7 was the high after a water change.
Today I checked this with the Hanna. It gave me a 6.2 reading. I haven't done a water change in a week.

By comparison I did check the fresh saltwater I had ready for a water change, 10.7. I'll check the tank again tomorrow to see how the alk is after the water change I just did.

Calcium has been around 400, and mag I can't tell you because I screwed that test up initially [emoji846]. I'll run those again tomorrow.
Nitrates have been 1ppm or less.

For reference tank is 150 gallons, 36 gallon sump, with refugium. Lights run on tank between 11 and 8, and I usually have a CFL light on the fuge for 12 hours over night. Cheeto grows so far. Reefcleaner rock, and argonite bahama sand from Marco rocks.


Is there a reason my alk is so low? I've used the same salt mix, instant ocean (purple) since inception.
How would I get this up to the 8.3 range and keep it consistent?

Thank you!

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[lowtek]

Off the top of my head I'd say the brs kalkwasser kit will keep your levels where they should be. The Instant ocean purple bucket is mainly for fish only and maybe a few softies. So I don't even think IO purp is supposed to have too high kh You definately might need to dose something depending on what your needs are. I myself started with IO purple then to red sea coral pro and my numbers are way too high. Now Im thinking to switch back to IO purple and just adding my kalkwasser to that to hopefully save a few bucks.

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[Drewbe147]

I used IO purple box and have coral and my alk is between 8.5 before wc-9dKh after wc...did you shake up/mix up your salt before making your SW? Ive got 6 or so different types of Zoas, 3 multi headed torches, 2 multi headed hammers, a frogspawn, 4 montis, a acro, some lords, shrooms, chalice, war coral...imo purp IO is just fine. I don’t dose yet and consuming slowly due to most frags being smaller and WCs covers me for now. Shake your salt up if your not doing so already. By the sounds of it with the same box/bucket? For the next wc being at 10.7. All the trace elements etc in your salt mix inevitably settles out which is why you want to shake it and mix it all back up for a more even mix of elements

 

[lowtek]

I used IO purple box and have coral and my alk is between 8.5 before wc-9dKh after wc...did you shake up/mix up your salt before making your SW? Ive got 6 or so different types of Zoas, 3 multi headed torches, 2 multi headed hammers, a frogspawn, 4 montis, a acro, some lords, shrooms, chalice, war coral...imo purp IO is just fine. I don't dose yet and consuming slowly due to most frags being smaller and WCs covers me for now. Shake your salt up if your not doing so already. By the sounds of it with the same box/bucket? For the next wc being at 10.7. All the trace elements etc in your salt mix inevitably settles out which is why you want to shake it and mix it all back up for a more even mix of elements

I heard purple IO is good too. And even people with sps use it. I also heard about shaking up the salt too. I wonder why manufacturer's don't advise us to do that especially if it makes that big of a difference in the numbers we come back with

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[homer1475]

I use IO purple box.



After my first pallet of 200G boxes I can say the average Alkalinity of fresh mixed @ 1.026 is right around 10DKH. Calcium is always a tad low around 380, but MAG is always spot on at 1350.



Whats nice about the box is it comes with 4 50G bags and does not typically need to be mixed up like the 150G pail which often settles a bit.



The little bit of muriatic acid and calcium I add to bring it to my tank levels still does not bring it anywhere near the price of those high end "reef" salts. Many TOTM and large aquariums use IO, so it's perfectly fine for my tank.

 

[mcgyvr]

Do you have a lot of corallne algae?
It will consume alk/cal/mag

 

[Thornbreaker]

Do you have a lot of corallne algae?
It will consume alk/cal/mag

I do have some algae. Not sure how much is coralline. Would upping my cuc to take care of that?

And to the previous posts, I am getting the 200 gallon box. So I assume it stays well mixed as the bag gets shaken around.


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[mcgyvr]

I do have some algae. Not sure how much is coralline. Would upping my cuc to take care of that?

Urchins will help reduce coralline.. Thats about it though..

How often have you been doing water changes? If you haven't in a while that would explain lower alk but your salt and lack of big consumers should allow you to keep levels stable now..

You can use baking soda to get it up to 8 or whatever and then stick with a consistent water change schedule and see what your consumption rate is.

At this point don't waste your time trying to figure out why.. Just get it up.. keep it up and see how it goes and adapt... Move forward.. don't dwell in the past

 

[Thornbreaker]

I've been pretty consistent on weekly, 10-15% water changes.

I do have one blue tuxedo, would a second be too many in a 150?

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[Thornbreaker]

Would I just add the baking soda to my top off, and how much with a 10 gallon ATO would be a good start?

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[mcgyvr]

Calculators here and other places..
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-calculator

 

[Thornbreaker]

Calculators here and other places..
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-calculator

Thanks.

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[lapin]

Read http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/
It will answer a lot of questions you have and give you ideas about what you need to do.
I have used the baked baking soda to raise my Alkalinity. Once you get it where you want then you can work on a method to keep it there. Same with Calcium but yours looks ok for now. This is what has been stated above.
You algae is prob not coraline unless your tank has been running for over 6 months. Round spots on the glass are a sign you have it.

 

[Thornbreaker]

To make sure I understand correctly, if my Mg is also low, should I raise that first? Then adjust akalinity (followed by calcium)? And once I have them at the right parameters, I can then likely just use Kalk in the ATO to keep things "topped off"?

My Mg was 1100 last time I tested it. Will be testing again this evening.

 

[thegrun]

To make sure I understand correctly, if my Mg is also low, should I raise that first? Then adjust akalinity (followed by calcium)? And once I have them at the right parameters, I can then likely just use Kalk in the ATO to keep things "topped off"?

My Mg was 1100 last time I tested it. Will be testing again this evening.

Correct, get your magnesium in line, then the alkalinity and calcium.

 

[Thornbreaker]

Correct, get your magnesium in line, then the alkalinity and calcium.

Thank you. I was reading S8er's sticky today and realized I may need a Mg supplement.

 

[lowtek]

Thank you. I was reading S8er's sticky today and realized I may need a Mg supplement.

BRS mag works well

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