Ongoing dKh problems, 20 gallon Nuvo

[phaedraeos]

Hey Everyone,

I bought my Nuvo Fusion fully stocked in March of this year. Since I bought it, I haven't been able to consistently keep my dHh over 5.0 (I know.) My Ca is also on the low end, and Mg is adequate. I'll update with specific numbers tomorrow; just did a water change tonight. I'll also throw in some pics

Here are the details:

Tank: 20 gallon Nuvo Fusion
- Running a Ghost skimmer
- Using IM filter media in the two HOB filters
- Running two Kessil A80 lights
- Tunze ATO

Livestock
- One oscellaris clown
- One Pajama cardinal
- One sapphire damsel
- One watchman goby
- One pistol shrimp
- One fire shrimp

- Huge birdsnest SPS (doing great)
- Two other smaller SPS frags
- Very large leather
- Multiple zoas, mushrooms, other softies

Maintenance:
- 3-4 gallon water change q7-10 days. LFS water, used to be RPM, but has recently been Kent. RPM wasn't holding alkilinity, so at first I thought that was my problem. Clearly there's something else going on. The water is never over 4-5 weeks sitting in a bucket, max. The Kent holds its alk well during that time.
- 2 part dosing with Reef Code A & B, always dosed 10 minutes apart minimum. I dose with each water change and I've tried dosing daily to very little avail

I've bought new Reef Code, new test kits, taken my water to the LFS . . . No one has any idea why I can't get and keep my alk up. I can get it to 6.5 right after a water change, but it invariably drops within a few days, despite dosing. I'm not a novice reef keeper, and I'm close to my wit's end. I'm going to try switching to Seachem's 2 part dosing to see if that helps, and my LFS also suggested a complete water change using some of their cycled water. Any other thoughts?

Cross posted in the Nano Aquarium group

 

[bertoni]

A lot of tanks go through 2-3 dKH per day. My soft coral tanks did, for example. There was a lot of coralline growth involved. I suspect that you are seeing normal consumption, but we'd need to get a few days or more of data on the subject.

For now, you could use baking soda to dose alkalinity, since I don't know the concentration of that 2-part. Just dissolve the baking soda in a bit of water and dose. This calculator might help:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

It requires a guess as to the actual water volume of your system. I'd suggest dosing 1 dKH as a target, and measuring the alkalinity level a minute or so after dosing. A few doses should get you a reasonable estimate as to the total water volume. You can increase the dose to 2 dKH when you're getting closer.

Once you have the water volume estimate under control, we can start to work on the alkalinity consumption. I'd dose the tank to 8 dKH, and then measure the level 12 and 24 hours later.

 

[Cheapreef]

I used kalk for all my ATO water on my Red Sea Reefer Nano (21gal) which was 90% SPS with a large clam. Maintained levels fairly well with very little maintenance.

 

[Daddi0]

Sounds like you need to up your dosing.
Can you delete your other post that is exactly the same as this?????
Cheers! Mark