Fast CA/ALK Drop HELP!

nueok · Oct 6, 2016

Hello fellow reefers! I am having some issues keeping my CA/ALK stable. My tank is about 1 year old 70 gallon system. Its lightly stocked with corals, and 5 fishes.

Tested with Hana and Red Sea

Alk day before water change : 8.0 dKH
Alk few hours after water change : 8.3 dKH
Alk 2 days after water change 6.3 dKH

I did not take CA measurements when dKH was at 8
CA :380 when alk readings were at 6.3, they seem to be dropping together.
MAG : 1350

Using Kalk inside ATO, and dosing 20ml of both CA and ALK daily.

I have been battling the issue for a little while now. I will dose to get the CA and ALK stable at 430-450 CA, 8-9.0 ALK, 1350 MAG. Sometimes it remains pretty stable, and sometimes it just wants to crash fast. I have not been adding much to the tank, its pretty much the standard maintenance I been doing.

Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

janiners305 · Oct 7, 2016

What kind of corals you stocked with?

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janiners305 · Oct 7, 2016

Sounds like the test kits are giving you inconsistent readings i had that problem with the red sea kits which is why for alk i use the tropic marine pro kit which i find is more accurate.. try a different test kit im waitin for tropic marines full line to release and im making a full switch.. also elos is pretty accurate as well red sea not so much and hannah i get a diff reading even if i do 5 back to back tests each comes back different

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nueok · Oct 7, 2016

I have a few SPS frags that vary from Montis to Acros. When the ALK drops I can see my acros get stressed. A few softies as torches, blastos, mushrooms. Ill post some images later when I get home.

jainers305, I was testing with the Red Sea kits, and I recently got the Hanna kit when I was experiencing the issues. But both kits match up within .1 dkh of each other. I know the Hanna kit for CA is bad, so thats not what im using. Hanna only for the Alk. I have borrowed a Salifert kit from a buddy and same results. Also used the API kits and they are all within a few percent of each other, which is expected.

Hence im going crazy here trying to figure out what can be causing the issues.

Bouncingsoul393 · Oct 7, 2016

How large of a water change did you do and with what kind of saltwater? Brand, NSW?

BeanMachine · Oct 7, 2016

I think you need to dose more than 20mls of each. Bump it up a little and see if that helps. Make sure to continue to test.

lowbudget · Oct 7, 2016

if you are dosing kalk in your ato. evaporation dictates your kalk dosage. with the weird weather we been having in so cal. the evap change. kalk only help maintain your levels. if you dose a lot of kalk you have to watch your alk and ph. you would have to use your ca and alk buffer to the numbers you like then find out how much kalk you will need to maintain the numbers its a trial and error thing i dont like the idea of putting kalk in your ato container. it clogs the ato pump.

nueok · Oct 7, 2016

BeanMachine said:

I have tried 40ml day, but I was getting way to much participate. Was clogging my return pump every week. So I dialed it down and pumps been going strong for a month now.... I'll post a picture of my tank, it's very loosely filled at the moment.
EDIT: Forgot to mention even at 40 ml the levels were dropping drastically.

lowbudget said:

I premix the Kalkwasser in a jug and let it sit for a few days. Then only transfer the clear solution into the ATO container. Been using the Tunze 3155 for over a year and pumps still doing great. I also have an apex to monitor PH and it hovers 8.2-8.3 so that part is pretty stable. But yes I can tell when the ato dumps water because I see the ph spike slightly every hour or so. even if the ato came on less that's particular day, I don't think all should of dropped 2dkh over 2 days. But I can be completely wrong here, so I will monitor my ato on o see how much I'm using per day.

Bouncingsoul393 said:

I do about 8 gallons wc every week. Use hw marine reefer salt, typically fresh salt gives 440 ca and 9dkh.

F-Dawg · Oct 7, 2016

https://postimage.org/

SantaMonica · Oct 16, 2016

Although your corals may be small, you have not said how much coralline you have. Coralline is the same as coral skeleton, and can consume a lot. With 1 year on your system, it could be thick by now.

Six2seven · Oct 16, 2016

sounds like you are blindly dosing. you can use an online calculator to see how much you need to dose daily based on your current numbers, the product you use and where you want to be. A question that i dont think has been asked is, are you dosing via a doser? or adding it manually? if you are getting a lot of precipitation because you are pouring more all at once then that alone will stress out your corals.

nueok · Oct 17, 2016

Coralline growth is minimal. I actually scrape off coralline off my glass and back. A few coralline on the rocks, but we're talking like 5 or 6 pieces.

I am using the apex dos to measure the dosing. I was using the calculators, got the tank to desired levels. From there I adjusted the dosing. Measure alk every other day.

I'm still clueless why my level drop at such a rapid rate. I can manual dose to proper levels, and bam 12 hours later 2 dkh drop.

SantaMonica · Oct 18, 2016

Do you have lots of algae? Rapid algae growth can consume alk if the water is not aerated enough.

nueok · Oct 18, 2016

I do have a spurge of these brown algae... it's not hairy, but they grow like clumps. Very odd, as I have never seen these in other tanks. Only grows in the rocks, and I been bushing them off every water change.

Fast CA/ALK Drop HELP!

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