Alkalinity & Buffers help!

[phish96]

Does anybody know the reason why my alkalinity isn't rising? I've been dosing approximately 5ml of alkalin8.3 (brightwell) for 5 days straight and my dkh is still around 4.5!

Setup is:

50 gallon cube with 15-20 gallons in the sump
Aragonite sand 3-4 inches deep in DT
4 inches of more sand in the sump
Probably 50-100 lbs of rock
Salt mix - instant ocean reef crystals
Calc - 460
ph - 8.0-8.3 (not sure which exactly the API test kit is kind of hard to read)
KH test kit in use - salifert (also tested my other two tanks and all okay at 8.0 dkh)
Salinity - 1.027

No corals yet and only 5 chromis, 1 damsel, and a banded shrimp for now

 

[jesuses]

Try a teaspoon of baking soda and test....

 

[phish96]

Alright I might stop by my LFS in a bit.

 

[El Dude]

Test the alkalinity of your reef crystals. It is rare, but you MAY have a bad batch of salt. If that isn't the issue I would do a major water change. Since you don't have any corals you can get away with a 20g WC. About 90% of our system problems can be fixed with a water change.

 

[jesuses]

Alright I might stop by my LFS in a bit.

Lol. How about the grocery store? Get arm and hammer 100% baking SODA..... thats the cheap way


Als way is better, but far to complicated for meh

 

[Six2seven]

When In doubt a large water change will help you. adding small amounts of supplements sometimes doesn't do anything but keep it stable. Find a reef calculator that includes the brightwell product you are using.

BRS has their soda ash which is really just baking soda. I've entered your information into their calculator and it shows you would need 35 teaspoons to get it to 8dkh. Test again with different test kits and try a water change before you dump a lot of baking soda in your tank.

 

[Reefomeez]

In my 40g I dose 15mL of Alkalin 8.3 daily. 5mL may just not be enough to raise your Alk. I would try 7.5 and see if it goes up a little. Then 10mL and so on.

But definitely:
-Get a second test at an LFS or friend to make sure your test doesn't suck
-I would calculate your loss and then figure out the calc for the dosing
-Test at the same time and under the same conditions every day

 

[jesuses]

The BRS calculator is good. Don't dose it all at once and make sure you know the difference between baking soda and soda ash (if you go that route)

 

[phish96]

Test the alkalinity of your reef crystals. It is rare, but you MAY have a bad batch of salt. If that isn't the issue I would do a major water change. Since you don't have any corals you can get away with a 20g WC. About 90% of our system problems can be fixed with a water change.

I did perform a 10 gallon water change just now using the water from my LFS. I definitely need to mix another batch this weekend and test my salt mix.

When In doubt a large water change will help you. adding small amounts of supplements sometimes doesn't do anything but keep it stable. Find a reef calculator that includes the brightwell product you are using.

BRS has their soda ash which is really just baking soda. I've entered your information into their calculator and it shows you would need 35 teaspoons to get it to 8dkh. Test again with different test kits and try a water change before you dump a lot of baking soda in your tank.

35 tbsp.?! I will mix that on my ato to have a more gradual rise. And maybe stop it when I reach my target.

In my 40g I dose 15mL of Alkalin 8.3 daily. 5mL may just not be enough to raise your Alk. I would try 7.5 and see if it goes up a little. Then 10mL and so on.
But definitely:

-Get a second test at an LFS or friend to make sure your test doesn't suck
-I would calculate your loss and then figure out the calc for the dosing
-Test at the same time and under the same conditions every day

Sorry that’s my mistake I do dose ~10ml every day for the past 5 days now. Not 5ml.

Thanks for the input guys, I do know that my test kit is okay because my other 2 tanks has stable readings. I also tested the water from my LFS and it’s at 8.0 which is what I used for today’s WC. I’ll retest again in a bit. I just have work in a few hours so I might retest tomorrow AM.

 

[reefes pieces]

Just wondering if there are nay other factors bc a dkh of 4.5 and not having any corals seems really low and odd. Noticed you tested ur other tanks and they read differently. When you dose you don't see any precipitation right? Are you testing your mag?

 

[Reefomeez]

Just wondering if there are nay other factors bc a dkh of 4.5 and not having any corals seems really low and odd. Noticed you tested ur other tanks and they read differently. When you dose you don't see any precipitation right? Are you testing your mag?

Good point. Mg and Ca play a part in alkalinity. Do you have a ton of coralline or clams that would suck it up? Or are you dosing too close to Ca and maybe it's precipitating?

 

[phish96]

it is actually a new build that's why I don't know why my alk is that low. I don't test my mag because my calcium is fine and my PH is actually okay. If the mag is low isn't it that your alkalinity a bit on the high end and PH a bit lower? When I do dose the alk I don't see any precipitation, only the cloudiness that immediately dissipate.

 

[phish96]

A quick update:

11:00am - measured alkalinity and was at 4.8 dkh after the water change and 10ml of alkalin8.3 yesterday afternoon
12:00pm - mixed 1 tbsp of baking soda with about half a gallon of salt water mix and added a cup of this mix every 5 minutes in my sump
1:00pm - retested and my dkh is at 11?!

will wait and retest again in 2 hours. Good thing I only added a tbsp.

 

[reefes pieces]

Did you originally fill the tank with the same water mix you're using? If not I think you started off with a bad batch. Keep an eye on the fish that's a big jump in one day

 

[Reefomeez]

To get a real view into your levels you gotta test at the same time daily.

 

[DeadCalm]

What type of live rock did you use? The fake stuff soaks up the alk.

Your calcium is high and out of balance with your alk. How much calcium are you dosing?

Or something is wrong with your alk test kit. I personally have at least two different kits for everything. So if I don't trust one I can run another one. I have three different test kits for alk. Because of how important it is for accuracy.

 

[jesuses]

That's a big jump. Did you test right where you poured the baking soda mix by any chance? Might want to take it a lil slower

 

[phish96]

To get a real view into your levels you gotta test at the same time daily.

umm.. thanks Omar but I do believe that without corals and macro algae present in my tank yet there are no photosynthetic organisms that should cause my dissolved CO2 to fluctuate throughout the day/night.

Did you originally fill the tank with the same water mix you're using? If not I think you started off with a bad batch. Keep an eye on the fish that's a big jump in one day

I believe you are right and I'm quite positive that this is the cause. I need to mix another batch and test because I haven't had the time this week to do so. I'm just a bit surprised by the huge spike from 1 tbsp of baking soda when I was dosing the alk8.3 for the past 5 days straight without it making any difference.

 

[phish96]

What type of live rock did you use? The fake stuff soaks up the alk.

Your calcium is high and out of balance with your alk. How much calcium are you dosing?

Or something is wrong with your alk test kit. I personally have at least two different kits for everything. So if I don't trust one I can run another one. I have three different test kits for alk. Because of how important it is for accuracy.

Hi Roy, i totally missed this post and i never thought dead/dry rock can soak up alk. With you mean "fake stuff" you mean dry rock right? If that's what you mean then yes I started with dry rock. I would doubt my test kit first but I have other tanks and I also use the standard check for cross reference.

As for the second part of your question regarding my calc dosing routine, I did not start since this is a new build and I have no corals on this yet.

 

[phish96]

ill try to do more test tomorrow and will also get another test kit maybe from red sea. i'm currently using the salifert which i really think is a cool and straight forward titration kit.