Trouble Getting Alk up in established tank dosing Nitrates
 

Hey guys,

Been a while since i posted here but looking to the reef gods you are for some much needed advise.

Im having trouble doing my tank to get my alk up. Recently I have been a slow battling dinos over last 6-8 months they are almost 98% gone now. ( long story but used 2 weeks of vibrant in my tank that didn't need it went on holidays phos and nitrates dipped to zero...pump died... dinos..)

So i have been dosing Nitrates and Phos daily now and everything is looking great. The corals and fish never had any issues through the dinos colour great and good growth: it wasn't a bad breakout just like 10-15% coverage.

My tank is a 5 yr established mixed reef ( ill put a picture up here ). Small bio load but the colonies are quite big.

So Paramaters are

alk 5.3
Mag -1410
Calc- 410
Phos 0.06
Nitrates 2-4ppm

Right now I'm dosng approx .01 ppm phos a day and .4 nitrates a day and the levels are holding steady for the last 4 ish months. I haven't been doing my normal bi weekly WC cause the dinos. down to 1 every 6 weeks

Im trying to up my Alk back to around 8.5 ish where it was before but i can't seem to do it. Im trying to start 2 part dosing here as now the tank is needing it due to the less WC but want to start at 8.5 dkh level

I did the BRS calc and used the Sodium Bicarb calc to raise it from 5.3 to 8 i split the dose into 3 days cause its quite a raise and after day 3 i am exactly the same ?!?!

Yesterday dosed Sodium carbonate that at a level to dose 1.4dkh and 24 hr later no change?


So looking for some help?

My thoughts are the tank was being limited by the bottomed out PHOS and NITRATES and is now Scarfing up any alk to grow it can. I have seen massive growth in sps last 1 months like 1" + on everything.

Im worried about raising PH dosing so much alk or is that not a big deal if i use Bicarb ? If the 1.4 calculator isn't working can i up it more? im worried

thanks for the help, ill post a picture here in the comments

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...918f5282_k.jpgjJm+5qNqSOCFT5M8J5eL5w by craig dillman, on Flickr

Your tank is consuming more alk than your dosing. There are some dosing calculators online. If your worried test daily until you have it figured out.

Your going to need to figure out 2 doses here.

#1 the dose to get your tank back up to where you want it. Then get the tank there.

#2 will be your maintenance dose. When you have your alk at whatever you want,say its 9dkh. 24 hours later, that's important it needs to be 24 hours, test again. Say you all dropped to 8. So you need to dose 1dkh of alk a day. Input that into the calculator and it will give you a dose based on the type of mix you use. I usually start at 3/4 strength and go from there. If after 2 or 3 days I dont see rise I will do full strength, 2 or 3 days later if I dont see a rise I will add 5 or 10% volume to the dose. 2 or 3 days later same thing. I am testing daily until the alk levels out and holds at the desired DKH for a few days. From there I test weekly and adjust. When trying to figure out my dose, the alk rises I do not increase my dose, I keep my dose up until it reaches my target. If it is still going up, I cut it back until it drops below my desired dkh, and go in the middle from my reduced dose to my over dose. See what happens when it levels out. Adjust from there.

Using the calculators there isnt as much playing as it sounds. As long as you calculate total system volume properly it's usually bang on. Account for rock displacement, sump, water in the pipes, reactors, skimmer, etc.

Thanks Ryan , ok gonna start slowly doing daily until the level comes up and then start the daily dosing from there. I think your right just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something

Just need to dose more than what’s getting used just wasn’t used to this huge outflux of alk lol

I echo as mentioned above. Slowly dose to your ideal alkalinity, then do some daily testing to find out what the consumption of alk is. From there you should be able to figure out your tanks consumption and dose accordingly for your first deal parameter.

You mention your lower on the nutrients side, so I would consider keeping alk around the 8 mark. Also depending on how much you need to dose daily, I would recommend splitting up the dosages as previously mentioned. The goal is to have as stable parameters as you can so the corals can adjust and now be shocked.

Looking forward to seeing more photos as everything levels out :smile:

So last question here

The rule is I can’t raise dkh by more than 1.4 per day, so if I add say 125ml of my alk solution and after I trst it didn’t move it I’m safe to add more the same day is that right or

Are you testing fairly soon after dosing?
With Randy's formula, you should be seeing some increase with that dose. 125ml in 150g would give just over 1dKH.

You mentioned Sodium Bicarb, then sodium carb. Which are you using?

Are you using Randy's mixing instructions, or what other instructions?

Have you used another test kit to confirm your results?

How many total gallons do you estimate you have?

I'm available to talk for a bit right now ... dinner's coming soon

I'm looking for answers to the questions I posted before I recommend any further action.

I'm out
I'll check back tomorrow afternoon