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The declining pH trend is likely due to alkalinity being consumed (normal). My tank did the same thing whenever the kalk in my kalk reactor needed changing.

 

I've tried the super-glue trick and have had hit-or-miss luck with it. Be prepared to frag the coral just in case.

 

My advice, still, is to bring your alk up. You don't seem to have much room below and lots of room above, making supplementing a reasonable next step. Some SPS just don't tolerate low alk very well.

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Ok, so I think I have a plan..

 

1) Test my freshly mixed sw to see if it's a bad batch (my guess is that it's not)

1A) Will try to confirm w/ a 3rd test as well.

2) Using Randy's alk recipe #2, dose enough to raise my alk to 7. Based on the calc and using roughly 25G of water volume (just estimating based on amt of rock/sand but could be less) and needing to raise alk by 2 dkh, I need to add 71.4 mL, 2.4 fl oz, 14.2 tsp of it. Those 3 numbers confuse me. Is it 71.4 mL OR 2.4 fl oz OR 14.2 tsp? It's just giving us 3 ways to measure volume?

3) Look into using Kalk in my ATO. The problem here is that the Avast ATO doesn't go off very often (+/- 1/4" of water line change), maybe 1x every 2 or 3 days and I use about 2.5G of TO per week. Will kalk be okay w/ that infrequency?

 

What happens to the precipitate at the bottom of the ATO container? I guess you have to clean that out every time you refill it?

 

Thank you everyone.

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Re: #2, he's just giving you three different ways to measure out the recipe.

 

You raise an interesting point in question #3. I've never had a tank that needed so little top off that it went off only once every 2 or 3 days. If that's the case, it will maintain your alkalinity, but will cause your pH and alk to rise quickly over a relatively short period of time. In that case, I'd probably not use a kalk reactor, but would lean toward timed peristaltic pumps and two-part dosing. Your 1/4" of water translates to 0.4 gallons in a regular 29 gallon tank.

 

The precipitate continues to dissolve over time, although some of it will convert to insoluble calcium carbonate. Periodically, you rinse the container clean.

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+1 to two part.  If your tank isn't evaporating enough water to make kalk a feasible option, this will be the easiest way to go. Look at Bulk Reef supply, their two part is really reasonable, and they have easy to use calculators based off their products. 

I have been happily using their brand since I had to stop using kalk due to the exact issue you are facing. When I switched to LEDs my tank stopped evaping enough water to use kalk. 

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I have enough 2 part to get you going, Jack, lmk if you want it.

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Re: #2, he's just giving you three different ways to measure out the recipe.

 

You raise an interesting point in question #3. I've never had a tank that needed so little top off that it went off only once every 2 or 3 days. If that's the case, it will maintain your alkalinity, but will cause your pH and alk to rise quickly over a relatively short period of time. In that case, I'd probably not use a kalk reactor, but would lean toward timed peristaltic pumps and two-part dosing. Your 1/4" of water translates to 0.4 gallons in a regular 29 gallon tank.

 

The precipitate continues to dissolve over time, although some of it will convert to insoluble calcium carbonate. Periodically, you rinse the container clean.

 

I didn't plan on using a reactor but just dissolved in my ATO water. But I would guess the risks are the same, right?

 

+1 to two part.  If your tank isn't evaporating enough water to make kalk a feasible option, this will be the easiest way to go. Look at Bulk Reef supply, their two part is really reasonable, and they have easy to use calculators based off their products. 

I have been happily using their brand since I had to stop using kalk due to the exact issue you are facing. When I switched to LEDs my tank stopped evaping enough water to use kalk. 

 

 

I have enough 2 part to get you going, Jack, lmk if you want it.

 

Thanks guys. I think I will take just as long to get started w/ any of this as Isaac has. lol!

 

So I tested my freshly made RC water tonight. As expected, it has an Alk of ~9.5 dkh and a CA of ~ 460 at 1.025. I then tested my tank water for Alk just for sh*ts and giggles and it gave me the same Alk of 5 dkh. So..as much as I wanted my tests to be inaccurate, I think they are.

 

I think my next step is to raise my Alk alone. Based on that calculator, I need to dose 71.4 mL of Randy's recipe #2 to raise it 2 dkh. How much can I add at one time? I think I need to split that dose up into maybe a few days? 71.4 seems an awful lot for 1 day even if split up between morning and night. Thoughts?

 

Once I get it up to 7 dkh, I will monitor consumption. Now...since my CA is high, will that be the same pattern where my Alk will get used up while my CA is not? If so, I don't need 2-part, just 1-part? Or does it not work that way? I did notice a weird thing, I tested right after a water change (I mean within 30 minutes) last week and my Alk only went up 0.6 dkh. I'd think it'll go up more but maybe the new vs old water hasn't fully mixed yet?

 

Also, I superglued the frag where the STN is happening and moved it to a lower light. Let's see how it does overnight.

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Jack, I like using this reef chemistry calculator and often refer people to it. Using it, it will calculate the volume of Baking Soda that you need to add to some RO/DI to then add to your tank. At this point, unless you're planning on a regular two-part dosing regimen, you really don't need to mix up the two-part "recipe" if you follow me. The point is to raise alkalinity in a straightforward means to get you "back into the balance box."

 

Regarding your first question - yes, same risk. What I was looking at was the relatively large amount of kalkwasser that would be added to your tank pretty much all at once by your top off pump. It seemed to me that you might have a rather large and sudden pH swing as a consequence.

 

As the alk is used up, it will gradually draw down the calcium through normal consumption. Nominally, 20 ppm of calcium is consumed for every 2.8 dKH of alkalinity, so you'll be dosing alkalinity only for a little bit before there's a need to supplement calcium.

 

I'm curious to know how you got to such high calcium numbers in the first place given that your salt mix is on target. Any ideas?

 

Good luck with the super glue approach. I know that Jan tried it and it worked for her on at least one occasion.

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"So I tested my freshly made RC water tonight. As expected, it has an Alk of ~9.5 dkh and a CA of ~ 460 at 1.025. I then tested my tank water for Alk just for sh*ts and giggles and it gave me the same Alk of 5 dkh. So..as much as I wanted my tests to be inaccurate, I think they are."

 

 

I've read on few other forums the alk in RC salt suppose to be around 12 dkh, even last year when I was using RC salt i tested the fresh mix and got 12 dkh. So if your test kit is off by 3 then your real alk in the tank is 8 which is the norm. :)

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It would be a really unusual coincidence for two kits to be off by 3 dKH. Not impossible, but unlikely.

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You sure you are using the test kit right? If it's a titration one you always go by how much you used, not by what is left. If it is a hanna checker, then I don't know how you would get that one wrong...

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I've been using RC along time now and I've NEVER seen the 11-12dkh that people claim. 9 seems on point to me.

 

You definitely want to split that 71.4ml. You dont want to change alk more than 1.4dkh/day and I shoot for 1dkh. I would go with 15ml /dose AM and PM if not 8ml/dose to get started.

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Jack, I like using this reef chemistry calculator and often refer people to it. Using it, it will calculate the volume of Baking Soda that you need to add to some RO/DI to then add to your tank. At this point, unless you're planning on a regular two-part dosing regimen, you really don't need to mix up the two-part "recipe" if you follow me. The point is to raise alkalinity in a straightforward means to get you "back into the balance box."

 

Regarding your first question - yes, same risk. What I was looking at was the relatively large amount of kalkwasser that would be added to your tank pretty much all at once by your top off pump. It seemed to me that you might have a rather large and sudden pH swing as a consequence.

 

As the alk is used up, it will gradually draw down the calcium through normal consumption. Nominally, 20 ppm of calcium is consumed for every 2.8 dKH of alkalinity, so you'll be dosing alkalinity only for a little bit before there's a need to supplement calcium.

 

I'm curious to know how you got to such high calcium numbers in the first place given that your salt mix is on target. Any ideas?

 

Good luck with the super glue approach. I know that Jan tried it and it worked for her on at least one occasion.

 

Tom, you're right. It would be much easier w/ just dissolving baking soda in RODI and then adding that slowly into the tank..Not sure why I was on that RHF kick. I am not sure why my Ca got so high. My lack of testing prevents me from seeing a trend. I have never visually seen anything wrong with my tank except for right now. I added a baby maxima about 1.5 months ago and you would think that would draw the CA down a bit? The clam has grown and is supposedly doing well. I am stumped. Can you think of any instance where this scenario occurs?

 

In this link:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/chemistry

It says that my scenario is usually caused by an overdose in CA but I don't dose. Very strange indeed.

 

"So I tested my freshly made RC water tonight. As expected, it has an Alk of ~9.5 dkh and a CA of ~ 460 at 1.025. I then tested my tank water for Alk just for sh*ts and giggles and it gave me the same Alk of 5 dkh. So..as much as I wanted my tests to be inaccurate, I think they are."

 

 

I've read on few other forums the alk in RC salt suppose to be around 12 dkh, even last year when I was using RC salt i tested the fresh mix and got 12 dkh. So if your test kit is off by 3 then your real alk in the tank is 8 which is the norm. :)

 

It would be a really unusual coincidence for two kits to be off by 3 dKH. Not impossible, but unlikely.

 

Yeah thanks, I saw those posts about the alk at 12. Now I am truly annoyed and a bit frustrated. I now still have doubts of my test. I am not going to dose anything until I am confident my numbers are right.

 

You sure you are using the test kit right? If it's a titration one you always go by how much you used, not by what is left. If it is a hanna checker, then I don't know how you would get that one wrong...

 

I believe I am doing them right. But I have so many doubts right now that I may pick up a Hanna Alk tester as well.

 

I've been using RC along time now and I've NEVER seen the 11-12dkh that people claim. 9 seems on point to me.

 

You definitely want to split that 71.4ml. You dont want to change alk more than 1.4dkh/day and I shoot for 1dkh. I would go with 15ml /dose AM and PM if not 8ml/dose to get started.

 

I have also heard this about RC salt and I am not sure if those salts are considered "bad batches"? If you're consistently not getting the 12 on Alk, then it's truly a mystery and somethings wrong w/ quality control or it's just the difference in our tests (brand, technique, margin of error, etc).

 

Doing my usual 5G water change tonight and will test Alk (w/ Red Sea and probably API too) again 24 hrs later and report back. Thanks all!

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I've tested with RC and never seen it that high either, with a Hanna.

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Possible scenarios include tap water top off or source water, bad test kit, or other. I'm less concerned about the Calcium level actually.

 

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk

 

 

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Time to get real! Ordered a Hanna Alk checker..Amazon Prime.. less than $40, will hopefully get here Monday or Tuesday. Hope I don't get dud regents. That could really set me off.

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Jack,

If you don't have anything to do this weekend you can make some alk calibration solution and test it with your current test kit, you can do this by using some baking soda and reef calculator. I think this will at least let you know if your test kits are good.

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Jack,

If you don't have anything to do this weekend you can make some alk calibration solution and test it with your current test kit, you can do this by using some baking soda and reef calculator. I think this will at least let you know if your test kits are good.

 

Thanks Chau. I barely have time to test so I will wait for the Hanna. :)

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I did a quick Alk test almost exactly 24 hours after a 5G water change. It is now at ~5.6 dkh on the Red Sea test. I will test w/ the Hanna when it arrives on Monday.

 

If these tests are right, my tank seems to maintain this 5 ish alk. I wonder if, after raising it to ~7, I can just keep it there via water changes only? If that's the case, how did my tank drop to 5 and I have never missed a weekly water change? If my tank is consuming alk, I would think that my tests wouldn't consistently show roughly 5 dkh each time.

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Tanks don't "maintain" alk. It consumes it through precipitation or it can be neutralized by acids. As I recall. Your magnesium levels are normal. Is this right?

 

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk

 

 

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Tanks don't "maintain" alk. It consumes it through precipitation or it can be neutralized by acids. As I recall. Your magnesium levels are normal. Is this right?

 

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk

 

I tested for Mag 4 days ago and it was at ~ 1500.

 

I also didn't articulate very well. I meant that maybe my tank is able to maintain the 5 ish alk with just a water change....I'm not sure if that makes any sense, just a theory.

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Mag is plenty high. I've had tanks drop 2 to 3 dKH in a day before but normally when I had a lot of good sized acros growing. Wait for your meter and take a reading. Do you run granular activated carbon on this tank by any chance?

 

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk

 

 

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I don't run gac or anything else. I will report back results on Monday night. Thanks Tom!

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If you have any kind of consumption it is mathematically impossible to maintain those levels through water changes alone. Just look how your 5G water change with 9+ dkh fresh water hardly made a dent to your tank. At some point your water was at least 9dkh when you started and hasn't been able to "maintain" that.

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/

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