Alk Stability

[ReefAddict]

My tank is approaching 5 years old and it’s SPS dominant and been stable for the last few years until.......either I screwed up or possibly a vendor, but most likely me.  I test my alk usually twice a week and about a month ago I was shocked after a week it was down to 4.5dkh -  Hannah checker and Salifert kit verified.  I must have done two gallons of calcium chloride instead of one of calcium chloride and one of soda ash or the bags were mislabeled, but most likely a brain fart on my part.  So I mixed new batches of each and resumed normal dosing and over the course of 2.5 weeks my alk was back to 8.3dkh.  The problem is it didn’t stop rising, I’ve lowered my dosing from 160ml a day to 80 and it’s still rising.  Calcium is around 480 Mag around 1250.  It’s increasing about .3 dkh a day.
Some of my LPS are not happy and I’m losing some of my Stylos and a few Acros are starting to STN from the base.  

 

Should I continue to lower my dosing and let it come back down?  Should I stop all together until is levels out? What is my best course of action?  

Edited February 28, 2021 by ReefAddict

[WheresTheReef]

I would try to bring it to the level that it was running stable and corals thriving. Do you have a feel for the tank consumption based on the rise in alk and dosage change? For example, in trying to lower my alk a drop in 10ml/day in my tank will drop levels by 0.2 dkh. To make things worse in your case, the stress in the corals can lead to less alk consumption. Try lowering the dosage until it stabilizes. It may settle at a lower dosage than before until the coral stress settles.

[lowsingle]

I would stop dosing and monitor your elements daily to find some stability, then after a week or so start adding and continue to monitor.

 

Darren

 

[menglish]

So where are your numbers now? if they are increasing, i will certainly stop all your dosing to let things stabalize

[Origami]

Discontinue dosing until at least one of your parameters is back in the range where you'd like it. Then start dosing that component while monitoring both. Adjust to match consumption. When the other parameter falls back into range, begin dosing that component and dial it in as well.

 

Randy Holmes-Farley has written a lot of articles over the years. Among them was an article about solving calcium and alkalinity "zone" problems. A copy of that article is still available here. 

 

If the problem is particularly bad, then a water change can help bring things closer to where they need to be.

[ReefAddict]

On 3/2/2021 at 12:17 PM, menglish said:

So where are your numbers now? if they are increasing, i will certainly stop all your dosing to let things stabalize

My Alk is down to 11.2 as of yesterday’s test.  Dropping about .6 per day so far. 

[ReefAddict]

13 hours ago, Origami said:

Discontinue dosing until at least one of your parameters is back in the range where you'd like it. Then start dosing that component while monitoring both. Adjust to match consumption. When the other parameter falls back into range, begin dosing that component and dial it in as well.

 

Randy Holmes-Farley has written a lot of articles over the years. Among them was an article about solving calcium and alkalinity "zone" problems. A copy of that article is still available here. 

 

If the problem is particularly bad, then a water change can help bring things closer to where they need to be.

Thanks Tom, my gut reaction was to stop dosing but I started second guessing myself.  I did a 15% water change last weekend and will do another this weekend, while continuing to monitor parameters.