Do these Calc/Alk levels seem right??

[ReefGimp]

These are my levels/doses the past few days...do these swings seem right??

7/24: Alk 8.0 dKH/2.86 meq/L---Calcium 350. (dosed 2.5 ml b-ion)

7/25: (dosed 2.5 ml b-ionic)

7/26: (dosed 3.5 ml b-ionic)

7/27: Alk 7.4 dKH/2.63 meq/L---Calcium 370. (dosed 5.0 ml b-ion)
Changed approx 1 gallon of water w/ fresh made saltwater.

7/28: Alk 9.6 dKH/3.42 meq/L---Calcium 380. (dosed 3.0 ml b-ion)


I'm guessing the Alk went up b/c of the water change. Do I just have an extremely high load from my SPS? It seems the Alk dropped pretty fast before the w/c even though I was dosing with b-ionic.

BTW- I am using new Salifert test kits I just got.

Any help/advice/comments would be appreciated!!

Thanks


__________________
5.5 gallon, 2 x 55 PC lighting, Rio 50, 50 watt tronic heater.
1 Orange Montipora, 1 Purple Montipora, 1 Brown/Blue Formosa, 1 Beige Montipora Digitata, one small green hydro frag, one un id'd SPS
Red/Green Mushrooms, GSP, button polyps, Galaxia, 2 skunk cleaners and cleaning crew.

 

[slojmn1]

Ahhhh, nano reef...It took me a minute to figure that out. I guess it would have helped if I read your sig the first time through. The alk increase after the water change was definately from the water change. I dose B-Ionic in my nano reef 5ml. per day in a 7g. I figure it is only about 5g of water. You may want to bump up the dose to 5 ml. a day as the corals must be using it up quicker than it is getting in there. Then re-test prior to a watere change and after for a few weeks and see what you come up with.

The other thing I always look at is how everything is doing in the tank. If everyone seems fine I try not to chase numbers to much. It has always gotten me in trouble in the past. With that being said I am bumping up my B-ionic doses in my 120g reef as numbers are dropping as the sps corals are getting bigger. I see no problems in the tank but realize as the corals suck more up I must replace in a closed system, kind of like buying new shoes for your kid as the old ones get to small, gotta keep up. I went from 7.6dKH to 10.6 dKH in 2 weeks by increasing my B-ionic dosing. Calcium rose a bit as well so things are looking up

FWIW, I change out 50% of my water every week in a water change on my nano, but I don't keep sps corals in my nano. Just a thought as I have found no problems from doing this. My nitrates are 0 and I have no nuisance algae. The only tank in the house without an algae problem