Alk depleting in my tank..

[jcs11236]

Was curious in knowing if my alk levels alone going down is normal in a reef system. My calcium and other levels are fine but i noticed yesterday and today that my alk alone is being consumed. Could i just dose part A of my esv to bring it up? Will by me dosing just part A mess up my calcium? Im a lil confused. Im pretty sure my alk is getting sucked up by my clams and the new sps's i just put in last weekend. But why isnt my calcium being sucked up as well? im new to sps's. i never dosed before in my tank

 

[KathyC]

Yes, you can dose a single part of the ESV to bring the level back to normal range, but you are correct in questioning why your alk is dropping.

Have you figured out how much it is dropping over what period of time?

Can you post all of your parameters please?

 

[jcs11236]

PH 8.2
Salinity 1025
mag 1380
Phos- .05
Calcium 450
Alk normally 7.6 but yesterday it was 6.4 so i dosed 7.5 ml of part a. it went up to 7. then today it was down again to 6.4. so i dosed again 10ml of part a. went up to 7.6. i checked calcium again but it was still 450. i use salifert test kits
does this mean i have to keep doing everyday 7.5/10ml ml of part a?

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

are you topping of daily with rodi because of evaporation??

 

[jcs11236]

yea everyday

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

how much...

 

[jcs11236]

like a cup or two of ro. 8 0z cups.. y Noel? does ro have to do with alk?

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

sure does..... rodi water is 99.99% pure.. it is stripped of eveything. so when you add the rodi water to top off your tank, it lowers the alk.

 

[jcs11236]

oaky so is 2 cups enough to mess with my alk in my 28 gal? if so--its okay for me to just be dsing the alk to raise it?

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

2 cups not so much to cause a drop like what your describing.... have you done a water change recently....? Yes you should add a few ml for every top off.

 

[jcs11236]

yea--i do weekly water changes 25%. i did one on friday. man--i hope nothing is out of whack in my tank..

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

nooo dont worry.. your sounding like JarretShark. The water change is what caused the drop... then your adding rodi water for daily top off. Djust gradually add alk at night when lights off, half of what you dose and then in the morning before you go to work, the other half. if your alk is still low then add alittle more gradually to reach the level you want.

 

[jcs11236]

lol--okay i got it.. i never dose so i added it during the day(a few hours ago and my ph went to 8.4!) but now i know-i will dose it when lights go out..so your saying dose/test everyday till i get the level i want. Thanks Noel for helping me out. i appreciate it. i will make sure i bring extra of the crunchy cheese doodles at the next meet n greet.

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

hahahahahahaaa... yes test and get your dosing regime correct and you'll be good!! matter of fact reef central has a good chemistry calculator to tell you wht you should dose. let me see if i find it on my favorites.

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

For thoose who are tagging and want to raise there levels...

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

 

[tttony]

interesting, ive got the same size tank , heavily loaded with lps,clam and sps, every day I got to add a gallon of ro spiked with alk.

 

[jcs11236]

Wow a gallon?! U have the jbj led version or the mh? So ur alk was down alot as well

 

[Donewiththisplace]

Dam a gallon a day is alot...prob add a gallon a week to the same tank here. JBJ 28 CF-Quad.