Is my Kalk with ATO process OK?

[92reefer]

Paging Randy.... or moderator can you move to the Reef Chemistry forum.

Randy do you know what's consuming the ALK in my tank and can I fix this or is this somehow a normal situation?

[92reefer]

OK now this is totally messed up!

I've been dosing 60ml of ALK per day (Randy's recipe #1) for the last 4 days.

I retested ALK level today and it's at 6.4 DKH! What the heck is consuming the ALK and causing it to plummet? There are no corals in tank and only 2 live rocks (~ 5 pounds) with very little corraline.

I'm wondering if my RO/DI system is somehow contaminated and causing the level problems? I'm at a loss to understand this

[92reefer]

Anyone help with advice/ideas?

[DDon]

I would slowly increase dosing amount to maintain your alk where you want it. At least to keep it stable in the meantime.
Not sure exactly what is consuming it though. I assume you read through the link I sent where someone else was having similar issue and consumption seemed high for his livestock. Wish I had more answers for you.
Maybe try posting a new thread in the reef chemistry forum to get some of the experts to chime in.

[92reefer]

Thanks DDon. I just wasn't sure about the safety of dosing so much on a daily basis. I'm already at 60ml per day and not holding so I guess I'll have to bump it up some to get back to and maintain 8.0 (dkh). I hope I won't have issues with precipitation or PH

[DDon]

What is your pH running at now?

[92reefer]

The salifert PH is hard to read but I believe it's around 8.2/8.3

[DDon]

You should be fine then. Just keep an eye on it as you increase dosage. I had one tank as high as 8.5 without issues but that is about max I would go. That is the point where precipitation may start to become an issue.

[92reefer]

Troubles abound!

I had switched my substrate out from fine grade 0 Calcium Carbonate which kept solidifying in huge clumps. This is when I was originally trying to balance my ALK, CA and MAG using Randy's 2 part. I finally switched all substrate out to Caribsea special grade seaflor which uses larger granules and started mixing Mrs Wages in my topoff.

This stopped my substrate hardening/clumping issue but I never fixed the dropping ALK problem.

So based on suggestions in this thread I stopped mixing the Mrs Wages and went back to 2 part. As mentioned I have to dose a large amount (60ml) per day just to try and maintain about 7.8 DKH with almost 0 tank load (only 2 small live rocks, almost no corraline, 3 fish and no corals). Then I tested and CA dropped from 400 to 350 in about 4 days. I don't get it. I'm ready to just throw in the towel as my Caribsea gravel is starting to clump all over and I'm still struggling to maintain ALK and now CA (MAG is 1295, PH ~ 8.2, 1.026 salinity)

Any suggestions now. Maybe this is a sign to drain the tank and sell everything

[Sk8r]

If you do not have stony coral or clams, you may be over-supplementing. If you are a fish-only, simple water changes will supply all you need, and fish don't need 420 calcium: they get by on less. However, if you want to hold your alk stable without constant buffering, adding JUST enough calcium supplement (which can be something like Kent Turbo Calcium) to keep your calcium-alk-mg balance steady will mean you don't have the alk falling, which fish truly don't like.

Also, if you have a big tank and just a tiny bit of coral, you can add less than 2 tsp kalk per gallon, like 1 or even a half, and see what that does for your levels. The creatures that use kalk hand over fist are those building skeleton hand over fist. Fish use it, but very very little compared to snails, clams, and stony coral.

What you are definitely doing right is testing and keeping records. Getting that balance set for a tank can be futzy, and can change with the addition of more demanding species.

[92reefer]

SK8R, that's just it. If I don't supplement my ALK drops like a rock, which as you mentioned is unhealthy for the fish and also the equipment (pumps etc)

[92reefer]

This just isn't making sense. I balanced my tank to ALK 7.6 CA 400 PH 8.2 Salinity 1.026 and MAG 1295

I've been testing every other day. So after resuming Mrs Wage (kalk) added to topoff at 1 teaspoon/gallon and adding about 50ml of Randy's 2 part Alkalinity mixture to help battle the dropping ALK problem.

I test today and my CA has dropped to 360 from 400; in just 2 days! How is that possible? What is making my CA drop as well as battling the dropping ALK problem that has plaqued me since I set this tank up?

Pagin Randy or anyone else for help?

[92reefer]

bump. Anyone have any ideas as to what's going on?

[92reefer]

Moderator. Can you please move this thread to the "Chemistry" forum?

[92reefer]

So my tank has been running the same all along. The slimy hairy light brown type algae has once again covered all the rock, the back overflow and attached to many of the Caribsea substrate granules. I have 1 lonely pygmy angel in the 60 cube and he doesn't seem to mind the crazy mess but I'm tired of looking at the tank and frustrated I couldn't fix whatever is causing this ugly (almost encrusts to the plastic on overflow) stuff.

So I'm thinking I'm going to tear the tank completely down, scrub and get rid of all that nasty brown junk and start over. I don't even think I'll mess with trying to have any live coral at this point and I'll keep it simple with fish only. I started the tank with 1 piece of "live rock" to seed the dead marco-rock. I didn't add any bacterial starter such as fritzyme and I'm thinking that was my mistake which resulted in the bacterial slime/problems?

I have another set of Marco Rock bleached and rinsed ready to go. I'm just wondering what substrate to go with for my application: my caribsea seaflor special grade bag is almost empty.

Suggestions on what to do different for this tank startup i.e. use Fritzyme for seeding etc?

[92reefer]

advice suggestions greatly appreciated

[92reefer]

bump for advice/suggestions please..

[92reefer]

bumpety...