Alk consumption

[truepercs]

Red Sea Reefer 525xl 108 gallon+sump

I dose 2 part, generally equal doses. Despite equal dosing I noticed calcium reservoir higher than Alk.
Re-calibrated doser... No change Since my Alk was still in desired range I upped the calcium dose and reset the reservoirs even to monitor, No change... Alk still going in more than the calcium.
I seen air bubble in line so replaced hose in doser thinking it was culprit , levels still off.

I switched to another doser head, thinking the head may have an issue, testing indicated I was seeing Alk rise.... Generally I aim for about 7.75-8.25

Over time the Alk rose to 9.3 (Dosing spread each hour over the day) When noticing issues I tend to test Alk often (sometimes more than once a day) to make corrections before anything changes drastically. I finally realized that when changing dosing heads I never changed the dose schedule. So I was now only dosing Alk.

After setting schedule for new dose head to match Alk dose, each day after a test was made and the Alk dose was lowered in an attempt to reduce value I now have the dosing issue worked out. However I have had to drastically lower the dose amounts from what was originally dosed. Almost to not dosing anything at all.

I have not over reacted just check Alk each day, the Alk is still stable at a slightly new higher level with limited doses. (now around 9.0) I have started doing doing small water changes 5 gallons, will continue to do every other day. Until I see a change in consumption. Once consumption increases I can slowly up the dose amount to continue to hold around 9 but will eventually try to bring it down a bit.

I am not worried, I think I have it under control slowly bringing it back inline (low equal doses and small water changes)

I have also checked calcium and have not seen any alarming numbers regarding target values.
During the issue I was thinking I would see a very low calcium test result which did not happen. Magnesium is also within desired target range

I was just curious on Alk consumption, will coral go through some sort of shutdown when things may be out of whack regarding Alk and Calcium?




Tanks!







.

 

[RobZilla04]

Doubtful the coral will go into any "shut down" during this correction phase. You just may see very limited if any growth. You're on the right track to move slowly. Allow time for everything to settle out. Maybe even stop dosing both Alk & Cal for a few days while still continuing water changes. Ensure the water changes are with a salt that has mix parameters close to your intended target. Monitor for consumption and when you see consumption begin again, start dosing.