Alk dropping despite large A4R dose.

[Jerfatico]

My Alk has been impossible to maintian. I have an approximatly 120 gallon system which is minimally stocked with about a dozen lps.

All my sps had slowly died. Zoas and lps are happy.

Alk has been impossible to keep stable, it just keeps falling dsespite dosing 34mL of All For Reef currently (one dose daily an hour before lights).

Ca had been steadily delcining too currently 460
Mg has been on the low side currently 1180
Alk wants to stay around 8. Cant get it to stay at 9.

The A4R is new and is mixed properly. Inhave confirmed results with Trident and Salifert.

What am I missing?

 

[allof fish]

My Alk has been impossible to maintian. I have an approximatly 120 gallon system which is minimally stocked with about a dozen lps.

All my sps had slowly died. Zoas and lps are happy.

Alk has been impossible to keep stable, it just keeps falling dsespite dosing 34mL of All For Reef currently (one dose daily an hour before lights).

Ca had been steadily delcining too currently 460
Mg has been on the low side currently 1180
Alk wants to stay around 8. Cant get it to stay at 9.

The A4R is new and is mixed properly. Inhave confirmed results with Trident and Salifert.

What am I missing?

Any reason wanting to get to 9? Imo nothing wrong with 8. Could your corals be consuming more alk per day? When’s last time trident was calibrated. What is your ph since probe is out? Also bring mag up will help balance everything better

 

[Jerfatico]

My pH is 8.0-8.2 daily

I want the Alk at 9 for more growth.

I tried dosing mag separately with brightwell aquatics and it just droppednagain within 24 hours.

Plus my sps all died...

 

[allof fish]

My pH is 8.0-8.2 daily

I want the Alk at 9 for more growth.

I tried dosing mag separately with brightwell aquatics and it just droppednagain within 24 hours.

Plus my sps all died...

IMO I don’t believe that much higher of alk will result in any faster growth. Stability will help more. I’m not entirely sure but I have heard a high alk of let’s say 10-11 can help but stony corals become more fragile not strong. IMO 8 is just fine I keep mine at 8.5. Have you recalibrated trident? I’d keep dosing mag until it’s in good range.

 

[rishma]

34ml of AFR is not that big of a dose. It’s only about 0.4 dKH per day dose in. 120 gallon tank. It’s possible your tank is consuming more than 0.4 dKH per day.

Calcium and alkalinity declining together makes sense.

The magnesium tests are likely an error, as they usually are. I suggest focusing only on the alkalinity tests when using a product like AFR.

I would not expect the decline from 9 dKH to 8 dKH to cause any problems with coral health. The coral health issues are from something else.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree it’s a small dose for a 120.

 

[Pod_01]

Just for reference I have 62gal system and I dose about 33ml of AFR a day.

Maybe corals are happy and growing… if both Trident and Salifert show same trend I would dose more…

Is salinity stable?
Maybe check the AFR tubing to make sure it didn’t clog.

 

[areefer01]

You have the Trident - what schedule are you using? 4(alk)/2(Ca)/2(mg)? If so, open the alk graph and note the results for the past week or two of the results. If you are using the default schedule then you have enough data to plot out the consumption.

You know when you dose the AFR, you know the results, you can do the math to see the difference. As noted above you may be not adding enough and this more or less will help you confirm.

Also the easy things to confirm:

Take the dosing line, place into a cup, verify that it is the correct amount
Calibration the DOS - again, to confirm/check
Check DOS tubing lines if either of the two above are less than what you set

 

[allof fish]

Just for reference I have 62gal system and I dose about 33ml of AFR a day.

Maybe corals are happy and growing… if both Trident and Salifert show same trend I would dose more…

Is salinity stable?
Maybe check the AFR tubing to make sure it didn’t clog.

Op also stated all sps died. Assuming from the inconsistency of alk rising and dropping. Probably need to double dose if it’s dropping that much. Never used afr is there a calculator or soemthing? I use brs 2 part so can just use the calculator to find right dosage. 1 dose daily will also be difficult to stabilize. Not sure on the potency of afr but In my 90g I’m dosing 40-43 ml of alk a day for reference

 

[areefer01]

Maybe check the AFR tubing to make sure it didn’t clog.

Agreed - I've had this happen.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Not sure on the potency of afr but In my 90g I’m dosing 40-43 ml of alk a day for reference

AFR is 1.13 times as potent as my diy recipe 1 (which BRS uses for their soda ash recipe).

 

[Pod_01]

Never used afr is there a calculator or soemthing? I

One of the nice features of AFR is that the dose is converted to Alk gradually during the day.
There are no sharp rises or falls and in that regard the use of AFR is gentle on the system, assuming that is desirable.