Alk dropping fast with no Corals

[XLOR8T]

Currently dosing 3100 ML of Kalk from my Kalk stirrer with my DOS on Apex.
It’s 118 Gallons of water.
I have about 10 Gallon of my sump baffled as a fuge and it’s edge to edge chaeto.

I was manual dosing Red Sea Alk at 15ml/day and had auto water change going. I stopped AWC and manual dosing and I dropped about .4 DKH in 24hours.

Could something go wrong with Kalk to make it not raise DKH? Anything I can test with it? Should I stopped dosing it for 2 days to see what the drop would be with no dosing at all?

I only have a small Zoa left in the tank. No real volume of coralline to talk about so no clue where the large Alk consumption is coming from. There’s some nuisance sponge like stuff growing in my caves and low light overhangs but they’ve been dying off and going away slowly.

Thanks for the help!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Ever measure the potency of the kalkwasser effluent? Many folks find that it is not saturated.

That said, 3100 mL of saturated limewater in 118 gallons in only 0.84 dKH per day, so it is not that much, and since limewater raises pH, one expects it to also raise apparent demand compared to a two part.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What is the actual alkalinity? The higher it is the more it takes every day to maintain it. You might just let it fall and see if it stabilizes at 7 dKH or higher.

 

[XLOR8T]

What is the actual alkalinity? The higher it is the more it takes every day to maintain it. You might just let it fall and see if it stabilizes at 7 dKH or higher.

I will take a sample from my Kalk reactor tonight and test it. There’s 3inches of Kalk in the bottom. Alk is hovering between 6.4-7.1 (I had 6.8 yesterday, skipped the Alk additive and dropped to 6.4 today) I just didn’t think the tank could use so much without coral. 6 months ago before Kalk I was on ESV 2 part and dosing 10-15ML of each part.

 

[XLOR8T]

What is the actual alkalinity? The higher it is the more it takes every day to maintain it. You might just let it fall and see if it stabilizes at 7 dKH or higher.

So I just tested my Kalk and ALK is at 4.2 ***

I got 3 inches of Kalk in the bottom of reactor. Should I dump and remake from scratch or top up the powder?

Thank you!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

4.2 dKH? meq/L?

Anyway, that is low. Is the solid material constantly stirring?

 

[XLOR8T]

4.2 dKH? meq/L?

Anyway, that is low. Is the solid material constantly stirring?

4.2dKH with Hanna tester and yes the bottom is constant stir. It’s an Avast Kalk Stirrer. Did I add much Kalk in the past? I haven’t topped it up in months. Maybe I’m using this thing wrong.

Thank you

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

4.2dKH with Hanna tester and yes the bottom is constant stir. It’s an Avast Kalk Stirrer. Did I add much Kalk in the past? I haven’t topped it up in months. Maybe I’m using this thing wrong.

Thank you

Either the material that remains is largely insoluble calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide and needs to be replaced, or the stirring is inadequate to saturate the water above the calcium hydroxide solids.