ALk not being used ? help !

[derek yoonie]

i tested tank water 7.4 using hanna alk checker .Last water change was a week ago. I have not been dosing anything for alkalinity, besides using acropower for sps but stopped, due to too much P04. I tested new batch of water with salt(reef crystals) and it was about (10.4) about 5 gallons WC .
After a day i check the alkantiy again to find out that it is now at 7.5. So this means my tank consumes .1 alk a week ? Sps growth not much , pretty stumped about it , there is corrllaine algae purple growth on rocks. As for CA i tested but are unsure of the test results , being that red sea foundation test kits never draw the same reagent level., pretty sure its about 400. As for Mag , by red sea founation kits, i think it might be like 1800 or 1900, which seems pretty high not sure if bad test kit , or bad batch of salt.

40 IM with trigger sump , running chaeto light (homedepot) 15 watt 5000k, One kessil 360we , brought 2nd hand used. Mag drive 3 as return , 1 vortech mp10 for water movement inside tank, I guess my question might be, Why isnt my corals growing ?

 

[Fishfinder]

How much coral do you have? How long have you had it? Any pics?

Not doubting you, but I'm not sure what you mean by you never draw the same reagent level. You may have some test error. Need to read the plunger not the fluid level

 

[derek yoonie]

about 8 to 9 sticks sps, 3 lps torch , frogspawn , hammer, some mushrooms , red sea foundation kits reagent drawers, ask you draw reagent up to 1 ml MARK line, and it says the pointy cap thingy holds 1 ml right ? it will come up to .80 instead of .90

 

[derek yoonie]

tanks been running since july 14 2017 , using premium live rock , or aka tampbay rocks

 

[Fishfinder]

Just draw the syringe back until the black plunger is even with 1ml. Ignore the fluid level. Then add your titrant and read the plunger level for your result

 

[Fishfinder]

Are the sticks just frags? That's not a lot for 40gal, there isn't really a need to dose yet

 

[derek yoonie]

hm i guess the question would be ( why arent they growing hah ) then !

 

[Fishfinder]

Well double check your levels. Make sure you have those numbers right. Then look into other factors

 

[reefwiser]

How long have the corals been in the tank and have you added any recently?

 

[derek yoonie]

about maybe 2 months )for the latest corals to be broguht it into tank i guess the last corals would be the blue tort and slimer, recently they have browned out, well the tort browned a bit, and the green slimer turned like reddish , ever sinec i started to dose kn03 , and move them upper above the sand bed, they seem to be showing improvement but very slowly, i might suspect it to the just the one kessil light, a stick shades it self ;/ , i got a 24x8 bulb 24 " brought used awaiting its hanging kit . in the mail !