Alk problem

Jtimbs

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My alkalinity is slowly dropping while calcium is rising with magnesium steady. I use a doser for two part along with Kalk in ATO. Should I go from dosing both calcium and alkalinity twice a day to 3 times a day and hope they balance?
 

Ron Reefman

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How about diluting the Ca that you dose so it doesn't go up?

I don't think dosing more of both will help. In fact, I'm quite confident that it will just make matters worse.

BTW, why dose Ca and alk and also use kalk?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Very long term, kalkwasser will continuously boost calcium if you use it to keep alkalinity steady. Best to use a lower calcium mix (like normal IO) if you use kalkwasser. Water changes keeps it in check.

Beyond that, we'd need to know some actual numbers to advise properly.
 
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Jtimbs

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I'm phasing out kalk, I'm using red sea program now and have ordered coral pro salt instead of reef crystals. My numbers have been 11 dkh 440 cal. I switched 2 part dosage from once a day with kalkwasser, to twice a day phasing Kalk out and calcium went up and alk went down. It confused me to be honest.
 
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alk; 10, was 11
Cal; 460, was steady at 440
Mag;1300, plan on raising it for red sea sps growth recipe
Nitrates 5
Phosphate .1

Should I just focus on recouping used alk and stabilized, and ignore rising calcium and let the two balance over time? Always heard in research to always dose equally. the Red sea sps recipe has 465 calcium and 12 dkh. I plan on taking a shot at getting parameters to stabilize there, so I figure by raising 2-part dosing slowly would be the way to get parameters near what they are with coral pro salt. Also, I do water changes 10-20 percent weekly.
 
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Jtimbs

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Well I was going to raise alk but now after being reminded that with low nutrients you need low alk and visa versa. I have a mixed sps dominant tank so I figure higher nutrient and alkalinity would be better for my lps but my tank runs pretty clean naturally. I feed heavy and export heavy, does this help withc having low nutrients and high alk causing tip burn ? I'm a bit torn on what to do. Should I let my alk drop more until it settles or as before get the alk back up and stable
 
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Jtimbs

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Well I was going to raise alk but now after being reminded that with low nutrients you need low alk and visa versa. I have a mixed sps dominant tank so I figure higher nutrient and alkalinity would be better for my lps but my tank runs pretty clean naturally. I feed heavy and export heavy, does this help withc having low nutrients and high alk causing tip burn ? I'm a bit torn on what to do. Should I let my alk drop more until it settles or as before get the alk back up and stable
 

GabeM

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You really shouldnt be dosing while using red sea coral pro as it has high alk and calcium, I believe it is designed so high to supplement during water changes.

What was wrong with your tank to make you want to switch to high alk?
 
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Jtimbs

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Well that's what I think I'll do, I don't have a problem with weekly water changes
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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You really shouldnt be dosing while using red sea coral pro as it has high alk and calcium, I believe it is designed so high to supplement during water changes.

What was wrong with your tank to make you want to switch to high alk?

Red Sea Coral Pro is a salt mix designed to maintain high alkalinity in a hard coral reef tanks. It is not designed to avoid dosing of alkalinity.

Red Sea Recommends an alkalinity of 11-12.5 dKH for such a tank, necessitating a high alk salt mix.


Recommended usage of Red Sea Coral Pro Salt:
Aquarium TypeSalinityAlkalinity (dKH)Ca (mg/l)
Mixed Reef34 ppt11-12435 – 465
SPS Frag35 ppt11.5-12.5450 – 480
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Well I was going to raise alk but now after being reminded that with low nutrients you need low alk and visa versa. I have a mixed sps dominant tank so I figure higher nutrient and alkalinity would be better for my lps but my tank runs pretty clean naturally. I feed heavy and export heavy, does this help withc having low nutrients and high alk causing tip burn ? I'm a bit torn on what to do. Should I let my alk drop more until it settles or as before get the alk back up and stable

Tip burn is likely causes by coral skeletons growing faster than organic tissue can keep up in low nutrient/high alk water.

Your nitrate and phosphate values do not indicate low nutrients, and thus you could keep alk anywhere in the 7-11 dKH range that I typically recommend (IMO).
 

GabeM

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Red Sea Coral Pro is a salt mix designed to maintain high alkalinity in a hard coral reef tanks. It is not designed to avoid dosing of alkalinity.

Red Sea Recommends an alkalinity of 11-12.5 dKH for such a tank, necessitating a high alk salt mix.


Recommended usage of Red Sea Coral Pro Salt:
Aquarium TypeSalinityAlkalinity (dKH)Ca (mg/l)
Mixed Reef34 ppt11-12435 – 465
SPS Frag35 ppt11.5-12.5450 – 480
You are right of course it seems high to me - this is just something I heard on youtube a few years back. Thank you for doing the research.
 

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