Alkalinity and Dosing Questions

espieg

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Hi. My tank has been up and running since February and now that I'm beginning to add corals I've been testing for alk and calcium more than before. The tank is roughly 135-140 gallons in volume and prior to adding coral I haven't worried too much about doing a lot of water changes because the nitrate and phosphate levels haven't been high (undetectable phos and sub 10 nitrate). I added one small zoa frag around 2 and a half months ago and it's been doing fine with good extension the entire time. On Friday, September 10th my alkalinity tested 7.1 and my calcium tested 480 (keep in mind my previous water change was July 16th). On September 29th I performed a 30 gallon water change using Reef Crystals (what I always use) but didn't get a chance to test alk or calc.

I added 10 small frags yesterday and after testing today my alkalinity is really low, 5.9. My calcium seems fine at 435, ph sitting at 7.8 or 8, and my nitrate and phosphate are 0 and sub 5. Can anyone clue me in to why the alk is so low? I'm not sure if the equipment makes a difference but if so I'm running a protein skimmer and a small refugium. Sorry if this was extensive but I'm new and wasn't exactly sure how to best convey my issue. Thanks.
 

Oldreefer44

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Couple of things:
IMO, you always want to use multiple test kits. Especially when you get results that are way out of line. Either that or take your water into an LFS for testing. If your Alk is really that low then there are multiple ways of addressing it discussed in numerous threads on this forum.
 
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