Alkalinity HELP

[CooperDog]

I’m referencing this btw

Yes, 10ml water, 1 ml syringe
Someone corrected me, my DKH is high not low

 

[CooperDog]

Alkalinity has dropped to 0?
125 tank
15 gallon sump
Mg=1440
CA=410
Temp=77.2
Salinity=1.026
PH=8.2
Reef tank is approximately 7 months running, started to see fluctuations in KH dropping to 7kh and sometimes 6kh about 2 weeks after water change.
decided to start manually dosing 2 part E.S.V.B at half the recommended dosage according to the reef chemistry calculator over the course of a day, no results, numbed it up to 2/3 and then it dropped to 6.
Panic was held off thinking I can adjust with BRS soda ash or Sodium bicarbonate dry packs.
Tried soda ash first, I had this premixed for 2 months in a jug. No changes after adding, upped the dosage then KH drops again to 5.
Water change 40 gallons!
KH is holding at 5-5.5
Next I try sodium bicarbonate, 6 oz at night and 6 in the morning then a run away train!
Today it’s 0kh
It’s obviously precipitation.
Any pointers on how to fix this?
Mixing next batch of water for a 35% water change tomorrow.
panic is setting in.
1 coral showing signs of stress-flower pot
More than usual brown algae is on the glass
I did not measure Phos yet.
Skimmer is running fine.
Started up carbon and GFO reactor today.
I normally run a month and shut off a month.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Solved-I made a mistake, this is embarrassing but i will admit it. DKH is high not low.
I overdosed it today-
Water change in the morning when water is finished mixing

 

[Spieg]

No shame, mistakes happen to everyone sometime...
I'd suggest you bring the level down gradually. Your tank has already had a big shock, don't want to cause more stress.

 

[redeyejedi]

Your right! That was stupid of me! I overdosed.
This has to be the most idiotic thing I have done. I read your reply and looked at the card.
I was going off of memory and thinking completely backwards.

We all have our moments.

 

[CooperDog]

No shame, mistakes happen to everyone sometime...
I'd suggest you bring the level down gradually. Your tank has already had a big shock, don't want to cause more stress.

This was more than a mistake. I don’t make mistakes like this. What I learned:
Slow down! Don’t jump to conclusions. If something seems completely wrong it probably is a mistake.
125 gallon tank, another 20 gallons in sump- rock and sand I use a volume of 125 gal
What’s the ideal first water change to bring down? 25%?

 

[Aqua Man]

What is your target for Alk?
As mentioned, dropping the Alk slowly is a good idea. Reef crystal is high in Alk, so a 25% wc may not bring it down much. Which is probably ok.

Get a pitcher of tank water and dilute 25% with new water and see what you get. give you an idea of what your going to need to change

 

[Peanut]

Hmmm, first time I have seen this advice.
I’m kinda scared to use any at the moment.
Planning on 3 consecutive water changes to try and fix it.

its documented on their website... but they hide it in the details.

The bicarb page says
Example for 100-gallon aquarium:
Alkalinity Level Day 1 @ 8pm - 9.0 dKH (desired level)
Alkalinity Level Day 5 @ 8pm - 7.5 dKH (current level)
5-Day Alkalinity Requirement - 214.2 mL (provided by BRS Reef Calculator)
Daily Alkalinity Requirement - 42.84 mL (214.2 mL / 5 days)

and the soda ash page says
Example for 100-gallon aquarium:
Alkalinity Level Day 1 @ 8pm - 9.0 dKH (desired level)
Alkalinity Level Day 5 @ 8pm - 7.5 dKH (current level)
5-Day Alkalinity Requirement - 107.1 mL (provided by BRS Reef Calculator)
Daily Alkalinity Requirement - 21.42 mL (107.1 mL / 5 days)

same example uses 2x the bicarb.

if you want a 1-1 (or close to it) 2 part, you should use soda ash

 

[taricha]

I’m referencing this btw

oof. good catch.
Totally missed that. No color change = out of range HIGH.
glad the OP switched to water changes rather than trying to add more alk!

 

[Softhammer]

We have all done it. Just water change daily until back into limits.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hmmm, first time I have seen this advice.
I’m kinda scared to use any at the moment.
Planning on 3 consecutive water changes to try and fix it.

That is not really "advice". It is simply restating the fact that my DIY using baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is half as potent as the recipe using sodium carbonate/baked baking soda, and that was necessary due to the much lower solubility of baking soda, menaing there is less in the solution.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

if you want a 1-1 (or close to it) 2 part, you should use soda ash

Well, my DIY (that BRS copies) uses 1:1 with sodium bicarbonate too, it is just half as strong in the calcium part. Folks just need to keep track of what recipe they are using and use all of the parts from the same recipe:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php