All consumption completely stalling

[Marc2952]

My tank is almost 2 years old now and have been dosing ESV b ionic for about 8 months now with great results. But for the last week ive been having to lower the dosage gradually from 28ml a day to 13ml a day wince the alk just keeps increasing. I ususally like to keep it between 8.0-8.2 but its up to 9.2 now! test my alk daily so thats why ive been slowly decreasing the dosage if not who knows how high it could have gotten. Ive been dosing nitrates and phosphates aswell as adding pellets 4 times a day to keep it from tanking since im currently going through a fallow period. I know that dosing nitrates can increase alk a bit but it cant be to that extent.

 

[P-Dub]

If your tank is fallow, there is nothing to uptake elements...

 

[Marc2952]

If your tank is fallow, there is nothing to uptake elements...

Corals dont just stop growing because the tank has no fish though, ive made sure that i keep the nutrients up i dose 10ml of nitrate a day to keep it at 5ppm and dose 2 ml of phosphate a day to keep it at 0.05. My falloe period is almost done its just this past week that the consumption has been slowly declining. Yesterday i lowered the dosage to 18ml per day and today had to lower it to 13ml.

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

my first thought is that you're coraline algae growth has reached it's equilibrium with good coverage on your rockwork, that tends to drop consumption levels somewhat.

 

[schuby]

My understanding is that corals consume Ammonia and not necessarily Nitrate. Nitrate is from unused Ammonia. If your corals have stopped growing due insufficient nutrients, then they will also stop consuming as much Ca and Alk , causing Alk to rise.

You may need to add more pellets (for Ammonia and phosphate) to get your corals growing again. Do you run ATS or macro-algae to export nutrients? Are your lights running at the same intensity and duration as before?

 

[P-Dub]

Corals dont just stop growing because the tank has no fish though, ive made sure that i keep the nutrients up i dose 10ml of nitrate a day to keep it at 5ppm and dose 2 ml of phosphate a day to keep it at 0.05. My falloe period is almost done its just this past week that the consumption has been slowly declining. Yesterday i lowered the dosage to 18ml per day and today had to lower it to 13ml.

You said fallow. You did not define that fallow did not include removal of the corals.

My understanding is that corals consume Ammonia and not necessarily Nitrate. Nitrate is from unused Ammonia. If your corals have stopped growing due insufficient nutrients, then they will also stop consuming as much Ca and Alk , causing Alk to rise.

You may need to add more pellets (for Ammonia and phosphate) to get your corals growing again. Do you run ATS or macro-algae to export nutrients? Are your lights running at the same intensity and duration as before?

This is not true. Ammonia is converted to nitrate which the corals' symbionts need to live and feed your corals.

 

[Marc2952]

My understanding is that corals consume Ammonia and not necessarily Nitrate. Nitrate is from unused Ammonia. If your corals have stopped growing due insufficient nutrients, then they will also stop consuming as much Ca and Alk , causing Alk to rise.

You may need to add more pellets (for Ammonia and phosphate) to get your corals growing again. Do you run ATS or macro-algae to export nutrients? Are your lights running at the same intensity and duration as before?

I have stopped everything the refugium has been off for months, i have even kept the same diety filter sock for weeks now and have added frozen fish food once a day and with the auto feeder ive beed adding pellets 4 times a day aswell as dosing nitrates and phosphates. Perhaps i should add a drop or 2 of dr tims ammonia? All of this consumption issue has happened only this week. I have not touched the lights for over a year btw.

 

[Marc2952]

You said fallow. You did not define that fallow did not include removal of the corals.

This is not true. Ammonia is converted to nitrate which the corals symbionts need to live and feed your corals.

Yea i should have specified i meant fish fallow lol

 

[Marc2952]

my first thought is that you're coraline algae growth has reached it's equilibrium with good coverage on your rockwork, that tends to drop consumption levels somewhat.

I mean yea my tank is full of coralline but they havent stopped growing i always scrape my glass weekly when i do water changes lol

 

[schuby]

How long has your tank been fish-fallow?

 

[Marc2952]

How long has your tank been fish-fallow?

For the past 2 months but only started having this issue this week this is the chart i use to write down my daily alk test ( i test everyday at the same time with the hanna checker btw) as you see in the picture as the alk is going up im lowering the dosage everyday aswell. Good thing i test alk daily.

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

I mean yea my tank is full of coralline but they havent stopped growing i always scrape my glass weekly when i do water changes lol

i think you missed my point. as a system matures coralline algae starts growing at a much faster rate, once it has covered all your rockwork where you're not scraping it off, there's really nowhere for it to continue to grow in abundance (unless you want it solid on the glass) and therefore it's consumption of Ca/Alk slows down. the larger the tank and the more rockwork the more dramatic this can be seen.

 

[P-Dub]

i think you missed my point. as a system matures coralline algae starts growing at a much faster rate, once it has covered all your rockwork where you're not scraping it off, there's really nowhere for it to continue to grow in abundance (unless you want it solid on the glass) and therefore it's consumption of Ca/Alk slows down. the larger the tank and the more rockwork the more dramatic this can be seen.

Where did you hear that coralline algae will not continue to grow? It will continue to grow and stack. Seen this in my system, and out in the wild, regularly. Here is a photo, for example.

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

Where did you hear that coralline algae will not continue to grow? It will continue to grow and stack. Seen this in my system, and out in the wild, regularly. Here is a photo, for example.

IF you'll read it again, i said in ABUNDANCE, sure it'll plate, but it's not at the same rate as it was over bare scape.

 

[schuby]

For the past 2 months but only started having this issue this week this is the chart i use to write down my daily alk test ( i test everyday at the same time with the hanna checker btw) as you see in the picture as the alk is going up im lowering the dosage everyday aswell. Good thing i test alk daily.

If Alk-consumption has been consistent for two months, then something changed a week or two ago. Only you can say what that was. Did you clean your dosing pumps/lines, change whatever else goes into your tank daily or weekly, or change something in your tank that removes nutrients?

 

[Spare time]

My understanding is that corals consume Ammonia and not necessarily Nitrate. Nitrate is from unused Ammonia. If your corals have stopped growing due insufficient nutrients, then they will also stop consuming as much Ca and Alk , causing Alk to rise.

You may need to add more pellets (for Ammonia and phosphate) to get your corals growing again. Do you run ATS or macro-algae to export nutrients? Are your lights running at the same intensity and duration as before?

Corals can use nitrate

 

[Righteous]

Do you test pH consitantly? Noticed any changes?

 

[blasterman]

So many things can consume alk, and if you are adding nitrate there isn't any bacteria processing to nitrate and thats a significant consumer of alk.

With that much SPS I'm inclined to focus more on calcium consumption and the general growth of the corals.

 

[Marc2952]

If Alk-consumption has been consistent for two months, then something changed a week or two ago. Only you can say what that was. Did you clean your dosing pumps/lines, change whatever else goes into your tank daily or weekly, or change something in your tank that removes nutrients?

I did a water change 1 day prior to this happening but its the same batch that ive been using for the last 2 months.

 

[Marc2952]

Do you test pH consitantly? Noticed any changes?

I never test PH tbh, now that you mention it i have had to leave the windows close for this whole week since its so hot here in nyc and i gotta leave the AC on.