Having Trouble Pinpointing Chemistry Issue

Character85 · Apr 21, 2020

Hello everyone,

I live that the hobby has gotten so social. Brief background: Have been out of the hobby just over 10 years. Had F/O for 5 years. Kept getting moved around for work every year or so and sold my fish and setup. Im firmly planted now and dove into a reef tabk. I just aet her up during our "quarantine." Tank has been up and running for 5 days. I have no fish and havent cycled. First clown on the way. Tank was stable @ 11 ALK and 8.3 PH the first day and started dropp off as expected considering the tanks in my mancave (a semi above ground basement.) I began dosing kalk in small amounts in ATO to buffer. PH was stable for a few days at 8.1- 8.2 but my ALK started to drop from 11 to 9.1. I thought I was overdosing the kalk and figured my CAL would b crazy high causing the low ALK but multiple test kits revealed i was low @ 400. No nitrifying bacteria added yet. With my first fish on the way I dont want to stress him with crazy fluxuating perameters. Could dosing the kalk in ATO caused this? Im doing a 30% water change in the am to hopefully dilute any problems I caused. Should I let the PH fall and settle w/o buffering to see where it stabilizes? I kno plenty of people whose tanks are on the lower end like 7.9 and 8.0 and their fish do fine granted corals get stunted. Anyone have any ideas?

RedSea E-260

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
PH 8.1
ALK 8
SG 1.024
CAL 400

4 stage cyclone RODI
RedSea Coral Salt Pro

dwest · Apr 21, 2020

Hi! I wouldn’t worry about pH. I can’t explain why your alkalinity dropped, but maintaining alkalinity with kalk is a good idea and you will eventually get that dialed in. I think if you do 10% water changes per week you will be in good shape. Your fish likely won’t be phased by alkalinity differences of 9 or 11 or even 7. Just try to stabilize it with kalk and water changes for your corals down the road.

Character85 · Apr 21, 2020

dwest said:
Hi! I wouldn’t worry about pH. I can’t explain why your alkalinity dropped, but maintaining alkalinity with kalk is a good idea and you will eventually get that dialed in. I think if you do 10% water changes per week you will be in good shape. Your fish likely won’t be phased by alkalinity differences of 9 or 11 or even 7. Just try to stabilize it with kalk and water changes for your corals down the road.

Thanks for the info and vote of confidence. If ALK keeps dropping and CAL stays 400-460 should I attempt ALK booster along with the kalk?

dwest · Apr 21, 2020

Character85 said:
Thanks for the info and vote of confidence. If ALK keeps dropping and CAL stays 400-460 should I attempt ALK booster along with the kalk?

Kalk supplies both alkalinity and calcium in a balanced ratio. I think the only number I would be concerned about is nitrate (and phosphates which I didn’t see). Although both will come up to good levels likely when you start feeding fish. it looks like your tank is doing well.

Since you are back from the hobby after 10 years, I do recommend quarantining new fish. I didn’t necessarily do this 10 years ago, but I always do now. The game changer in the last 10 years is the Hanna copper checker. You can now accurately measure copper levels, whereas it was nearly impossible for me 10 years ago. Here is what I do:

My Current QT Process

UPDATE, 10/9/22: For those looking for quarantine information, our current process is kept updated on the first page of this thread (post any questions at the end of the thread). https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/ Thanks, Jay Hemdal I am frequently...

www.reef2reef.com

Character85 · Apr 21, 2020

Wow thats a ton of great info. I had no idea of all these copper meds. 10 yrs ago was always advised that copper was a no no... Brave new world

dwest · Apr 21, 2020

Character85 said:
Wow thats a ton of great info. I had no idea of all these copper meds. 10 yrs ago was always advised that copper was a no no... Brave new world

Copper is still a no no in a display tank with rocks. Great to use in a bare quarantine system.

Character85 · Apr 21, 2020

Character85 said:
Wow thats a ton of great info. I had no idea of all these copper meds. 10 yrs ago was always advised that copper was a no no... Brave new world

I think what innitiated my perameters going out of wack in the first place was removing my skimmer from the rear sump to break it in. I firgot to turn the ato pump off and ended up with slurry in my tank... ph never broke 8.4 thank goodness but do u think the slurry created precip? Could that b why alk dropped off and ph became more flux to the low side? Im going bak to old school with my 3 gal dosing contraption. Hopefully that will slowly get things with the alk bak in check... 1 drip per sec. If not I ran out and bought alk buffer earlier. Ill check later for if i need to dose.