Help Alk dropping like a stone

Colin_S · Sep 17, 2020

What would be my best method in raising my ALK? I am doing some research but need some advise.
Since i started dosing Carbon (No-pox) into a nitrate reactor my ALK has plummited. Is this related? nothing else has changed.
Hanna used for testing
Reactor used to lower and maintain my NO3

I've been using Triton for about 2years. My coral level is low so my dosage has always been low. i test weeklet, sometimes more. I have dosed unequal parts for ages, not massive amounts and i did check on here and its seems ok to dose unequal parts
Alk 12ml
Mg 6ml (reduced from 8ml)
Cal 2ml (reduced from 4ml)

You can see my calcium has stayed high and as of 03/9/2020 its over 500.
the bit of research i've done it seems ALK is made up of Carbonate and Bi Carbonate, thats as far as i've got at tthe moment.

Should i make all dosing equal amounts? i have lowered Calcium to try and get the ALK to rise, is this the correct action? I've increased the ALK by about 4ml over the last few weeks as well but it continues to drop. My PH seems stable still, which i don't understand.
I'm getting new ALK regent tomorrow in case mine has gone off and its a false reading, but it's unlikely.

saltgogi · Sep 17, 2020

I used to dose equally alkalinity and calcium but i noticed the alkalinity reservoir would empty much slower than the calcium. I think the human error in calibrating the doser and the length of the line to the aquarium has an effect. I only know this from trial and error. I'm sure someone else has more to say. Also making sure the dosing is in a high flow area is good too.

Colin_S · Sep 18, 2020

panic over, my alk regent was off, got new regent and alk is at 11.1dkh..

JAC- · Sep 18, 2020

Colin_S said:
panic over, my alk regent was off, got new regent and alk is at 11.1dkh..

Had the same issue with an API test kit. The ph being high and stable kept bothering me, so I decided to switch test kits and found that my kh was in fact 14 DKH not 7... Thankfully nothing died from it.

I'm redsea test kits all the way now.
I will say API did follow up with my complaint and try to fix the problem and claimed they were going to do a recall.

For me though having a test kit be off by 100% is unacceptable and shows serious concern with there manufacturing capabilities.

Glad you figured out the problem.