Is 0.8 dKH daily consumption atypical for 14 small stony frags?

[jon110334]

I have about 14 small stony corals (and about as many sofites), and I'm trying to keep my dKH at around 10. (Higher than normal, but not too high as to stress my softies).

My tank is 90 gallons and about 5 months old. I'm getting decent coraline growth, but nothing explosive.

I'm currently dosing at around 60 ml/day of BRS Soda Ash and 60 ml/day Calcium bicarbonate, which corresponds to about 0.8 dKH/day, but I'm still at a dKH of around 9. I was testing with a Salifert test kit, but figured it must not be working correctly. I've upgraded to a Hanna test kit and I'm getting the same readings. I auto-dose 5 ml at a time every other hour with a ten minute delay between calcium and soda ash.

I've stopped dosing magnesium because two weeks ago it was at 1550 ppm.

I dose into a powerhead in my 20 gallon, bare bottom sump and I don't see any precipiate.

Here's a link to my monthly tracker to give you an idea of how small these corals are:



It just seems high, and I want to get a second opinion from folks more experienced with stonies.

 

[X-37B]

Only way to tell useage is to stop dosing and test. Then test same time 24 hrs later.
That seems like alot to me for what you have but every tank is different.
And full tank pics?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If the purple in the picture is coralline, it alone can use that much, depending on how much there is.

 

[jon110334]

Only way to tell useage is to stop dosing and test. Then test same time 24 hrs later.
That seems like alot to me for what you have but every tank is different.
And full tank pics?

None at night, so there's still a glare. The tank is on a Northern facing wall, but there are large eastern facing blinds right next to it.

 

[jon110334]

If the purple in the picture is coralline, it alone can use that much, depending on how much there is.

I did "seed" with a bottle of purple and a bottle of pink coraline. I see quite a few [2 or three every square inch of rockscape]... 3mm size colonies, but nothing like the sheets I've seen in older, more established tanks.