Is this normal??

DexterPhi · Feb 23, 2020

So I’ve been doing a lot of research and I feel like consensus is to have stable numbers over specific numbers..... I’m just having a hard time dialing in my dosing pumps for stable alkalinity... I think I’m getting close to a decent stable number the amounts and ratio seem weird... Is something wrong??
30 gallon tank
I’m adding 54 mo of Red Sea alk liquid per day and 15 ml of Red Sea cal...
I’m running alk at 7.9 and cal 420. When I just measured..... Doesn’t that seem like a lot of alk especially considering the tank size and calcium dose????

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 23, 2020

How much is that in dKH per day?

the goal is stable alk in the right range, not to dose as little as possible. The tank may consume a lot of alk and still be stable.

DexterPhi · Feb 23, 2020

Well according to the math Red Sea gives close to 5dkh ... it’s only about an 8 month old tank.. and I had been dosing closer to 2dkh today and got a little lazy on checking it and when I did I measured in the 4’s....

I religiously do weekly 15% water changes which I think is what kept the tank out of trouble.....

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 23, 2020

Once precipitation gets going (if it has) on sand and rock surfaces, it can be hard to stop it. You need to let alk drop and allow time for organics and magnesium to pacify the fresh calcium carbonate surfaces.
If you are confident you are dosing 5 dKH per day, I’d stop dosing entirely and track all for several days. Then slowly restart.