KH DROPPING HELP!

bherbold8

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hi all thanks for dropping in. My 25 gallon waterbox has been running since Feb 28th. Alkalinity has basically been dropping since April. It was up around 8.3, then down to 8.1 on March 4th. On 4-22 I tested (RedSea) at 7 kH. The next week I started dosing 1.5 G of seachem Reef Builder twice a week. My last dose was on 5-4. Today I tested and my kH is down to 6!!

pH 8.1
Calcium 420
salinity

Corals had been looking good until today. Hammer/acan/torch look good but my monti SPS is retracted today.

Just looking for advice here. Do I keep with the Reef Builder dosing? I do 10% Weekly water changes and don't believe my corals are uptaking this much dkh?? Any advice is much appreciated, thanks ya'll!

-Ben
Austin, Tx

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homer1475

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IS there a white crust anywhere? Have you checked your sandbed to see if it's getting hard in spots?

Taken any pumps apart to se if there is a white crust on the magnets?

I'm not familiar with that product, so unsure how much in DKH your actually doing.
 
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bherbold8

bherbold8

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Looks like your aquarium is consuming quite a bit of Alk. Have you thought about dosing 2 part? Your corals will thank you!
That's crazy though!! I have some GSP, 3 headed candy coral, 15ish head acan, 5 small colonies palys/zoas, 6 head hammer thats been blowing up in size, two small sps pieces, 3 head duncan, and a torch. Do you think this type of kH drop is expected?
 
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bherbold8

bherbold8

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IS there a white crust anywhere? Have you checked your sandbed to see if it's getting hard in spots?

Taken any pumps apart to se if there is a white crust on the magnets?

I'm not familiar with that product, so unsure how much in DKH your actually doing.
No no signs of precipitation...I will take my wavemakers apart to check for any white substance....

I'm not dosing much was just trying to get it slightly above 7 and now has dropped to 6 in a week....

"Each 3g/150 L will raise alkalinity by about .25 meq/L."
 

elysics

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I wouldn't trust an alkalinity supplement that doesn't say what's in it, everyone else does, and it's not like this is brand new

But I wouldn't call that a huge drop, if coralline started growing somewhere or one of those frags did that might do it.
 
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PeterC99

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That's crazy though!! I have some GSP, 3 headed candy coral, 15ish head acan, 5 small colonies palys/zoas, 6 head hammer thats been blowing up in size, two small sps pieces, 3 head duncan, and a torch. Do you think this type of kH drop is expected?
The aquarium reaches a point of optimization and the coral growth takes off. Looks like you have hit this growth spurt.

Try dosing some 2 party daily, test parameters, and see what happens.
 
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bherbold8

bherbold8

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So your dosing less then .7 dkh if I understand that correctly?

3g = .25meq/l or .75dkh?
Yeah that sounds right, doing that twice a week. I'm just doing the recommended dose. Once I get it to where I want it I plan on starting two part since pH has been steady around 8.1
 
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bherbold8

bherbold8

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I have a 20 ga QT with less corals than you and I lose .5 Dkh a day. I supplement with about 1/3 tsp of baking soda a day.
Okay good to know. I had a tank 8 years ago but it was mostly softies and I just let them do their thing, probably didnt test kH once haha I guess I shouldn't be so suprised
 
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bherbold8

bherbold8

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The aquarium reaches a point of optimization and the coral growth takes off. Looks like you have hit this growth spurt.

Try dosing some 2 party daily, test parameters, and see what happens.
Thanks Peter. I only starting dosing Reef Builder because I felt that Alk was my only low paremeter. My plan is to raise Alk to around 8 -8.3 and then start my two part regimen.
 
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bherbold8

bherbold8

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I wouldn't trust an alkalinity supplement that doesn't say what's in it, everyone else does, and it's not like this is brand new

But I wouldn't call that a huge drop, if coralline started growing somewhere or one of those frags did that might do it.
It's funny you say that. I have had some corraline growth on both wavemakers, and just this week I saw my first spot of coralline appear on the back glass.
 

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Double check your magnesium. I had that problem with no white precipitation but as soon as I brought my mag from 1200ish to 1320ish, my alk stopped dropping with no other changes. Could be coincidence, but it's what I experienced.
 
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bherbold8

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Double check your magnesium. I had that problem with no white precipitation but as soon as I brought my mag from 1200ish to 1320ish, my alk stopped dropping with no other changes. Could be coincidence, but it's what I experienced.
Thanks for your response, my mag was actually 1425 on 4/22
 

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Salt can be your issue, sometimes test kit are no accurate I check my parameters 2 or 3 times to see if my results are the same but a Red Sea coral pro salt keep dkh at about 11 very good salt you don’t have to worry about it going low
 
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bherbold8

bherbold8

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Salt can be your issue, sometimes test kit are no accurate I check my parameters 2 or 3 times to see if my results are the same but a Red Sea coral pro salt keep dkh at about 11 very good salt you don’t have to worry about it going low
I'm using Fritz pro blue and don't want to change salts to avoid throwing off levels .....started dosing B-ionic two part and fixed the issue
 

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