Low Alk, mg AND Calcium (&no3)

[Nanolifeuk]

Tank isn’t really new (about 14 months) but I’m having a parameter consumption problem.
I water change 20L (tank is 60L) Saturday every week. Salt mix is:

kh 9.8 mg 1340 , ca 440

Before water change parameters were :
Kh 7.0 mg 1200 ca 400
After water change:
Kh 8.4 mg 1200 ca 400
24 hours later:
Kh 7.7 mg 1200 ca 400
No3 po4 always undetectable.

How can these be so low when I replace so much water ? Kh always comes back down to 7 - I didn’t think I would need to dose so often in a nano.

I am going to dose ph buffer to 8kh daily.
I also need to dose 16gram magnesium for 10 days.

is there a solution to this? I have been fish only for months because of this. I never had success keeping coral & Don’t want to lose any more new corals.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

what salt u using?

 

[Nanolifeuk]

Few more points.

salt mix param’s are @ 1.026 salinity
I aim for 1.025, but surely that doesn’t low all parameters that much

I have already tried swapping brands of salt.

I stock 2 clowns. and 5 small soft/lps frags. I feed once in evening each day. Either :
Half cube frozen mysis
About 10/20 pellets
Or pinch of flakes (not so much)

I struggle to bump no3 up.

 

[Nanolifeuk]

what salt u using?

Dd h2ocean at the moment, switched to it from quantum probiotic.

 

[Dcloser12]

I'm not 100% sure your process but let's dive into my opinion.

You are changing 1/3 of your total volume of water. Think of it on the reverse side. Your total volume of perfect water is 20L and you ware watering it down with 40L. Test just before a water change and then 1 hour after to ensure proper mixing of old and new water. That will tell you what your nutritional levels are and what you are replenishing each change. Softies don't consume much if any cal but alk and cal should be 1:1. Then you can see what you need to dose. I think your readings may be off slightly.

 

[Nanolifeuk]

I'm not 100% sure your process but let's dive into my opinion.

You are changing 1/3 of your total volume of water. Think of it on the reverse side. Your total volume of perfect water is 20L and you ware watering it down with 40L. Test just before a water change and then 1 hour after to ensure proper mixing of old and new water. That will tell you what your nutritional levels are and what you are replenishing each change. Softies don't consume much if any cal but alk and cal should be 1:1. Then you can see what you need to dose. I think your readings may be off slightly.

Yeah perhaps- did before/after testing, everything stayed the same apart from kh risen 1.4.

I use salifert tests. I hate them with a passion, they draw +/- 0.03 Titration liquid every time.
People say the air gap doesn’t matter but it really does
if there’s a smaller/bigger air gap the final drop of titration will be low/higher up on the syringe giving a false reading.

I have done each test a few times for this reason and took and average.

I might do an ICP.

 

[Dcloser12]

Test every 2 days and only test cal and alk. After 3 consecutive tests add them all up for a total alk and Calc consumption. Divide by 6 and you'll see what your actually consuming per day. Typically water changes alone are never enough to keep parameters stable. Stability swings based upon water volume. I have 400 gallons and I'm dosing almost 20ml of alk and Calc a day for Stability. The lower the volume the more dramatic the swing. If you are not topping off daily the results will be different as well. Evaporation will cause a higher concentration of these elements. Make sure you test salinity with your parameters. It matters on small tanks