Need help dosing Alk

etork · Sep 23, 2020

I have a 75 gal DT, probably 80 gal system overall. Using TM pro, water mixes up at 6.5 dKh (i have tested this several ways, still unsure why it's mixing up so low)

Wanting to run between 7.5 and 8. Should I be dosing soda ash over the next few days to raise alk to my desired level, and then measure daily to see daily consumption before hooking up to my doser?

Tank inhabitants include 2 clowns, pintail, handful of snails, and i just added a zoa and an acan. Tank has been running for 2.5 months.

Pistondog · Sep 23, 2020

etork said:
I have a 75 gal DT, probably 80 gal system overall. Using TM pro, water mixes up at 6.5 dKh (i have tested this several ways, still unsure why it's mixing up so low)

Wanting to run between 7.5 and 8. Should I be dosing soda ash over the next few days to raise alk to my desired level, and then measure daily to see daily consumption before hooking up to my doser?

Tank inhabitants include 2 clowns, pintail, handful of snails, and i just added a zoa and an acan. Tank has been running for 2.5 months.

If you don't have anything consuming the alk, like corals or coralline alge, you might not have to dose. Just need to make up alk from water changes.
I raised the alk recently in my 75g with baking soda. I added a Teaspoon a day until it was where I wanted. Check weekly after that, or after a water change. There are calculators if you want to to get more precise

blasterman · Sep 23, 2020

Never heard of a salt mix mixing dKH below 7.5 or so. I would double check with a different test.

Young tanks can be erratic with alk consumption so I advise keeping them at dKH of 9 or so.

A 60 cent box of baking soda, set of measuring spoons and the online reef calculator. Done. Heat the baking soda in an oven in a glass bowl for half an hour if you want to convert it to soda ash. Not that big a difference other than soda ash increases pH a bit.

etork · Sep 24, 2020

blasterman said:
Never heard of a salt mix mixing dKH below 7.5 or so. I would double check with a different test.

Young tanks can be erratic with alk consumption so I advise keeping them at dKH of 9 or so.

A 60 cent box of baking soda, set of measuring spoons and the online reef calculator. Done. Heat the baking soda in an oven in a glass bowl for half an hour if you want to convert it to soda ash. Not that big a difference other than soda ash increases pH a bit.

Both Red Sea and Hanna checker have read the low dKh on several separate occasions. Salt is being mixed to 35% salinity.

I'm gathering that we may not want to start dosing with a pump yet, as the two small corals we have won't be using up that much alk. But maybe I need to adjust with some bicarb, and then measure daily to see if daily soda ash is needed?