Reef tank consuming a lot of alk and calcium. Help : (

[lonewonderer]

Hello everyone, I started my 60 gallon shallow reef tank last Aug 2018 and all is doing fine until the other day. I noticed my birdsnest "in the middle top of the picture" is starting to have tissue loss. It might be STN. tissue loss is on the top side of the BN so i know its not phosphate related. I dose my tank 60ml of alk "Soda Ash" twice daily at night and my alk is still on 7dkh. My friend told me that i have to spread the dosing not just twice at night but thru out the lights are off. maybe he is right that is why my BN is having tissue loss. Now for my question. is 75ml too much for my 60gallon shallow reef tank and 300ml of calcium? I'm trying to reach 10dkh but is 75ml per day too much for my system? I have see growth of Coraline algae on my rocks and glass. need your opinion please.

alk 7
cal 400
mag 1350
phos and nitrate undetectable.
ph 8.01 high - 7.85 low

60 gallon mixed reef tank
trigger sump 26
nyos 160
CW 200 ATS
Apex EL
Hydor Seltz D 1600gph RP
Icecap 3k
Radion Xr30 G3 pro AB+
2 Aquaknight LED

 

[Crabs McJones]

So you're dosing 120ml of soda ash a day, two 60ml dosings at night if im reading that correctly? That could be to much of a swing for your system to handle. What soda ash are you using? Homemade or brs or other?

 

[lonewonderer]

So you're dosing 120ml of soda ash a day, two 60ml dosings at night if im reading that correctly? That could be to much of a swing for your system to handle. What soda ash are you using? Homemade or brs or other?

Hi Crabs, It's only 60ml per day not 120ml. and I use A&H baked baking soda.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Hi Crabs, It's only 60ml per day not 120ml. and I use A&H baked baking soda.

Ok I read that wrong then, so you're doing two 30ml doses for 60 a day.

 

[lonewonderer]

Ok I read that wrong then, so you're doing two 30ml doses for 60 a day.

yes. do you think that is too much for my tank? Or i keep on adding more little by little until i get the stable alk that i wanted.

 

[Crabs McJones]

yes. do you think that is too much for my tank? Or i keep on adding more little by little until i get the stable alk that i wanted.

60ml a night be a bit much of a swing. If you're not able to get a dosing pump to dose throughout the day for you, I would do 30ml in the morning and 30ml at night. Space the two dosings out further

 

[lonewonderer]

60ml a night be a bit much of a swing. If you're not able to get a dosing pump to dose throughout the day for you, I would do 30ml in the morning and 30ml at night. Space the two dosings out further

i just finished adjusting the evo4 doser so what i did is dose 6ml per hour thru out the night. hopefully that works. any how, if my tank needs more alk I can still add more right? because my friend told me 60ml is too much for my tank while for me it needs more. to raise the alk.

 

[Crabs McJones]

i just finished adjusting the evo4 doser so what i did is dose 6ml per hour thru out the night. hopefully that works. any how, if my tank needs more alk I can still add more right? because my friend told me 60ml is too much for my tank while for me it needs more. to raise the alk.

My tank is a total volume of 60 gallons and I'm dosing 70ml per day

 

[lonewonderer]

My tank is a total volume of 60 gallons and I'm dosing 70ml per day

got it thank you so much crabs. I was browsing around here and saw a thread that big boss rhevtree asked "how much do you dose your tank?" and from there i saw that some reefers dose more than other people. I will just slowly dosing it up until i reach my desired dhk. thank you again!

 

[reef lover]

+1 each tank and its inhabitants are different and each will use what it needs...looking nice!

 

[IslandLifeReef]

If your PO4 and NO3 are undetectable, that may be the reason that your birds nest is STN'ing. Also, if you are running and ULN system, which if your NO3 and PO4 are undetectable it is ULN, then you don't want to have your ALK at 10 dKh.

7 dKh for your system seems fine. If everything was looking good at that dKh, I wouldn't raise it. There are a lot of SPS sellers that keep their dKh between 6.5 and 7.5, so why chase a high number?

 

[shred5]

You do not need 10 dkh, I shoot for slightly above Natural saltwater levels. Shooting a little above just gives me a little headroom in case something goes wrong. I do not like running at the edges of acceptable ranges.

Also it looks like you got some coralline algae. It can use allot of calcium and alk. I love coralline in my tank but I try to keep it off the glass.

Stability is the key here and I would suggest a doser instead of dumping a bunch in.

I agree with IslandLifeReeef check your nutrient levels. With low nutrients I never saw stn but light corals. They might just be light in color and not STN.. I have had corals die if the nutrients stayed to low for too long.