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hey guys,
I added a skimmer last weekend to my 20 gallon nano. I had been dialing in Alk and Cal dosing by checking dialy for the week before i added the skimmer. I had just got to the piont where i was confident enough to dial back my testing and started doing it every other day. Then mid way through the week i tested my Alk at the same time as always and it was way down. I was shocked so i upped my Alk dose and waited 24 hours. Sure enough it was low again. So im increasing again to try and find my new balance. Now it just dawned on me, could the increase in airation from my oversized skimmer be driving my pH up enough to effect my Alk levels? I remember reading that with higher pH comes higher calcification/abiotic precipitation. Anybody else ever notice this? Im kind of shocked by how much Alk im using now. I have two small sps frags, a small chalice frag, a small hammer, a small acan, and a few small ricordea. Im not really noticing any visible growth. Also i have slowly been ramping up my lighting as well but i stopped that this week in order to solve this Alk issue. The swing in consumption is up to 0.7 dkh a day now. Is that unheard of for a lightly stocked mixed tank like mine? Thanks!
I added a skimmer last weekend to my 20 gallon nano. I had been dialing in Alk and Cal dosing by checking dialy for the week before i added the skimmer. I had just got to the piont where i was confident enough to dial back my testing and started doing it every other day. Then mid way through the week i tested my Alk at the same time as always and it was way down. I was shocked so i upped my Alk dose and waited 24 hours. Sure enough it was low again. So im increasing again to try and find my new balance. Now it just dawned on me, could the increase in airation from my oversized skimmer be driving my pH up enough to effect my Alk levels? I remember reading that with higher pH comes higher calcification/abiotic precipitation. Anybody else ever notice this? Im kind of shocked by how much Alk im using now. I have two small sps frags, a small chalice frag, a small hammer, a small acan, and a few small ricordea. Im not really noticing any visible growth. Also i have slowly been ramping up my lighting as well but i stopped that this week in order to solve this Alk issue. The swing in consumption is up to 0.7 dkh a day now. Is that unheard of for a lightly stocked mixed tank like mine? Thanks!