Tripled my dosage and alk still dropping!!!!

[jayteerq]

This is nuts.

Context - I have a 250g system. Packed with plenty LPS, a few frags of acros and a 6” clam. This tank is almost 6 months old. My dosing is 2000mL Kalk in a stirrer and 20mL All For Reef. That has kept my alk stable at 8-8.2. My PH has always been awful. A lot of co2 in the house. Average PH is 7.7-7.9. So awful so I installed a co2 scrubber 4 days ago.

The Problem - My ph is now 8.2-8.4 yay! Here’s the problem… my alk dropped from 8 to 6.7!!!! So for the past 2 days, after every trident test every 6 hrs, I would check my reading and increase my Kalk dosage. Today I’ve dosed 8400mL and my alk is still stuck at 6.7!!! I even verified the reading with my Hanna.

Has this ever happened to anyone? Could it be precipitating somehow? Could the Kalk stirrer be dripping so much that it’s not having time to saturate the water?? I checked with Avast Marine and they said max daily dose is 2.5 gal which I’m not at yet. So I’m just questioning. What is it going to take to get my alk back up?! Should I start increasing my AFR dose?

Lol thanks for any help!

 

[ndrwater]

Yup... Been there done that... Seems you have gotten to the point where the corals are super happy and about to go nuts with growth.
You are experiencing exactly why I stopped dosing in my 240 and switched to a Calcium Reactor... When I switched I was dosing a couple GALLONS each Ca and Alk monthly.. just got too expensive.
A CaRx is more stable and easier IMO. especially in a bigger tank with a heavy coral load.

 

[Sam7]

I doubt thats his problem with a only 6 months old tank. Go let someone else verify your alk...lfs maybe

 

[Sam7]

Yup... Been there done that... Seems you have gotten to the point where the corals are super happy and about to go nuts with growth.
You are experiencing exactly why I stopped dosing in my 240 and switched to a Calcium Reactor... When I switched I was dosing a couple GALLONS each Ca and Alk monthly.. just got too expensive.
A CaRx is more stable and easier IMO. especially in a bigger tank with a heavy coral load.

I doubt thats his problem with a only 6 months old tank.????? Does it happen that fast?

 

[jayteerq]

Yup... Been there done that... Seems you have gotten to the point where the corals are super happy and about to go nuts with growth.
You are experiencing exactly why I stopped dosing in my 240 and switched to a Calcium Reactor... When I switched I was dosing a couple GALLONS each Ca and Alk monthly.. just got too expensive.
A CaRx is more stable and easier IMO. especially in a bigger tank with a heavy coral load.

Right! It’s a nice problem to have but too bad our bank account has to pay for it haha. I’m not looking forward to cashing out for a calcium reactor set up

 

[jayteerq]

I doubt thats his problem with a only 6 months old tank.????? Does it happen that fast?

Alk was verified with 2 different Hanna checkers. 1 ppm version and 1 dkh version. Also ran a salifert alk kit on it. All was within .2 of each other. I think my corals are definitely going through a growth boost. I strongly believe going from 7.7 ph to now 8.3 made a huge difference. It helps corals grow their skeletons. Anything under 7.8 really hinders it. Other than that, my tank has been stable and strict on maintenance so I feel like the corals just needed that PH and they were ready to go. Here’s a pic of my tank taken last week.

 

[slingfox]

Alk was verified with 2 different Hanna checkers. 1 ppm version and 1 dkh version. Also ran a salifert alk kit on it. All was within .2 of each other. I think my corals are definitely going through a growth boost. I strongly believe going from 7.7 ph to now 8.3 made a huge difference. It helps corals grow their skeletons. Anything under 7.8 really hinders it. Other than that, my tank has been stable and strict on maintenance so I feel like the corals just needed that PH and they were ready to go. Here’s a pic of my tank taken last week.

Looking good! What is your plan for target alk level now?

 

[jayteerq]

Looking good! What is your plan for target alk level now?

Thank you! Trident just tested 2 hrs ago and I’m finally back at 7. It tested 6.99 which I find hilarious lol. But my plan is to set my Kalk stirrer to 80% of my average evap rate. And then try to use up my AFR to supply the rest. Hopefully I can stabilize with these two things and then cut out AFR for a calcium reactor. I think AFR is great for tanks under 100g but I don’t think it’s a good idea long term for me.

 

[Sam7]

Alk was verified with 2 different Hanna checkers. 1 ppm version and 1 dkh version. Also ran a salifert alk kit on it. All was within .2 of each other. I think my corals are definitely going through a growth boost. I strongly believe going from 7.7 ph to now 8.3 made a huge difference. It helps corals grow their skeletons. Anything under 7.8 really hinders it. Other than that, my tank has been stable and strict on maintenance so I feel like the corals just needed that PH and they were ready to go. Here’s a pic of my tank taken last week.

Really nice looking tank friend. Other person might be right with tank your size and coral amount. You probably are having a major growing spurt and havent got the dose amount set right obviously. All for reef takes a while to show correct reading , cant help with kalk stirrer amounts. I HAVE TO ADMIT I READ THE TANK SIZE WRONG AT 25 GALLONS LOL....instead of 250g

 

[Sam7]

That clam looks huge

 

[Sam7]

i bet you will need calc reactor sooner or later but what do i know

 

[MMI]

Just be sure you're not getting precipitation of your alk somewhere. When the ph increases, you're more likely to precipitate out and you need to add more and more alk, but the levels will continue to drop.