Alk Question

[Bygkid]

I have been doing SPS for about 10 months and until recently everything has been running pretty good. I don't use a calcium reactor or Kalk. I have been dosing only with seachems Reefbuilder calcium and Alk 2 part. Everything seems to be fine except that I have as late seem to be dosing ALOT more alk than I feel comfortable with. I tested a couple of days ago.
Ca-405,
Mag- 1250,
Alk 7dKh,
temp 78-80*
,Nitrate & nitrate-0 or near 0
Ph- 8.1
Recently it seems that I have been adding almost the equivilant in one day as I was doin once or twice a week. Is this normal? I use tropic marin Alk test kit as well for Ca and Mag. I have been checking Alk daily and adding as needed. I haven't been adding much more Ca than usual, but the amount of ALK is alarming. I have about 200lbs of LR if this matters. My millis PE aren't out very much but haven't noticed any other issues. I have about 15-20 SPS and a couple of LPS.
Thanks,
Scott

[Craig Lambert]

How much are you actually dosing? Daily dosing is normal, so you probably shouldn't be alarmed. I dose about 50 ml of Alk, and calcium per day (b-ionic two part) to maintain an ALK of 9, and I only have a 75G with a low to moderate stocking of sps. You might consider bumping up your ALK level a bit as you are right on the low end of the recommended range of 7-11 dKH.

[Kolognekoral]

An Alk of 7-8 is optimal. More is not necessary and very high alkalinity may be harmful to certain corals. I wouldn't worry as long as the Ca and Mg stay constant, as this represents the ion balance of the water. Calcium could be raised to 420, but the Mg will tend to drop if it goes much higher. After many years of experimenting, I have returned to mother natures recipe of 7-8KH, 8.0 pH, Ca 420 and Mg 1200. In a nutrient poor system, this gives me the best results. Excellent growth, clear, bright colour and general good health.

I once made the mistake of using too much Ca to maintain the Alk at 9-10 and Ca levels of 500, but this led to PO4 precipitation, which got me in the end. As the tank matured, the phosphate went back into solution and caused TN.

Check out some of the articles in the Advanced Topics forum to get a grasp of water chemistry. Fascinating and befuddling.

[j.prostrata]

NSW levels are 6-8 dKH. The more your SPS grow and the larger the alk demand the more you will have to dose. Thats why many start off with 2 part and then move to a Ca Rx after there sps take off for more stability.

[Bygkid]

I am dosing about 1 1/2 tsp of Alk per day. 2-3 tsp of Ca a week. When I dose Ca, I always do it a few hours apart. Ca , then Alk later in day. I have to admit that all of the SPS are getting good growth. My green slimer has about 75 tips after 7 months from a 3 inch piece originally. The color isn't where I want, but I prdered some Phoenix DE bulbs that should be here this week. Like I said, the only real issue that I have is with the PE of my milli's. Of course I have treated 2 times since 1st of dec for redbugs and that may explain the PE on the milli's. I was just kinda worried about the ALK consumption that seems to have spiked all of a sudden the last 2 months.

Scott

[Craig Lambert]

I'm surprised you can keep your alk and calcium levels where they are by dosing 1.5 tsp. per day in a 140G sps tank. That is not much two part solution at all.

[j.prostrata]

Scott, interceptor will not effect PE in a negative way at all. It will lead to better PE cause u got ride of the bugs. I would maybe look at using a turkey bastor and blast the coral to make sure u do not have any other pests. PE does not mean good or bad health in SPS though so if you find nothing it may be a nipping fish is all.

[Bygkid]

Craig Lambert-I'm surprised you can keep your alk and calcium levels where they are by dosing 1.5 tsp. per day in a 140G sps tank. That is not much two part solution at all.
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Funny you should say that because a friend of mine has been amazed at how well I am managing considering my lack of knowledge. I recently added about 25- 30lbs of LR rubble in my sump and refug but I don't know if that helps at all. Most of the colonies that I have are no more than a few inches across(except the slimer- 6- 8" across)and some are just frags. The montis are all doing awesome. I have a couple of softies, green bubble coral, frogspawn, candy cane, 1/2 dozen zoas(that appeared on a piece of LR),a few brown polyps and a 2" crocea. Not to mention that I went overboard with the fish load at 15. I run the CSS 200 wet 24/7 and usually keep a 1 foot cube of Cheato in my refug. I guess I need to start charting my parameter tests to better see whats happening in the long haul.
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j.prostrata-Scott, interceptor will not effect PE in a negative way at all. I would maybe look at using a turkey bastor and blast the coral to make sure u do not have any other pests.
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The thing about that I was wondering is that some have said that the lack of PE from the mill's are a pretty good indicator if you have redbugs. When I have used the Interceptor, most everything goes into 'feed mode' when I put it in(its kinda fun to watch) due to something in the tabs.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to use couple different test kits so as to check the results that I am currently getting. When I contacted Melev he mentioned to be on lookout for the AE flatworms in addition to the redbugs. Someone at LFS said to be watching for some kind of nudi as well. I will get a large magnifier and see if there is smething messng with them, cause they all have been less PE for about 2 1/2 months. PE is still good at night though.

Thank you all for your insight and info,
Scott