Why is my Alk so low?

[Yates273]

So I have been cycling my tank and lit recently cycled based on my testing. No ammonia no nitrites and 10+ nitrates. I am using Reef Crystals. Then tank currently have 2 clowns in nothing else. There is macro algae in the fuge and my alk is 5.7. What gives could this be an indication my tank is not fully cycled. I started to dose approx 250 ml of alk daily to get it up. Any ideas.

 

[kabal2]

calc is high and did you try to calibrate your trident, double check your alk manually? I was straggling with calc for a week into a find out the tubing to my dosing container was disconnected it

 

[Yates273]

Will double Check tubing and recheck with my Hana checkers. Yeah my calcium very high and I’m not even dosing calcium.

 

[mnat]

Calcium and alk work as a seesaw, so having high calc can push your alk down.

 

[jd120988]

My last batch of reef crystals mixed at 6dkh, I've since switched to tropic marin. Not saying this is the issue here but that was my experience with rewf crystals. I'll add I never had an issue with them in the past mixing that low.

 

[eholceker]

Organics can consume alk. If your not dosing and just went through a cycle that can be it. Also did you calibrate the trident? It's going to be either of those two.

 

[Yates273]

I am now dosing 275 ml of alk and it’s still reading 5.71 but I’m only on day 2 of dosing that much and I did not calibrate yet will have to do today. Wanted to give it a few days since once I started to dose.

 

[eholceker]

I am now dosing 275 ml of alk and it’s still reading 5.71 but I’m only on day 2 of dosing that much and I did not calibrate yet will have to do today. Wanted to give it a few days since once I started to dose.

You shouldn't dose anything until the unit is calibrated. 275 ml is a lot of alk.

 

[Yates273]

Copy I thought it was. Figured since I only have 2 fish in it won’t hurt. Guess I will stop dosing until I calibrate then

 

[Yates273]

Well after calibrating this is now my reading. Still low Alk and high Calcium. I will double check with my other test kit to see when I get a chance

 

[eholceker]

Run the test a couple.of times. You dosing cal also?

 

[Yates273]

No was hoping that will eventually come down. I see if Calcium is that high that could be a reason for low alk. I may dump in 250 ml of alk to see what that does. I have no corals in tank. My Dos is dosing 3ml every 10 minutes now but I may shut that for now and do one large dose to see what I get

 

[Yates273]

Well the 250 ml of alk solution all at once did the trick. Need to work on calcium. Now I just have to monitor all to see what I’m consuming. Also boosted my ph up to 8.28

 

[eholceker]

My daily dose is 310ml in my reefer 750 and this is what my tank looks like. Just so you can get a sense.

 

[eholceker]

This system uses about 210ml.

 

[Yates273]

Dear god very nice ! I think I just needed an initial dose to bring it up. Now it’s hovering at 8.5 after 24 hours. Also I think I know why my daily dosing wasn’t doing anything. The dose fitting was leaking and was dumping the alk solution all over my cabinet. Looked like a snow storm when I opened the cabinet. I def should not be dosing that much in one day without anything. I can see why your tank has that kind of demand. I do like the fact that since getting my alk in line my ph is now 8.3