Ongoing dKh problems, 20 gallon Nuvo
 

Hey Everyone,

I bought my Nuvo Fusion fully stocked in March of this year. Since I bought it, I haven't been able to consistently keep my dHh over 5.0 (I know.) My Ca is also on the low end, and Mg is adequate. I'll update with specific numbers tomorrow; just did a water change tonight. I'll also throw in some pics

Here are the details:

Tank: 20 gallon Nuvo Fusion
- Running a Ghost skimmer
- Using IM filter media in the two HOB filters
- Running two Kessil A80 lights
- Tunze ATO

Livestock
- One oscellaris clown
- One Pajama cardinal
- One sapphire damsel
- One watchman goby
- One pistol shrimp
- One fire shrimp

- Huge birdsnest SPS (doing great)
- Two other smaller SPS frags
- Very large leather
- Multiple zoas, mushrooms, other softies

Maintenance:
- 3-4 gallon water change q7-10 days. LFS water, used to be RPM, but has recently been Kent. RPM wasn't holding alkilinity, so at first I thought that was my problem. Clearly there's something else going on. The water is never over 4-5 weeks sitting in a bucket, max. The Kent holds its alk well during that time.
- 2 part dosing with Reef Code A & B, always dosed 10 minutes apart minimum. I dose with each water change and I've tried dosing daily to very little avail

I've bought new Reef Code, new test kits, taken my water to the LFS . . . No one has any idea why I can't get and keep my alk up. I can get it to 6.5 right after a water change, but it invariably drops within a few days, despite dosing. I'm not a novice reef keeper, and I'm close to my wit's end. I'm going to try switching to Seachem's 2 part dosing to see if that helps, and my LFS also suggested a complete water change using some of their cycled water. Any other thoughts?

Cross posted in the Nano Aquarium group

A lot of tanks go through 2-3 dKH per day. My soft coral tanks did, for example. There was a lot of coralline growth involved. I suspect that you are seeing normal consumption, but we'd need to get a few days or more of data on the subject.

For now, you could use baking soda to dose alkalinity, since I don't know the concentration of that 2-part. Just dissolve the baking soda in a bit of water and dose. This calculator might help:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

It requires a guess as to the actual water volume of your system. I'd suggest dosing 1 dKH as a target, and measuring the alkalinity level a minute or so after dosing. A few doses should get you a reasonable estimate as to the total water volume. You can increase the dose to 2 dKH when you're getting closer.

Once you have the water volume estimate under control, we can start to work on the alkalinity consumption. I'd dose the tank to 8 dKH, and then measure the level 12 and 24 hours later.

I used kalk for all my ATO water on my Red Sea Reefer Nano (21gal) which was 90% SPS with a large clam. Maintained levels fairly well with very little maintenance.

Sounds like you need to up your dosing.
Can you delete your other post that is exactly the same as this?????
Cheers! Mark