Alkalinity mystery

NickCM · 01/11/2014, 10:49 PM

My alkalinity in my tank is quite low and I am not sure why. Here are the details... 60 gallon tank has been running for one month. Using red sea coral pro salt. The mixed batch has dkh of 12. After about 2 weeks in my tank the dkh is 6.8. I took the "6.8" reading 2 days after I added one frogspawn and one favia. Other than that, there is no other corals. The tank was started with dry rock...no coralline growth.. have not noticed any precipitation anywhere. Other parameters are Mag 1380, cal 520, temp around 78, ph 8.2, phosphates 0.05 nitrates less than 1ppm...
I have no idea why the alkalinity is so low....any ideas?? (tested with hanna checker)

downbeach · 01/11/2014, 10:52 PM

I'd get a second opinion on the test/kit.

NickCM · 01/11/2014, 11:12 PM

I would think it was a bad hanna checker but it is consistently measuring low in my tank and consistently measuring high in my mixing container. So I can't see why it would be accurate for my mix every time I test it but not accurate for my tank every time I test it.

bertoni · 01/11/2014, 11:58 PM

Other people have reported similar drops in alkalinity. I'm not sure what's happening. Personally, I'd just keep dosing and not worry very much. That's not much of a drop over two weeks. A bit of abiotic precipitation or small amounts of coralline growth might drop the level that much. Hard to say.

tmz · 01/12/2014, 12:18 AM

There seem to be a number of reports of odd alk drops with that salt .The manufacturer notes it needs to be used within 4 hours of mixing unlike other salt mixes. I have no idea what's' occurring, though, since I don't know much abut what's in that salt and how it all reacts.

triggreef · 01/12/2014, 02:02 AM

Ditch the coral pro and go with the regular. There's no need to have elevated levels esp with little to no corals. I use the regular red sea and never have troubles and I have well over 50 corals and some are pretty big. Its really more important to have the big 3 in a good ratio with each other. If one is out of whack its no good whether you run on the high ends or the low ends.

NickCM · 01/12/2014, 01:07 PM

Yeah, I think I am going to switch to something else. I never had this problem before I started using coral pro.

01/11/2014, 10:49 PM	#1
NickCM Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 12	Alkalinity mystery My alkalinity in my tank is quite low and I am not sure why. Here are the details... 60 gallon tank has been running for one month. Using red sea coral pro salt. The mixed batch has dkh of 12. After about 2 weeks in my tank the dkh is 6.8. I took the "6.8" reading 2 days after I added one frogspawn and one favia. Other than that, there is no other corals. The tank was started with dry rock...no coralline growth.. have not noticed any precipitation anywhere. Other parameters are Mag 1380, cal 520, temp around 78, ph 8.2, phosphates 0.05 nitrates less than 1ppm... I have no idea why the alkalinity is so low....any ideas?? (tested with hanna checker)

01/11/2014, 11:58 PM	#4
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Other people have reported similar drops in alkalinity. I'm not sure what's happening. Personally, I'd just keep dosing and not worry very much. That's not much of a drop over two weeks. A bit of abiotic precipitation or small amounts of coralline growth might drop the level that much. Hard to say. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

01/12/2014, 12:18 AM	#5
tmz ReefKeeping Mag staff Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: West Seneca NY Posts: 27,691	There seem to be a number of reports of odd alk drops with that salt .The manufacturer notes it needs to be used within 4 hours of mixing unlike other salt mixes. I have no idea what's' occurring, though, since I don't know much abut what's in that salt and how it all reacts. __________________ Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals.

01/12/2014, 02:02 AM	#6
triggreef Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: East Hampton, CT Posts: 2,917	Ditch the coral pro and go with the regular. There's no need to have elevated levels esp with little to no corals. I use the regular red sea and never have troubles and I have well over 50 corals and some are pretty big. Its really more important to have the big 3 in a good ratio with each other. If one is out of whack its no good whether you run on the high ends or the low ends. __________________ 200g DD Marineland. Acro and monti heavy with some birdsnest, LPS, and zoas. 125g FOWLR

01/11/2014, 10:52 PM	#2
downbeach Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Smyrna, Delaware Posts: 3,767	I'd get a second opinion on the test/kit.

01/11/2014, 11:12 PM	#3
NickCM Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 12	I would think it was a bad hanna checker but it is consistently measuring low in my tank and consistently measuring high in my mixing container. So I can't see why it would be accurate for my mix every time I test it but not accurate for my tank every time I test it.

01/12/2014, 01:07 PM	#7
NickCM Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 12	Yeah, I think I am going to switch to something else. I never had this problem before I started using coral pro.