Is loosing 1 dkh a day normal?

[silicon_dt]

Does loosing 1 dkh a day seem normal for a tank with only one SPS and one LPS?

I recently wanted to start practicing getting my alk/calcium up to around 11dkh and 430 calcium... I also switched to tropic marine pro-reef which seems to have a really low alk of around 8.

I have gotten my alk up around 11 but it drops right back down to 10 the next day. I am thinking it it something in the pro-reef formula that is droping the alk.

They say "Tropic Marin® PRO-REEF's buffering system and pH-level have been specifically formulated to stabilise water conditions in your aquarium. This means that the KH level in your aquarium will not be affected, even when using calcium supplements."

I'm not really sure what to make of that? Has anyone else used this salt and had a hard time keeping alk up?

--Daniel

[drsyme]

I am not sure what to make of that either, it makes no sense to me.

However, your alk and calcium will drop at a certain rate depending on lots of things, such as temperature, salinity, tank size, population of stony corals, and calcareous algae, and other factors.

If your rate is 1 dkh/day that is ok as long as your calcium is dropping at a similar rate. Depending on your pH, ambient CO2 levels, and other acid producers in your tank (i.e detritus) the dkh will likely drop at a faster rate than calcium, but you want it to be as close to equimolar as you can.

If your consumption of alk and calcium is high you will need to supplement continuously via kalkwasser or calcium reactor, etc. These methods are preferable to using a two part buffer system if your stony coral load, calcareous algae, abiotic precipitation rates are high, and therefore your rate of dropping alkalinity, and calcium are high as a result.

[tdwyatt]

How are you measuring your calcium levels? your alk levels?

What has been your daily pH swing from lights on to lights off?

Do you have large amounts of organic material in the tank? How often do you do water changes? Do you use UV or Ozone? What kind of skimmer do you use, and how do you run it?


You didn't mention what your hermatypic populations consist of: what do you have in the tank, and give us some idea of how big the specimens are as well.


HTH start the ball rolling.

[whatevva]

I use the Tropic Marin Pro Reef but I bring the new ASW up to 14 dKh(using Kent Super Buffer dKh) before I do a water change. I keep both my tanks at 13 dKh. By the end of the week the dKh can be down to 12ish. My calcium stays at a consistant 460.

[tdwyatt]

Any progress on this post??? How is the tank doing now?

[tashier]

How did it turn out?