Hello all,
For about 2-3 days I noticed my Alk started to drop.
I started noticing this around the same time when I started to add a bit of Mg solution (Foundation Magnesium from Red Sea) and the reason I started adding Mg was because its level was dropping too and got to around 1276 ppm.
Up until this evening I kept increasing slowly the dosage for Alk solution (I am suing KH Plus from AquaForest) but my Alk level still didn't seem to go up at all.
This evening, I took a look in the sump as I was trying to pump a bit of Alk solution and noticed that as soon as the solution hits the water it precipitates. Thinking the flow might be too low, because I am dosing in the return pump compartment in the sump, I decided to put a few drops directly in the DT, right at the return pump nozzle and the same thing happened.
So now I am not sure what is wrong.
One of the causes, likely is the low nutrient system. I was running the skimmer continuously for the past few days, so my phosphates and nitrates are 0, although I don't know how true of a measurement it is, because my sump still grows hair algae.
For the other parameters:
Salt: 35 ppt (used to be around 35.5, but today I've added a bit more RODI water)
Temp: 78F on average (fluctuates from 77.5 to 78.5)
PH: 8.2 at night and 8.33 during daytime.
Alk: currently sitting at 8.79 (my target is around 9 - 9.1 dKH)
CA: 399 PPM
MG 1316 PPM
Any suggestions on what I should do to stop the Alk solution precipitating?
I am not sure if it's related, I would assume it would be related to the drop in Alk, but one of my Acropora Millepora started dying. Looks like RTN because in about 1.5 days, more than half of it lost the tissue.
I do have the original colony as well in the tank (this was just a frag that started growing into a colony as well) but the original one doesn't seem to be affected.
LATER EDIT: After dosing a bit more than usual, trying to figure out whether dripping in the pumps flow would eliminate the issue, I re-ran a test. (at 7PM my Alk reading was 8.79 dKH and 2.5 hours later at 9:22 PM, my alk dropped to 8.73 dkH). Looks like all that I dosed while playing around did not get dissolved.
My other concern is: what if it starts dissolving and then my alk is going to spike. So I have no clue what to do now.
Thank you in advance for all your advice!
For about 2-3 days I noticed my Alk started to drop.
I started noticing this around the same time when I started to add a bit of Mg solution (Foundation Magnesium from Red Sea) and the reason I started adding Mg was because its level was dropping too and got to around 1276 ppm.
Up until this evening I kept increasing slowly the dosage for Alk solution (I am suing KH Plus from AquaForest) but my Alk level still didn't seem to go up at all.
This evening, I took a look in the sump as I was trying to pump a bit of Alk solution and noticed that as soon as the solution hits the water it precipitates. Thinking the flow might be too low, because I am dosing in the return pump compartment in the sump, I decided to put a few drops directly in the DT, right at the return pump nozzle and the same thing happened.
So now I am not sure what is wrong.
One of the causes, likely is the low nutrient system. I was running the skimmer continuously for the past few days, so my phosphates and nitrates are 0, although I don't know how true of a measurement it is, because my sump still grows hair algae.
For the other parameters:
Salt: 35 ppt (used to be around 35.5, but today I've added a bit more RODI water)
Temp: 78F on average (fluctuates from 77.5 to 78.5)
PH: 8.2 at night and 8.33 during daytime.
Alk: currently sitting at 8.79 (my target is around 9 - 9.1 dKH)
CA: 399 PPM
MG 1316 PPM
Any suggestions on what I should do to stop the Alk solution precipitating?
I am not sure if it's related, I would assume it would be related to the drop in Alk, but one of my Acropora Millepora started dying. Looks like RTN because in about 1.5 days, more than half of it lost the tissue.
I do have the original colony as well in the tank (this was just a frag that started growing into a colony as well) but the original one doesn't seem to be affected.
LATER EDIT: After dosing a bit more than usual, trying to figure out whether dripping in the pumps flow would eliminate the issue, I re-ran a test. (at 7PM my Alk reading was 8.79 dKH and 2.5 hours later at 9:22 PM, my alk dropped to 8.73 dkH). Looks like all that I dosed while playing around did not get dissolved.
My other concern is: what if it starts dissolving and then my alk is going to spike. So I have no clue what to do now.
Thank you in advance for all your advice!
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