Help with low ALK

[Renato]

My ALK its at 5.6 I checked last week as well, and I got the same reading..
Everything else looks fine and so does the tank...
I checked twice today... I checked my pre mix water as well that is reading 9.0...
My calcium its reads 400ppm.
Im going to double check at LFS later on tonight to make sure Its nor the test kit.
Any Ideas what could it be?
Ow and I dose with Randys recipe 2 part

 

[MikeG]

Maybe your dosing is not keeping up with demand? What i your magnesium at?

 

[Renato]

Maybe your dosing is not keeping up with demand? What i your magnesium at?

Default

My MAG its always high 1600
I dont know why! Its been like this since I change from IO to Red Sea pro salt... Around 3 month ago

 

[JohnK]

What's the Ca level of the feshly made saltwater using that salt, and how often do you do water changes?

If the salt is high in Ca but normal in alk, and you do regular water changes - your dosing may not be keeping up with demand but the salt could be keeping the Ca up?

 

[Renato]

What's the Ca level of the feshly made saltwater using that salt, and how often do you do water changes?

If the salt is high in Ca but normal in alk, and you do regular water changes - your dosing may not be keeping up with demand but the salt could be keeping the Ca up?

The Ca level of the new water its 430ppm. I do 10g weekly water change.

 

[stingythingy45]

Sounds like you just need to does more.Do you have a lot of coralline forming?
Are the corals growing weekly(sps)?

 

[Renato]

Sounds like you just need to does more.Do you have a lot of coralline forming?
Are the corals growing weekly(sps)?

Coralline is growing very slow but corals are doing great!

 

[stingythingy45]

I'd look into boosting it up slowly over the next 3-4 days to at least 7 dkh.
And I do mean slowly......

 

[JohnK]

Yea, good point. Changing alk rapidly can be worse than having it low for a while. Bring it up very slowly.

Also, is there any chance you might be mixing up randy's recipe A and B in some way? Was the baking soda baked, or not baked? That could explain a lot.

 

[Renato]

Baking soda baked! I will raise slowly

 

[SteveDola]

have you tried using a different test kit. results vary from kit to kit and sometimes from batch to batch by the same manu.

 

[frank180reef]

how much of the alk are u dosing daily and how many gallons of water do u have

I am guessing ur dosing isnt keeping up if ur alk is really that low

 

[Renato]

Just got back from LFS and it reads the same!
Now should I raise every two days or everyday a little bit till it gets around 8 or 9 dkh?
Im afraid to dose everyday and end it up dosing too fast and to much

 

[frank180reef]

your best dosing every day, but less; maybe less even twice a day

 

[Renato]

I just dose some right now, and hopping for the best!

 

[frank180reef]

how many ml? and how much water do u have?

 

[Renato]

I have around 50g I dose 1oz that should go up 1ppm
Randys recipe 1