Dosing issues

[Dmac]

I realized my alkalinity was dropping even with automated dosing. I believe it's because that's not enough flow in my return section to disperse it. My question is, who puts a wavemaker in the return section to help with this and who doses into the overflow section instead?

 

[dball711]

I do not think flow in your return section is the issue, more likely that you are not dosing enough alkalinity to keep up with consumption. Try increasing the amount for a few days and see what happens.

 

[Rainblood]

Have you checked your magnesium levels?

My tank is less than 1yr old and I went through a period of not doing water changes because everything looked happy, but my alkalinity dropped because my magnesium levels got low.
I started doing water changes again and the alk & mag levels normalized. Now I'm not 100% sure but between research and reading and my tank - thats the conclusion I came to.

 

[Dmac]

I do not think flow in your return section is the issue, more likely that you are not dosing enough alkalinity to keep up with consumption. Try increasing the amount for a few days and see what happens.

I just did my first round of manual dosing to test my theory and I think you're right. I upped my dosing recently but I guess it wasn't enough. Didn't realize my tank was consuming so much. Guess I got too lax with my testing.

 

[Adam]

I just did my first round of manual dosing to test my theory and I think you're right. I upped my dosing recently but I guess it wasn't enough. Didn't realize my tank was consuming so much. Guess I got too lax with my testing.

Is your calcium dropping some too?

 

[Dmac]

Calcium has been steady with 10ml dosed each day

 

[Adam]

Calcium has been steady with 10ml dosed each day

Check your heaters & pumps for any scaling buildup (UV too if you have one). Also check your sand for clumping, especially at the base of rocks.
If all is good continue with your increased dose. If it's not good report back.