muriatic acid rocks now i always have low alk.

[Easton]

I have a 120 that I restarted 10 months ago. I acid bath the rocks (bleach soak, rodi rinse, muriatic acid bath, ro rinsed, lots of baking soda bath, rinsed in ro, dried out for 3 days) and now I am constantly battling low alk, usually around 4-5dkh. Calcium is always running slightly low at 380 and magnesium is around 1380. I have been dosing around 2 shot glasses of reef code b a week which brings dkh up to around 7 but after a few days its back to 4-5dkh. I use IORC salt.

It just hit me today that the muriatic acid bath may be the cause of this low alk, is it still possible to be lowering my alk this long after?

I have 2-3" of nature's ocean aragonite sand, I have very little SPS, mostly LPS and softies.

 

[BAD FISH]

I don't think after that long it would affect your tank. I think you should be dosing every day to keep things stable, rather than once a week.the most important thing in this hobby is to be consistent.

 

[Boomer]

Yes it can. That acid bath exposed new surfaces of the carbonate rock. New rock often loweres the pH, Alk and Ca++ until it reaches equilibrium with the water. BUT not no 10 months. But then again that is 10 months for the rock. So, how long has that sand been in there, as it does the same thing. Lastly, poorly maintained tanks with alllot of organics can cause low Alk.