Low alk since switching to Gen-X reactor media

[christyf5]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering for those of you that use the larger sized reactor media if you've had any problems with alk. I've always set my reactor at the same settings (about 60bpm CO2 and a steady drip rate) and my alk has just gone down the toilet since I started using this media at the end of april. I managed to "maintain" an alk level of 7.4 sometime in may but I'd loaned out my test kits for a bit and didn't get a chance to measure again until a couple of weeks ago. My alk had dropped to 5.4. I upped the CO2 and waited a bit before testing again and the alk was at 4.8 the last time I checked it (on the weekend).

I was under the impression that this stuff used less CO2? At this rate if I have to crank up the CO2 any higher I'll be finished the bottle in just a few months (usually lasts about 10 months or so) and have algae up the wazoo no doubt

I guess in the meantime I'll be going the baking soda routine (whee) or going back to the finer grained stuff. I never had a problem with it before just thought I'd try something new.

Anyway, just wanted peoples thoughts on the stuff.

TIA,
Christy