Alk swings?

[MizTanks]

Not sure what's causing it nor is the swing that big (back and forth between 6.4-7.5) but it's still bugging me as I've been dosing 2part and just can't get a steady reading.

As of today: Alk=6.5~Ca=440 and Mag=1450. I don't know the reason for the high Mag as I've only dosed once for it at 20ml and that was maybe 2 weeks ago.

My house if pretty closed up and my sis smokes. Would adding an air stone of some sort help?

[Jim Z.]

Not sure what's causing it nor is the swing that big (back and forth between 6.4-7.5) but it's still bugging me as I've been dosing 2part and just can't get a steady reading.

As of today: Alk=6.5~Ca=440 and Mag=1450. I don't know the reason for the high Mag as I've only dosed once for it at 20ml and that was maybe 2 weeks ago.

My house if pretty closed up and my sis smokes. Would adding an air stone of some sort help?
Hi Jamie,

You may need to increase the buffer until you reach your target value (8dKH). Also, test kits can produce erroneous results so you may want to take a water sample to your LFS. Adding an airstone may not help as your enclosed living area has a higher level of CO2 than the outside air..............................Jim Z.

[MizTanks]

Thanks Jim. I use a better test kit then our LFS :) and I'm already dosing 10ml daily of ESV Alk should I go higher?

[slapshot]

How many times a day do you dose? Once a day will give you some pretty good swings but many people do it with no harm. I dose 8 times a day to keep things even.

[MizTanks]

Aww crap! I dose 10ml once a day. NO I don't have a doser. How do you dose 10x a day without one? Maybe I should just quit dosing period. If its going to cause me issues, geeeezzz :(

[slapshot]

Aww crap! I dose 10ml once a day. NO I don't have a doser. How do you dose 10x a day without one? Maybe I should just quit dosing period. If its going to cause me issues, geeeezzz :(

I do you a dosing pump. Many people don't and dose once a day without a problem you will just have fluctuations. I like steady, so a dosing I will go.

[TM01]

I do you a dosing pump. Many people don't and dose once a day without a problem you will just have fluctuations. I like steady, so a dosing I will go.

If you dont mind me asking...What are you using to turn your dosing pumps on?

[slapshot]

Mine are run by my Neptune Jr., but could be any timer.

[MizTanks]

I need help here peoples. I cannot get my alk up above 6.5 Of course I wasn't able to dose Fri-Sun as I was gone. But started again on Monday at 10ml daily. Still no raise from 6.5. It's actually a little lower. What is causing the drop? Should I stop dosing ca and just dose alk? My sps are starting to show signs of stress :(

[slapshot]

Just dose more. Don't stop your calcium unless your calcium level is rising.

[MizTanks]

No my ca=440~Mag-1440~alk=5.5 and Ph=8.4 Something has to be amiss. What's causing it to drop, I need to know so I can correct it.

[twinspots_goby]

No my ca=440~Mag-1440~alk=5.5 and Ph=8.4 Something has to be amiss. What's causing it to drop, I need to know so I can correct it.
If you have many hard corals in your tank, then your alk and calc will deplete quicker. But I can't tell exactly what happened to your tank. What kind of salt do you use. Ever tested your freshly made saltwater? Salt varies a lot in alk, calc and mag in different brands. Doing a water change should also help to raise your alk level.

[slapshot]

No my ca=440~Mag-1440~alk=5.5 and Ph=8.4 Something has to be amiss. What's causing it to drop, I need to know so I can correct it.

Just dose more. probably higher utilization by your animals or just a bad batch of salt. Probably growth of your corals. Nothing to worry about you just need to dose more.

[MizTanks]

As of last night I've started dosing alk only at 13ml. I'll do this daily while testing daily also. Will def make a note to self to check new batch of make up water. Now I'm curious :)
Thanks for your help guys :)

[binford4000]

it sounds like your system is useing more then the bottles recomend doase.BRS's,RC and I believe even CR(shoot Jim a PM to find out) has doaseing calculators to help you get where you want the alk to be at.If all your doing is that small amount of Ca it probably wouldn't hurt to keep adding it.My concern when adding more of one is what will it do to the other.Both doaseing parts are a form of calcium. The brs pumps can be controled by most controlers as slapshot pointed out or you can use a seperate controler they sell for around 75 bucks if memory serves me correctly.

[Flynnstone]

Miz,
one common mistake is most people think you have to add both the Ca and Alk in equal parts.... you dont. if your Ca is staying stable at 440 every reading, then you are adding the correct amount of that product. if your alk is dropping you are not adding enough of that product. you will need to increase your alk to 8 to help keep your Ph stable. Remeber that you should not increase the value more than 1.0dKH a day. here is a link to help...
Reef Chemistry Calculator (http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html)

also make certain that you are testing the same time every day, then add supplements right after testing. this will give you more consistent readings.
hope this helps.


by the way, are you adding any suppliments like Vitamin C, Vinegar, sugar?

[MizTanks]

Miz,
one common mistake is most people think you have to add both the Ca and Alk in equal parts.... you dont. if your Ca is staying stable at 440 every reading, then you are adding the correct amount of that product. if your alk is dropping you are not adding enough of that product. you will need to increase your alk to 8 to help keep your Ph stable. Remeber that you should not increase the value more than 1.0dKH a day. here is a link to help...
Reef Chemistry Calculator (http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html)

also make certain that you are testing the same time every day, then add supplements right after testing. this will give you more consistent readings.
hope this helps.


by the way, are you adding any suppliments like Vitamin C, Vinegar, sugar?

Thank you so much Flynnstone :) Could you help me read this chart? How much alk should I be adding daily according to this chart? 'Reef Chemistry Calculator FV' (http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html)

[Flynnstone]

Jamie,
the chart is cleared when i open it. it will reset itself and wont store the info.

[Flynnstone]

Jamie,
the chart is cleared when i open it. it will reset itself and wont store the info.
Jamie,
on a 20gallon system, that needs the alk raised, using the ESV B-Ionic part 1, you would need 38ml or 7.7 tsp. daily until you reach your target alk ( i recomend 8 DKh) this will raise the alk 1 DKh daily. once you have reached that number, the daily additions will depend on how much your coral consume in a day.
one thing to watch out for. i have seen this product( and similar ones) form hard balls of product inside the container that it comes in, if this happens, the product is useless.

[MizTanks]

No wonder it wasn't raising. I was only dosing 15ml a day. As of today I'm raising to 38ml daily. I've got no clumping in the bottles and I shake em well before each use.

Update: WTH? I dosed 38ml and not only did it raise the alk but it shot it up to 9 from 6.4. What the **** am I doing wrong here. I know it says not to dose all at once but without a dosing pump how else am I supposed to do it?
Then I tested my ca and it's so freaking low it's not reading on the chart!

Granted I was doing something else dumb. I've been sucking out flat worms and replacing the water removed with just ro/di water. Then add my top off water to that and it's a wonder I'm getting the readings I am, right? UGH!!!

So what I'm going to do is....tomorrow I'll do a 5g water change then I'll do another 5g change on Wednesday. I gotta get these parameters leveled out. It's driving me nuts!!

[pjr]

Could this be an ORP issue? I think there was some discussion regarding smoking in the house. Just a thought.....

[MizTanks]

You know I was wondering about that myself~my sis smokes big time~although there's an exhaust fan in the window next to her and an air cleaner (at my insistence) would this actually affect my parameters?

[slapshot]

That would affect the PH not the Alk. Your ok. Now you need to do a 24 hour test to determine your usage. Read you alk level. Then don't dose. 24 hours later read it again. Now start adding your alk stuff until you get it up to where it was at the first measurement. You have to wait between doses but in an hour or two you will have it. That is then how much you have to dose to maintain your level. You can not use the directions, they are only a guide. It all depends on your animals usage.

[MizTanks]

Update:

So at the advice from you all, here's what I've been doing for the last 7 days. In high flow area. Dosing 10ml of alk at 11pm and 10ml of Ca at 11am my parameters are now steady and as follows. Using Red Sea Pro 3-1 test kit. Testing at 9:00 a.m.

Alk=8.1
Ca=420
Mag=1400
Ph=7.8 testing at 9:00am and raises to 8.3 by 10pm lights out. Using API Ph test kit.

By george I think she's got it! lol

Thanks everyone for all the help and advice :)

[Heidi]

Mizzz, I just wanted to chime in here and tell you your alk is on the low side. I keep mine right at 11 when my tank isn't a mess cause my salt mixes to 12.2. I am going to have to do two part if I want to stay at the same Dkh as my fresh mixed water. That is ultimately my goal but first I got to get these phosphates and nitrates down :) . For the record the cal and alk are 12 and 460 in the nano so when I do a water change there is no parameter movement.
Just a thought
Heidi

[MizTanks]

Thanks for the opinion Heidi :) With so many different ones out there about proper alk/ca/mag levels, well it's just to dang hard to pick one. There are so many successful reefers out here who keep different levels, I'm beginning to see that there is no perfect set level to maintain. Thing is, even when my alk was lower at 6.4 none of my corals, fish nor inverts seemed affected in any way. Aside from the acros, maybe. Which I'm no longer keeping.

For now I'm shooting for stability and being able to keep the above readings. For the last 7 days it's been working. My tank is happy, healthy and thriving :)