Ay Carumba! 5.1dkh!

Tom, you will need to add more slowly and keep testing. Just make sure you wait a few extra days before making any adjustments. Once you find the numbers your looking for that will be the maintenance dose . Once the corals start growing the number will slightly drop and then you can fine tune .

Still at 6.1 on alk, over 500 ca and over 1500 mg. Increased to 50ml of part 1 Bionic. Starting to get some bryopsis for some reason. The frogspawn and other lps looks like it's hurting some, but all the sps are looking better with colorful tips and polyp extension.

Getting my doser today so maybe a slower input will help the shocked lps. As of now, I'm putting in around 10ml every hour.

Tom, first things first. You need to determine your 24 hour usage. Measure your alk today. Don't add anything. Measure it again 24 hours from when you measured it. Then dose until you get it up to where it was at today's measurement. Measure carefully how much you add. That is then your normal dosage. Then dose that plus a little more until it comes up to where you want it. Then dose the 24 hour amount.

If you are going to switch to soda ash for dosing (baking soda baked) you should start on that now. The key to dosing is consistency of the mix. I suggest you go to Kroger and invest $15.00 in a digital food scale. It makes mixing consistently a breeze.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by slapshot

Tom, first things first. You need to determine your 24 hour usage. Measure your alk today. Don't add anything. Measure it again 24 hours from when you measured it. Then dose until you get it up to where it was at today's measurement. Measure carefully how much you add. That is then your normal dosage. Then dose that plus a little more until it comes up to where you want it. Then dose the 24 hour amount.

If you are going to switch to soda ash for dosing (baking soda baked) you should start on that now. The key to dosing is consistency of the mix. I suggest you go to Kroger and invest $15.00 in a digital food scale. It makes mixing consistently a breeze.

---

Don, I know you're right on this, but I'm making headway if my coral health (poly extension is great, colors are great and tissue is filling in on dying corals) is an indication. I should've done what you said at the beginning, but I'm not sure how to do that and don't want to screw things up now. I understand the test and leave it for 24hrs, test again. But not sure how to add alk part to get it back up to the number it was the day before? It took me a long time to get from 5.1 to 6.1, pouring first 40, then 50 and now 60ml. Should I wait until I get to the 8dkh and then do this exercise?

In the same vein, it's time to do another water change/bryopsis remova/cheato harvest. Should I do my regular maintenance or leave it alone until I get to the 8dkh?

It doesn't matter when you do it. Keep doing what your doing until you get to where you want to be. If we sat down with a piece of paper I could explain it better. After you get your alk where you want it, we can tackle the byopsis. My experience is if you move your mag to 1700 it goes away. I would not do that now, too much strain on the SPS. As far as how much you are adding just keep doing what your doing until you get it to 8. Then you can make the switch to Baking Soda or soda ash. It is sooooo much cheaper then any other way. I can help you with this when you get there. Maybe you can stop over and I'll show you exactly what I do. It is so simple you'll be surprised.

Don

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by slapshot

It doesn't matter when you do it. Keep doing what your doing until you get to where you want to be. If we sat down with a piece of paper I could explain it better. After you get your alk where you want it, we can tackle the byopsis. My experience is if you move your mag to 1700 it goes away. I would not do that now, too much strain on the SPS. As far as how much you are adding just keep doing what your doing until you get it to 8. Then you can make the switch to Baking Soda or soda ash. It is sooooo much cheaper then any other way. I can help you with this when you get there. Maybe you can stop over and I'll show you exactly what I do. It is so simple you'll be surprised.

Don

---

I'm at 7.1 as of today with the calcium and mag still off the charts and adding 60ml per day. Corals are starting to color up even more with some odd changes. My purple grape is very purple, but my purple haze is the color of coralline. Used to be more orange. Ice blue tips back on my stag. Still have the algae, but I've been feeding a lot lately because of a new inhabitant.

I once got rid of my bryopsis a couple of years ago by using mass amounts of Tech M. Not really sure why it came back. Always in my DT, never in my refugium/sump.

I got my BRS shipment. Got the 5gal bicarbonate, half gallon of Soda Ash (to make the ph neutral mix), 2 gal of Calcium Cloride and already had the gallon of Magnesium so I'm ready for this. I finally figured out how to use my profilux doser too. Figure I'll use the Bionic two part until it's gone and then start the BRS stuff.

I will take you up on your offer to come over, Don. I've always wanted to see your awesome setup in person anyway and I'll take notes. AROD's business is winding down for the winter so I'll get with him and we'll invade the Slapshot Aquatic Expo when it's convenient for you. I appreciate the help.

You guys are welcome anytime!!