Dosing Idea (Not sure if it would work)

I have a simple idea for dosing.

Our tank always seems to be low on alk.. therefore occasionally have a low pH. The rest of our levels are always in check.

To supplement this we dose SeaChem Reef Buffer and it does the trick. It is so easy to dose this stuff. We mix a teaspoon in a cup of RO and throw it in. We never raise it by more than 1 dkh per 24 Hrs.

Instead of manually doing this.. and without the assistance of dosing pumps..

Feel free to shut this down if it wont work.


Would this work:
Add reef buffer to an Eheim automatic fish feeder.. and dose a minimal amount of Reef Buffer powder everyday to maintain an adequate dkh. I would put the fish feeder over the sump area where the tank overflows down into the sump.. so by the time it goes through the baffles and gets pumped back up to the display it would be totally mixed because of the high flow.

It is just an idea.. wondering if anyone has done anything similar.

 

I do not think I would do this. I'm not sure it wouldn't work, but there are substantial risks involved. Have you considered using a kent drip doser or an if bag in the sump?

 

too risky IMO!
A kent doser is always a good option because you can control the drip rate. An alternate solution is to take a gallon jug and mix in there and then start a siphon out of it and then restrict the flow through the siphon tube so that it is only at a slow drip rate. Both ways above will be able to drip small amounts over the course of a couple hours. Only down side is that you still have to measure daily though.

Another way of casually dosing would be adding kalk in your top off water container. this way is not as exact though.

 

Something is not right if the "rest of your numbers are ok" and you are always adding alk. Low PH does not = low alk and visa versa. there should be no reason you need to raise dkh by a point or two on a regular basis. It's not quite adding up.

 

sorry its early .. whats an if bag?

 

hey dude how you been? you think that the airline would get clogged or the solution would separate if using the drip doser?

 

My bad, bad spellcheck!

I mean an I.V. bag.

 

dkh: 4.9 (Salifert Test Kit)
dkh: 5.5 (API Test Kit)
After Dosing 1tsp of Seachem reef buffer = dkh: 5.5 (Salifert)

Nitrate: 0 (API Test Kit)
Nitrite: 0 (API Test Kit)
Calcium: 460 (API Test Kit)
Magnesium: 1150 (Salifert)
Phosphate: 0.03 (Hanna Checker)
Ammonia: 0 (API Test Kit)
PH: 7.98 (American Marine PH Probe on an Apex, calibrated)
Temp: 78.2
1.026 sg

We have a 37g tank with 10 gallon sump. It has been going for 2 years.
6x T5HO bulbs. BRS GFO reactor. IO Reef Crystals w/ spectrapure RODI. 60lbs live rock. and Aquamaxx hob skimmer rated at 75g. We leave the sump/fuge light on 24/7 and have a 8 hour sunlight period. We grow chaeto in the sump for some nutrient export.

We have a clown fish, melanuarus wrasse, mandarin, watchman/pistol, cleaner shrimp, porcelains, and a pom pom.. and snails

Our dkh is consistently low. We do weekly 20% water changes and it stays in check for a day or 2 after a water change.

Despite the low dkh most of our corals are thriving. Our acans and some zoas, occasionally, are the only ones that seem to be bothered by the low level. SPS grows like crazy.

The only thing I can think of for the dwindling dkh is the amount of SPS we have. But, I though that would hinder our Ca lvl too..

I think that is the "rest of my numbers" :-/ Any input?

 

haha okay. Yeah I have thought of that... still thinking. Thanks for clarifying.. you woulda had me searchin google for "if sump bags" hahaha

 

seems pretty decent to me. usually Mg is 3.1 times higher than Ca so you will want to bump up Mg first to about 1425ppm then bring the other two into line.
Alk can be used up faster than Ca in many cases... Are you over using GFO? because that can drop alk by a little bit. Another possibility is that since the Mg is a tad on the low side compared to the Ca that something is precipitating out with the alk, could be a lot of different molecules in that case.
As for pH, your pH looks perfectly fine. I have had times before where my whole entire tank was running at 7.5 due to excess CO2 from ca reactor. It now runs 7.90-8.05.

pretty good, how about yourself?! and no, the tube does not usually get clogged. if it does you can just open it back up and then reset the drip rate.