Haven't tested params in about 3 months...

So I did today, for no good reason. (meaning everything is fine in my system)

Last test was 7/6/12

10/04/12 values were:
Ph- 8.3
Mg- 1380
Ca- 420
Kh- 7 ( a bit low)
NO4- 0
Po4- 0

I guess I need to put a few tsps of Kalwassar in a glass of RO h2o and dump it into my sump more often than every 3 days or so!

Other than that, I don't dose anything, and don't feed my corals either, I do spot feed my anenomes sometimes.

 

Todd! Come on man! You should be testing! What test kits do you use? Brand name I mean? Also, kalkwasser would be raising your calcium levels and ph. You would need to dose a buffer specifically for alkalinity to raise your alkalinity levels. If you promise to test more than once every 3 months Ill give you some alkalinity buffer! Haha. But I second the motion of dosing kalk. Your sps corals will thank you greatly.

 

dosing kalk has made a huge difference for me, params are more stable, less WC's, and better growth(although I'm not a fan of fast growth)

 

Also, please do not dose kalk this way. It has a very high PH value and can swing your PH very fast. It is not a good idea to dose this way. Only 1 teaspoon can dissolve into a gallon of water at a time. Add a teaspoon of kalk to a container holding a gallon of water and drip it into your system over the span of a couple hours. This is the most effective way to do so and wont cause any rapid changes in your parameters.

 

Great point, or put it in your ATO if ya have one.

 

If you were to do it this way it would need to be a covered ATO as the atmospheric CO2 would lower the potency of the kalk in the span of a couple hours. Kalkwasser solution isnt effective for long after exposure to air. Not for buffering PH atleast, it still contains calcium however.

 

lol, yeah, sorry about that, cover it

 

Seeing as your values are decent minus kh are you using a better quality (more expensive) salt mix. I've been using a fairly decent brand but contemplating going to a higher end brand if its worth it. I currently dose cal. And mag. but thinking a better quality mix might eliminate the need. Keeping in mind I have mostly LPs and soft. Only 1 acro and Monti, so the demand isn't that high.

 

Just out of curiosity, what brand are you using? And what would you consider to be higher quality salt mix? Your carbonate alkalinity and calcium draw wouldnt be that high it sounds like with your stock but dosing for the big 3 (calcium, alkalinity, magnesium) is a good idea.

 

Using IO regular. I've used Reef Crystals in the past and only went back to the regular mix because it is a few dollars cheaper. (man that sounded cheap). I realize that "salt quality" can be very subjective, but I guess I would consider a higher quality mix to be the Coralife Pro or Tropic Marine or even Salinity by Seachem. I only base this on price. There is only one brand cheaper at LFS and that's Kent. Since so very often you get what you pay for I figured that would include salt mix as well. I would invest in better salt mix if I thought it was worth it. But I'm already spending so much on other things it just made sense to stay with a mid grade mix. The main reason I brought this up was because his cal. seemed to stay stable and was wondering if it had more to do with his salt mix. Or maybe any decent brand of mix would produce the same results.