Help Me Dial In My Alkalinity.

I'm having some trouble getting my alkalinity to stay stable. I'm dosing two part and when I get a little too much dosed, i drifts up, corals stop growing, and it drifts up mor. When I dose too little, well, the reverse. I've got three possible plans, but I don't know enough to. Figure out which is best.

My preferred plan is to start topping off with settled limewater. I'll add a pH probe to avoid part of the disaster risk. But what I don't know is can I still drive my all too high topping off with settled lime, or is it a stable dosing mechanism (Holmes-Farley suggests it will percipitate before it gets dangerous, but doesn't come out and say it).

Plan b is a calc reactor, but it seems to me the dialing in thing is still going to be a problem, it's just a bubble count issue instead of a ml per day issue.

Plan c is to figure out how to dial in the two part. How do I get it to settle on a stable alkalinity?

Any help is appreciated!

 

all your plans sound reasonable to me servillius

chosing a supplementation method , depends on many factors

volume of water, types of inhabitants, demand at any given time

what 2 part dosing product are you using?

as IME , Kents, Brightwells and Seachems 2 part liquid bottles , are generally accurate in what they indicate as potential (based on X amount of Mils per X amount of gallons of water) although in a larger set up the cost of using these types of additives would be the number 1 negative about them IMO

if your using a dry mix , then the RODI to supplemenation ratio can be manipulated to give you a weaker or stronger supplement in relation to amount of liquid being dosed
(there is obviously a point at which no more powder would dissolve in a given volume of water and at that stage your only option is to deliver more liquid )

Kalkwasser can succesfully maintain many reef aquariums, and can also be mixed at various strenghts ( max is 2 teaspoons per gallon of water) but you could always start topping off based on 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of settled limewater and monitor your results from there, increasing strength should you find that it does not maintain it for you

Demand is not linear, and as such you may find that if you dose more, your corals grow more in reaction to increased availabilty, up to a point, and you may be experiencing a growth phase at present that your standard dosing regime/ quantities may not be keeping up with

You could look at a dosing pump set up , which would break down your daily dosing into smaller increments delivered over 4, 6 , 8 ,12 or 24 times per day
this would give you even greater consistency

another thing to consider is the fact that Alkalinity drops of 1 DKH for example are very easy to see on most test kits
whereas the accompanying drop of somewhere betweeen 7 and 14 ppm Calcium, would not register as easily on most hobby test kits and would probably be dismissed as user variation each test

thus if you are struggling to keep your Alk number where you want it, you may need to consider increasing your calcium additions by the same amount

tell us what product your using and how you are using it and then I am sure we will be able to help you maximise the potential of what your doing now

 

My apologies, because I've included the information elsewhere, I didn't think to include it here.

My calcium is 460ppm, my magnesium is 1400ppm, and my alkalinity is between 160ppm and 196 ppm. The last being the problem.

I use dosing pumps dosing BRS two part in 1 ml doses a fixed number of times a day. Right now they dose every 90 minutes during daylight, but to keep things from spinning out of control, I've had to go as low as once every two hours and as high as once every thirty minutes.

I feel like if I don't watch my alkalinity compulsively, I'll lose corals. That can't be right, there must be a way to get sufficient stability to allow one to test weekly. How do I get there?

 

I think your working way too hard and spending too much money. Get your R O product water down to 0 ppm (w/<18ppm phosphate.) Then do a 20% monthly water change with Marine Environment or any other highly regarded custom salt blend. Two weeks after water change add small amounts of magnesium chloride first(stay away from mag sulfate), then add calcium (again, from a reputable custom producer.) ALK should fall into place.

All the rest of your responsibilities are in good shape.

 

I would look at your choices of Alk Test Kit and Salt blend while stopping with the two part and reactor. First things first.

 

I use a Hanna checker for all testing. If I stop dosing, my SPS uses up alk and calcium faster than I'm going to fix by water changes alone. I don't need to stop dosing, I need to understand how an equilibrium is established. Clearly one is possible, otherwise any of the dosing processes are too fiddly.

 

Good job with the Hanna Checker. I use ultr low phos.

Correct..Water changes are not the way out.

Misunderstood...You don't need to stop dosing as a first step. This is a last step.

Correct...You do need to establish long term equilibrium. You need a bio actively buoyant salt mix. I use Aqua Craft Products "Coral Marine" sea salt. You need to swap out your current water with this water and then boost Mag w/ aqua craft mag chloride and Calcium. Your water parameters will stabilize as the the ingredients are mostly bio active and symbiotic.
Custom blenders other than aqua craft might work, I go with who took care of the problems first. My 90 gal tank is like the wild wild west complete with venomous cone snails flying across the glass at night (they wiped out my vermited snails.).

Don't work against yourself, life is too short.

 

I'm currently using TM Bio-Actif for water changes and do about 0.5% per day.

 

TM Bio Actif is mass marketing as premium salt. It might be O.K. I can PM you if I find out more about it.

What kind of Mag are you using?

 

MgSulfate (Epsom Salts) raises salinity and crowds out other vital compounds. A good Mg is Mg Chloride and some sulfate and is expensive. Your specimens will absorb a good MG and Ca interchangeably thus providing a good basis for strong Alk. My Total Alk is always around 220ml or about 13 dkh. I would imagine that if I pulled back on the Aqua Craft Mg and started two part my Alk would go to $hit.
-For what it's worth, that's the way I see it.

P.S. Your Ca must be somewhat technical and multiple forms of bio available also.