some help balancing my main 3 params

I need some help balancing my Alk, Ca, Mg.

First, I would like to know preferable times to dose each. I currently do Alk 3 hours after lights out. Ca and Mg run closer to the morning a few hours apart from each other.


6/28 my Ca was 380. 450ish is my goal.

As of today, it is 520. I can let that go down on its own and then get back to daily dosing of Ca.

6/28 my dKH was 11. My goal is 13. 12 is fine.

As of 7/05 I had it raised to 12 but it has since dropped to 11 again. I need to slowly get that back up to 12/13 - on the surface, not a problem.



So the meany in all this. The part that's making this difficult.

6/28 my Mg was 1360. I needed something like 350ml of premixed Mg solution (the BRS variety) to raise it to 1450. I decided to do this over 10 days using my dosing pump. Not really sure if I should have done it all at once or not.


Since 7/5 my Mg has been hovering around 1200. I want that up to 1450, but I am confused on to why it dropped after I started dosing it.

Now the calculator says I need 1108ml of solution to get it up. Should I just do this all at once? Or should I continue to break it into multiple days?

What time of day is best to do this?

I'm sure the three numbers fluctuations are related, but not sure on best way to go about resolving it.

Tips please. please.

 

Also, I got in replacement Ca and Mg tests today - so I'm confident in my results.

(The Salifert Mg test is soooooo much easier than the Red Sea one)

 

I'm no chemist so take this with a grain of NaCl

From what I understand, water will only hold so much "stuff". When you added calcium and overshot to 520, something had to come out. Your Mg probably precipitated.

I would break the doses into 3 instead of all at once. Better slow than sorry.

Jack

 

Thanks Jack.

As far as breaking the doses... the more the merrier? My current timer settings have it broken over (it's actually) every other day over 20 days. So into 10 shots.

Or is that breaking it up too much?

 

Mg can be added pretty safely. However is easier for you. Just don't add it at the same time as alk.

Jack

 

Yeah, I do Mg only 100ppm per day. Some people have done larger jumps but I'm paranoid about it, and that's what BRS recommends so that's what I do.

No clue why it would have dropped 250ppm though. I wonder if at least some of that jump is within the margin of error for the test kit, I wouldn't be surprised. We're not dealing with lab grade testing here.

As for time of day AFAIK it shouldn't matter, I would space them out as much as possible and just do alk after the lights are out to buffer the ph a bit. Sounds like you're on the right track.

 

This might be important too.

My pH historically, when I put the pH pen is has always been 8.4 for an instant and then holds at 8.5. In the time frame of what this thread is discussing, it has been 8.6 for an instant and then holds at 8.5.

So I'm steady 8.5 for a very long time... but this indicates to me a slight increase.

All tests around same time of day. About 2/3's the way through the light on cycle. When I would expect it to be at its peakish area for the day.

 

When did you calibrate the probe last?