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Alkalinity
- Thread starter MadReefer
- Start date
10ml is like nothing. Would.keep the same 40 ml per day and adjust up or down.
I usually wait 24hrs but a few times was busy and tested 48hrs later after dosing.
Since your only dosing once you are raising your alk and then over a period it drops back down. Try testing it like 30 minutes or so after you dose.
If you test are alk exactly the same time tomorrow you can see how much you use in a 25 hour period. So start point is 8.6. If tomorrow you are at 7.6 than your tank uses 1dkh per day.
Hey I have a spare red sea vial for testing your ph if you want it. Red Sea ph test is easy and accurate against my apex so I wouldn't bother purchasing the salifert one if you still have of bunch tests left. Let me know I can give you a few if you want from old test kits.
No problem, just trying to help out anywhere I can. I dose about 20ml a day but I just setup the trident on my apex and I'm noticing my alk is much higher on there than I thought it was and what it tests against a red sea test kit. I haven't calibrated the trident yet but i imagine it won't drop too much from where it's testing. Its weird because my daily consumption is actually dead on accurate for my 20ml alk dosing. I do have to dose up some mg though so maybe that's my issue. Idk it's strange and soemthing I'll have to sort out.
Looks like your maint dose is going to be about 30ml per day. I'd do 30ml every morning at same time and test Alk every night at same time for at least 4-5 days to establish a solid baseline of what 30ml daily does. Once you know your baseline you can start making adjustments.
erics210
NJRC Member
I went through this a bit too. I couldnt understand why it was consuming different amounts at different times. Pick Your ALK Goal Number. I selected 9.0
I dosed and tested a few weeks and was getting frustrated.
Would adjust ALK to 9.0, Calcium to 450.
Some days ALK would test at 7.5 others 8.5.
COULD NOT figure it out.
THEN saw the video where the Magnesium should be approximately 3x your magnesium.
So for my 450 goal, it should be 1350. Mine was 1150. I dosed half of the correction amount for magnesium Day1. Adjusted the alk and calcium as well.
Tested the next day- so out of whack. So I adjusted the Magnesium up to the desired 1350.
Then the ALK and Calcium to 9 & 450.
Day 3. Checked Magnesium 1350, Calcium 450, but ALK had dropped to 8.0
Then I figured I needed to dose 70ml per day after adjusting my Magnesium.
I was only dosing 20ml of sodium carbonate BEFORE the Magnesium adjustment. PROBABLY because the corals werent using the ALK/Calcium to their fullest ability because the Magnesium was off.
Corals have seemed so much happier since that point.
CHECH YOUR MAGNESIUM!
Should be 3x your desired Calcium.
You should be testing Mg also. If your Mg is low, it will be a losing battle trying to keep your Alk and Ca stable as Mg plays a role in preventing calcium carbonate precipitation.
"Magnesium's primary importance in reef aquaria is its interaction with the calcium and alkalinity balance. Seawater and reef aquarium water are always supersaturated with calcium carbonate. That is, the solution's calcium and carbonate levels exceed the amount that the water can hold at equilibrium. How can that be? Magnesium is a big part of the answer. Whenever calcium carbonate begins to precipitate, magnesium binds to the calcium carbonate crystals' growing surface. The magnesium effectively clogs the crystals' surface so that they no longer look like calcium carbonate, making them unable to attract more calcium and carbonate, stopping the precipitation. Without the magnesium, the abiotic (i.e., non-biological) precipitation of calcium carbonate would likely increase enough to prohibit the maintenance of calcium and alkalinity at natural levels."
The "How To" Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
Agree, but the instructions are not making much sense to me. I prime it, then calibrate into the vile provided and enter the number of ml in vile.
It was 60 which I entered but the app shows 361ml for flow calibration.
What doser are you using?