Dosing help

[bknapp]

I'm slow. I need help.

I can't figure this out for the life of me.

Here are my results for the last few nights (all tested between 9-9:30 pm):

4-5
- Alk: 8.4
- Cal: 490
- Mag: 1350

4-6
- Alk: 7.7
- Cal: 480

4-7
- Alk: 7.3 (upped dosing, slightly)
- Cal: 480 (lowered dosing, slightly)

4-8
- Alk: 8.3
- Cal: 470

4-9
- Alk: 7.1 (upped again, slightly)
- Cal: 490 (lowered again, slightly)

4-10
- Alk: 6.8
- Cal: 500

By "slightly" I'm only changing the times by a minute or two no major changes.

I dose both alk and calcium 12 times per day on alternating hours, the longest the pump runs for is four minutes. They are on an automatic doser.

I am also dosing kalkwasser in my top off, 1/2 tablespoon per gallon. I go through 1-1.5 gallons per day on top off.

I am using a Hanna checker for alkalinity and Red Sea Pro for calcium and magnesium. If I feel a test is off I check against another kit.

I would like to keep my ranges close to the 8.6 dKH and 440 ppm.

I'm really considering moving to a calcium reactor.

Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks guys.

 

[chrisfraser05]

I'd stop adding the kalk as you are less able to regulate the amount of dosing, or change in dosages isn't an accurate reflection on the overall change.

How long has the tank been running?

 

[schooleyosis]

I agree about the Kalk... How are you measuring your top off that the Kalk is in??? That could very day to day depending on your evaporation rates. Also, when I was dialing in my tank, MAG had a major part to do with parameter swings. Once I stabilized the MAG the AlK and CAL settled out.

Also, remember that there is a % error of every test you are running so don't put 100% faith in your test results. For me, if my ALK is between 9-10, I call it "good" because I know to leave myself some room for testing errors.

 

[bknapp]

I will discontinue the use of Kalk and continue testing to really dial in the usage/dosing.

 

[schooleyosis]

Are you also testing the same time of the day from roughly the same spot in the aquarium? You have to try and keep as many things as consistent as possible.
I think consistency is key so try not to make too many changes at one time. I test once a week and if the results show a trend after two to three weeks of testing then I'll adjust the dosing pumps. You might find that your parameters stay within a certain range over the course of a month, which is good.

Hopefully your corals will tell you which parameter needs to be where rather than chasing specific numbers. It took me several months to find the "sweet spot" but one day I tested when all my corals looked really happy and those are the numbers I know try and consistently maintain. I do have to say the numbers where quite a bit different than what I was trying to target!

 

[bknapp]

I'm testing as close as possible to the same time of the day and always get the water from the top middle of the tank.

 

[schooleyosis]

That's good!

 

[iiluisii]

Napp you need to stop dosing until your calcium comes down and do water changes to match your alk if not you are going to continue to fight this battle. Randy Holmes has a great article in how to get to the target zone I'll see if I can find it for you

 

[iiluisii]

Here it is
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/chemistry

 

[bknapp]

Great link, thanks Luis.

I did a ten gallon water change this morning, will do another tomorrow.

I have for now, lowered my Kalk top one tablespoon per gallon to help with pH.

Glad to see you back around Luis.

 

[iiluisii]

Yea I couldn't stay away. Lol

 

[bknapp]

Yea I couldn't stay away. Lol

We already knew that. Lol

 

[cee]

I agree about the Kalk... How are you measuring your top off that the Kalk is in??? That could very day to day depending on your evaporation rates. Also, when I was dialing in my tank, MAG had a major part to do with parameter swings. Once I stabilized the MAG the AlK and CAL settled out.

Also, remember that there is a % error of every test you are running so don't put 100% faith in your test results. For me, if my ALK is between 9-10, I call it "good" because I know to leave myself some room for testing errors.

I think this advice nails it.

 

[Dowtish]

you may also want to try dosing your calcium during the day and your alk at night. This way there is no possibility of them interacting and cancelling each other out. Also the alk at night will help keep the ph stable too.

 

[bknapp]

you may also want to try dosing your calcium during the day and your alk at night. This way there is no possibility of them interacting and cancelling each other out. Also the alk at night will help keep the ph stable too.

That was originally my process. But it created an Alk swing overnight.

 

[iiluisii]

Napp just stop dosing and let your calcium come down. This happened to me before I got rid of my tank and I follow that article and got things balance and stable

 

[bknapp]

Napp just stop dosing and let your calcium come down. This happened to me before I got rid of my tank and I follow that article and got things balance and stable

That is what I'm doing. I'm keeping a close eye on my Alk and will manually dose to keep up and will reevaluate dosing levels once I get them inside of the desired ranges.

 

[bknapp]

The parameters are finally within the range I would like them.

Alkalinity: 9
Calcium: 435

I'm going to completely turn off my dosing to figure out exact usage to set up the pump timers.

Is this the best way to do this?

 

[schooleyosis]

I would measure every day but make changes every 3-4 days on your timers/dosers. This gives you "room" to adjust for testing errors/inconsistencies.