I've been dosing 2 part for some time now and I'm just curious is it more effective to dose while the lights are on or while the lights are off ? I've been dosing after my lights go out . I do use a doser so my additives are dosed in a smaller amount multiple times a day . Calcium and alkalinity are dosed one hour apart . What do you guys think ?
2 part dosing lights on or lights out ?
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P-Dub
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Generally, dosing your Alk solution during lights out will help counter the natural pH drop that occurs during the night. Dose calcium during the day.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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The "effectiveness" is unchanged.
Alk is used more during the day, so dosing during the day will help stabilize alkalinity the most.
As mentioned above, pH drops at night, and many alk additives boost pH, so if low pH is your main concern, dosing late at night may be best.
Alk is used more during the day, so dosing during the day will help stabilize alkalinity the most.
As mentioned above, pH drops at night, and many alk additives boost pH, so if low pH is your main concern, dosing late at night may be best.
wcharon
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Maybe this is a general question but i will make it just in case i am in the wrong spot.
If i have the opportunity to dose all day and also on a 12 hour schedule. Which one will be a more stable environment? I also use Kalk on the Doser.
Thanks in advance...
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This is the spot.
Spread the alk part over the lights on schedule to most stabilize alkalinity, with a focus more on the afternoon if that is possible. If you mean once a day vs twice a day, then twice a day is much better for the alk part. It doesn't matter much for calcium, since it changes so little and is not a limiting growth factor for corals when at normal levels.
wcharon
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Perfect. Thanks Randy...
To clarify. I meant divide 12 times or 24 times the dosing on a 24 hour schedule. By the way i am using your 2 part baked receipit and Mrs. Wages Picking Lime for Kalk.
Here is a print of my actual dosing regimen:
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Question for you @Randy Holmes-Farley....
With the recent addition of testing bots, people are finding ALK drops more significant at night(I have no idea why), so with a bot like the trident, people are finding that dosing more ALK at night helps to keep things stable.
Now my question...
I know ALK should get used up more during the photoperiod(during photosynthesis), but why would you see more decrese at night after photosynthesis has stopped?
With the recent addition of testing bots, people are finding ALK drops more significant at night(I have no idea why), so with a bot like the trident, people are finding that dosing more ALK at night helps to keep things stable.
Now my question...
I know ALK should get used up more during the photoperiod(during photosynthesis), but why would you see more decrese at night after photosynthesis has stopped?
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My interpretation from folks with automatic monitoring (like Jim Welsh) and dosing was that alk dropped more during the day. There are quite a few threads discussing it. If that isn't true, or varies from tank to tank, I'm certainly interested in learning it. The scientific literature is not clear on this.
I've posted a few times wondering if that was because corals calcify more when they photosynthesize, if they calcify more when pH is higher, or if abiotic precipitation happens more when pH is higher.
Of course, if the whole premise isn't true, then obviously the explanations are not correct.
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Robinson
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Randy is right, consumption of alk is higher during lights cycle in specific during the afternoon hrs. I have an Alkatronic and this have been the case consistently in my tank when using two part dosing and same now that Im using calcium reactor. When I was dosing two part, around 70% of the total dosing was during lights ON, the rest 30 % lights OFF. With this I was able to keep an .25 alk daily swing. Also I was dosing every hr (24) dosing points. If you want to know what is your alk daily swing, test your alk before lights goes ON and right after they goes OFF. That will let you know how much is alk dropping during light cycle, and how much you want to keep dosing during that light cycle to keep alk stable as posible.
Maybe I'm wrong, but thought I had read that people were seeing more consumption at night.
Robinson
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My experience have been that once the light cycle is complete, you still have some alk drop in the next hrs. Here is a graph of my Alkatronic readings, my lights cycles ends at 9:30 and the lower reading of the day is at 23:00 ( probably will extend up to 1:00 or 2:00 am). Then next reading at 03:00 am alk is getting back higher. So there is a consumption during the first few hours of the night, but the higher consumption usually for me is when the light cycles is at higher intensity of the day.
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