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- Jul 23, 2016
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Randy et al,
For years I've been dosing Kalkwasser to supplement my Alkalinity and Calcium needs, as well as, running it for my top off.
Since the Kalk is not sufficient to supply all the needs of the tank, I supplement with two part.
While this combination has worked well in maintaining my desired levels of ALK & Calcium, I typically have large swings in PH; as much as 0.5, or more, overnight.
I have tried several different dosing schedules of my ALK and Kalk and it helped a little, but not much.
I was wondering, if you or someone with similar experience can offer some suggestions.
My current dosing regimen:
I dose Kalk every 15 minutes, from 7PM to 10 AM.
To supplement, I dose 20 ml of 85% Bicarbonate and 15% Soda Ash - to make the mix PH Neutral.
The majority of the Alk is dosed during evening when I am also dosing the Kalk.
Unfortunately it does not appear to do much for maintaining PH as it continues to plummet.
I know I can increase the Soda Ash in the mix (I have already tried a modest increase with little improvement) but that might raise my ALK to undesired levels).
Anything I can do to optimize my dosing to smooth the PH swings?
BTW FWIW I had a catastrophic event occur to my tank a couple of days ago. I won't go into the details but one of the consequences was a large upswing in Alkalinity.
I discontinued dosing ALK and for last two nights the PH swing is only 0.25.
Coincidence?
For years I've been dosing Kalkwasser to supplement my Alkalinity and Calcium needs, as well as, running it for my top off.
Since the Kalk is not sufficient to supply all the needs of the tank, I supplement with two part.
While this combination has worked well in maintaining my desired levels of ALK & Calcium, I typically have large swings in PH; as much as 0.5, or more, overnight.
I have tried several different dosing schedules of my ALK and Kalk and it helped a little, but not much.
I was wondering, if you or someone with similar experience can offer some suggestions.
My current dosing regimen:
I dose Kalk every 15 minutes, from 7PM to 10 AM.
To supplement, I dose 20 ml of 85% Bicarbonate and 15% Soda Ash - to make the mix PH Neutral.
The majority of the Alk is dosed during evening when I am also dosing the Kalk.
Unfortunately it does not appear to do much for maintaining PH as it continues to plummet.
I know I can increase the Soda Ash in the mix (I have already tried a modest increase with little improvement) but that might raise my ALK to undesired levels).
Anything I can do to optimize my dosing to smooth the PH swings?
BTW FWIW I had a catastrophic event occur to my tank a couple of days ago. I won't go into the details but one of the consequences was a large upswing in Alkalinity.
I discontinued dosing ALK and for last two nights the PH swing is only 0.25.
Coincidence?