Alk slightly low

[DmitryB]

Alrighty then, readings almost a week since dosing with NeoNitro. With these numbers - do I dose? Nitrate has dropped and may keep dropping like it did before until it bottoms out. The 40 gallon tank has a few fish in it. 170 is still without fish, but will be getting a few small fish on Friday. (Aquacultured small, so they'll be like an inch! So not a lot of bioload yet.)

40 Gallon
Nitrate - 3.7
Phosphate - 0.59
Alk - 6.9
Calcium - 390
Magnesium - 1300
pH - 8.0

170 Gallon
Nitrate - 4.6
Phosphate - 0.09
Alk - 8.7
Calcium - 389
Magnesium - 1360
pH - 8.2

I'm also going to start doing All For Reef. Don't have a doser set up yet, so will just be adding the full amount at once until a dose is set up. (6 ml for 40 gallons and 38 ml for 170 gallons)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I think you could dose a bit more, or not. The nitrate values are at the border of low IMO, but there is no urgency.

 

[DmitryB]

I think you could dose a bit more, or not. The nitrate values are at the border of low IMO, but there is no urgency.

Thank you Randy!

To keep the levels from bottom out again, should I only dose when I see them dropping or do you think it's worth setting up a regular schedule of XX dose to keep it from swinging?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you Randy!

To keep the levels from bottom out again, should I only dose when I see them dropping or do you think it's worth setting up a regular schedule of XX dose to keep it from swinging?

Either way seems OK since the drop was slow, IMO.

 

[DmitryB]

Alrighty so did my latest readings. Some interesting results. (For some reason Ammonia went up a bit to .05 in both tanks. Will do water changes tonight. These are the first readings since I've began dosing NeoNitro and AllForReef. For both using the minimum recommended doses. My Alk was trending low in both tanks. Nitrates seem to be doing pretty well. I may start dosing it only every other day? These numbers seem ok. But Calcium is now elevated in both tanks, with other readings seemingly ok.

40 Gallon

170 Gallon

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Are you doing any water changes during this time?

AFR adds a little excess calcium when dosing it to maintain alk.

 

[DmitryB]

I have not done a water change since I started dosing. And this explains the Calcium spike. What's a harmful Calcium level?

 

[Pod_01]

I have not done a water change since I started dosing. And this explains the Calcium spike. What's a harmful Calcium level?

How long have you been dosing AFR and how much do you dose?

The rise in calcium should be gradual, you seem to have gone from 390 on Aug26 to 570 today (week later)!!!

That may be testing error?

 

[DmitryB]

How long have you been dosing AFR and how much do you dose?

The rise in calcium should be gradual, you seem to have gone from 390 on Aug26 to 570 today (week later)!!!

That may be testing error?

My calculation (and math is NOT my strong subject) was dosing 7 ml for the 40 gallon and 39 ml for the 170 gallon. (With 170 I estimated the sump volume as well.)

 

[Pod_01]

My calculation (and math is NOT my strong subject) was dosing 7 ml for the 40 gallon and 39 ml for the 170 gallon. (With 170 I estimated the sump volume as well.)

If you are dosing AFR you should base your dose on Alk consumption. If Alk starts increasing reduce the dose, if Alk starts to drop increase the dose. If there is no Alk consumption you do not need to dose AFR…

From Tropic Marine calculator I get following for your 40 gal tank:

So 7mm will add 2 Calc and 0.28 Alk if dosed daily.
If there is no calcification taking place in 7 days your calc rises by 14 and Alk by 2dKH. I suspect none of the calcium test kits will accurately pick up 14ppm increase in Calcium.

If calcification is taking place your Calcium will slowly drift up over the year, but that is very gradual shift and water changes can maintain in at proper levels.

For example when I used AFR I dosed based on Alk and never measured calcium. Currently I am using B-ionic and once more I base my dose on Alk only. Once a year I may perform ICP test and if calcium is off I may do larger water change, so far it has been below 500.

Good luck,

 

[DmitryB]

Because of cyano that was smothering all my frags, I ran Chemiclean for 48 hrs. Then did a 50 gallon water change yesterday. Then today turned the skimmer on and let it drain another 20 gallons. So 70 gallons replace total in 16 hrs. Did my readings and here's what I got.

I don't know why Ammonia sits at 0.05 and why Nitrite sits at 1.0. I'm not worried about Nitrite, but what could be driving Ammonia?

Also, Phosphates are coming up again, but I think it'll be a problem for a long time because of LFS live rock and dry Pukani rock. Plus I do feed heavy and it's mostly dry food. I'll cut down on the feeding, but the rock is what it is. The question is: to keep Phosphate at bay, is it better to run GFO, do small dosing of Elimi-Phos, or is there another method? I'm not too worried about the Phosphate number yet, but I'd rather it did not creep further up.

I think I will do small Nitrate dosing. And do I continue AFR? (I've also started culturing Phyto, so there's going to be a large supply... is Phyto helpful for any of these numbers?)

Thanks all!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That ammonia is not a problem, and may be beneficial. It takes more than 200x more to kill a fish.

FWIW, the recommended small water change after Chemiclean never made sense to me and I do not do it.

 

[DmitryB]

That ammonia is not a problem, and may be beneficial. It takes more than 200x more to kill a fish.

FWIW, the recommended small water change after Chemiclean never made sense to me and I do not do it.

It was kind of time for a water change, so that part kind of worked out. And I'm trying to get the skimmer back to normal working condition. For now the foam is entirely white and it's a lot of it. I also started running Carbon in a reactor for the first time. The water is GREEN.

I am impressed by Chemiclean. It really works!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It was kind of time for a water change, so that part kind of worked out. And I'm trying to get the skimmer back to normal working condition. For now the foam is entirely white and it's a lot of it. I also started running Carbon in a reactor for the first time. The water is GREEN.

I am impressed by Chemiclean. It really works!

Yes, it does. In case you had not seen other threads, it is the antibiotic tylosin. I’ve used it a few times, and it does work well.

 

[JonasRoman]

Did some readings on my IM 40 today for the first time in a couple of weeks. There's one fish (tiny Coral Beauty) and a lot of coral frags (LPS and Zoas, with one stray SPS.) all readings are basically fine (fighting big Phosphates still,) except Alk is slightly low. Should I do anything about this outside of water changes? (I'm going to swapping from RedSea salt to Nyos. There's just a little RedSea left. Incidentally, I've noticed an "oily" residue on the surface of the water. Like when oil and water separate. No idea what that is, but I don't like it!)

All values fine except po4 that I would lower some with GFO.