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- May 3, 2016
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So I've gotten myself in a bind. My calcium was low for a while and I managed to get it up, but it kept going up till its at 500. But that's not the problem. I've cut calcium way back, like 65mL a day, but alkalinity has plummeted from 9.5 to 8.2 in 10 days. I'm at 95mL a day calcium carbonate and in the past two days I've added 10mL more per day (2x5mL increase two days apart). No visible signs of precipitation. It's about 250 gallons, 18 month old tank.
1) should I stop dosing so unequally and pause a day and get them equal?
2) Should I continue treating alkalinity as a separate beast and manage that as needed?
I attribute my problems to my cheap brs dosers and homemade dosing containers for the unequal dosing. If the levels get too low in the containers it seems to suck more air. Really need to get a more reliable dosing system. Also phosphates have just gotten under control (. 06) and brand new t5 bulbs (10x80w) might be responsible for more alkalinity uptake. Otherwise everything looks great, I'm just worried I'm on the edge of unstable dosing with it being so uneven.
Thanks!
1) should I stop dosing so unequally and pause a day and get them equal?
2) Should I continue treating alkalinity as a separate beast and manage that as needed?
I attribute my problems to my cheap brs dosers and homemade dosing containers for the unequal dosing. If the levels get too low in the containers it seems to suck more air. Really need to get a more reliable dosing system. Also phosphates have just gotten under control (. 06) and brand new t5 bulbs (10x80w) might be responsible for more alkalinity uptake. Otherwise everything looks great, I'm just worried I'm on the edge of unstable dosing with it being so uneven.
Thanks!