Alkalinity not tied to Dosing!

[ScottF83]

You can safely raise the level of Alk by 1 DKH per day. I don't like moving it that much and would shoot for increasing it by .5 per day.
After thinking about it some, I would also just use a product with a known value to raise Alk, such as baking soda.
If you leave your dosser where it is and use the calculator, it says you would use 22.5 grams of baking soda to raise your Alk by 1 DKH.
Cut that in half and 11 grams should be a safe addition in 1 day, and should land you around 6.5 DKH.
Continue adding the 11 grams until you get to where you wan to be.

Assuming the 100ml keeps me stable, and the 11g gets it to target, would the 100ml keep me stable at the new higher level? (caeteris paribus)

Does alkalinity work like that?

 

[rockskimmerflow]

It's precipitation. You gotta kill the doser completely and just maintain alk for a week or so with a non-triton buffer. Trust me on this one. Address where the Core7 is entering the system ensuring VERY high water turbulence/velocity near doser input area and address any precipitation in the supplement main containers. It must be fully dissolved by heating and mixing then kept above 70 degrees to maintain its solubility. I have 10+ clients with 180-400gal systems and a few are still on Triton Core7, while most are on ATI essentials pro now. The core7 users with packed SPS systems in that size range are all in the 40 - 60mL per day range for uptake. They have T5HO or hybrid halide, T5, led systems and see excellent growth. 100mL of real alk uptake at Core7 concentrations could grow a huge system sufficiently. While your corals are large judging by your photo, IMO they aren't pulling close to 100mL a day of full strength Core7. I'd cut the doser off for at least a week and just buffer alk until things settle down. Then restart doser at like 30mL per day once you've verified proper solubility of additives and high flow at doser input. Good luck.

 

[TMB]

It might keep it correct. Not much sense worrying about that though. The 100ml will keep you relatively stable, and daily additions will help you get the Alk to the target level.
Once you get there it will be pretty easy to adjust your dose if it continues to drop over time.
Not knowing if it is the correct daily automatic dose is exactly the reason to make adjustments by hand. You can end up chasing your tail trying to get the dosser to do that for you.

 

[TMB]

It's precipitation. You gotta kill the doser completely and just maintain alk for a week or so with a non-triton buffer. Trust me on this one. Address where the Core7 is entering the system ensuring VERY high water turbulence/velocity near doser input area and address any precipitation in the supplement main containers. It must be fully dissolved by heating and mixing then kept above 70 degrees to maintain its solubility. I have 10+ clients with 180-400gal systems and a few are still on Triton Core7, while most are on ATI essentials pro now. The core7 users with packed SPS systems in that size range are all in the 40 - 60mL per day range for uptake. They have T5HO or hybrid halide, T5, led systems and see excellent growth. 100mL of real alk uptake at Core7 concentrations could grow a huge system sufficiently. While your corals are large judging by your photo, IMO they aren't pulling close to 100mL a day of full strength Core7. I'd cut the doser off for at least a week and just buffer alk until things settle down. Then restart doser at like 30mL per day once you've verified proper solubility of additives and high flow at doser input. Good luck.

I think this is good advice as well. Since I don't use the core7 products I have no idea the strength.
I will say though that when I was dosing 2 part, I was over 220 ml per day before switching to Carx, so the 100ml didn't really alarm me too much.
Listening to someone with experience with this product might be a good idea until you figure it out.

 

[ScottF83]

It's precipitation. You gotta kill the doser completely and just maintain alk for a week or so with a non-triton buffer. Trust me on this one. Address where the Core7 is entering the system ensuring VERY high water turbulence/velocity near doser input area and address any precipitation in the supplement main containers. It must be fully dissolved by heating and mixing then kept above 70 degrees to maintain its solubility. I have 10+ clients with 180-400gal systems and a few are still on Triton Core7, while most are on ATI essentials pro now. The core7 users with packed SPS systems in that size range are all in the 40 - 60mL per day range for uptake. They have T5HO or hybrid halide, T5, led systems and see excellent growth. 100mL of real alk uptake at Core7 concentrations could grow a huge system sufficiently. While your corals are large judging by your photo, IMO they aren't pulling close to 100mL a day of full strength Core7. I'd cut the doser off for at least a week and just buffer alk until things settle down. Then restart doser at like 30mL per day once you've verified proper solubility of additives and high flow at doser input. Good luck.

Thank you for that specific information on triton dosages.

I know its dark but I've attached a pic of my tank. It's got the two large pieces but by no means is it packed with Sps. I'd also be surprised if it was truly taking 100ml of this product compared to others on an average 50ml.

70f being 21c, that's a touch over room temperature and the dosing containers are in the tank area next to the sump so should be warm enough. The main large containers are in the garage so probably half that temp.. 10c/50f I'd guess

I can certainly ensure full solubility before I top up the tank containers but I'm struggling how I'd keep those heated and stirred. Magnetic stirrers?!

Hmm brain is racing now.

Do your clients switch because this is a common problem with triton core 7 not seen in other products?

 

[rockskimmerflow]

Thank you for that specific information on triton dosages.

I know its dark but I've attached a pic of my tank. It's got the two large pieces but by no means is it packed with Sps. I'd also be surprised if it was truly taking 100ml of this product compared to others on an average 50ml.

70f being 21c, that's a touch over room temperature and the dosing containers are in the tank area next to the sump so should be warm enough. The main large containers are in the garage so probably half that temp.. 10c/50f I'd guess

I can certainly ensure full solubility before I top up the tank containers but I'm struggling how I'd keep those heated and stirred. Magnetic stirrers?!

Hmm brain is racing now.

Do your clients switch because this is a common problem with triton core 7 not seen in other products?

Yeah seeing the tank now it's for sure precipitation, possibly just in your main containers in the garage but likely that as well as some at point of dosing input. Triton Core7 is a great product, I just had to transition away because of their supply shortages and my need to provide gallons of supplement between all my clients every month. A few clients have elected to remain on the system since their tanks are doing so well on it, but I haven't noticed any serious downsides to switching to ATI essentials other than it's low iodine input. ATI also will precipitate in the Pro version if left in a cold garage. If I were you I'd get your main containers fully redissolved, then move them to a storage space that is not going to get cold. It's more of a hassle to redisolve every time vs. just storing them at room temp.

 

[rkpetersen]

Not much to add to this conversation. Only that there are also other less visible places for calcium carbonate to precipitate, such as in pumps, on heaters, and especially in sand.

 

[justingraham]

Something is way off
For triton core 7
100 ml on a 200 gallon tank is roughly 5 dkh consumption rate

 

[justingraham]

Something is way off
For triton core 7
100 ml on a 200 gallon tank is roughly 5 dkh consumption rate

Whoops I did the math wrong 2.5 dkh which is still a lot

 

[ScottF83]

It certainly is!

Okay so food for thought there and I'll look to resolve those issues

Thanks guys

 

[ScottF83]

Disappointed to report that the stirred up dosing container situated in a 1L plastic pot sat beside the sump touching the glass (i.e. Should be warmed soluble levels), has resettled on the bottom overnight.

Not sure how I'm meant to keep this stuff dissolved!

 

[MegaZombi]

I keep a tiny pump in my sump, situated directly below the outlet of the dosing tubes to prevent precipitation.
Also, the dosing outlet tubes are sort of near my return pump, which I think helps this further.
Just a tiny bit of roiling water when the mixture is dosed will prevent precipitation in my experience. At least, just for basic alkalinity, calcium and magnesium, that is.

 

[rockskimmerflow]

Disappointed to report that the stirred up dosing container situated in a 1L plastic pot sat beside the sump touching the glass (i.e. Should be warmed soluble levels), has resettled on the bottom overnight.

Not sure how I'm meant to keep this stuff dissolved!

You can't get it to redissolve simply by stirring or shaking the precipitate. It will just settle again. Heat the jugs by soaking in a bathtub of hot water if they are large containers. Then shake and let continue soaking, repeat until everything is crystal clear. Then store them at or above 70F indoors. If you need to keep them at cooler temps you're going to have to manually dilute them all equally with RODI or pure distilled water. They aren't going to stay fully liquid unless kept warm enough. You should make it a habit of full ensuring the solubility of all the components when they are brand new, then store them warm enough once you've gotten them to a fully liquid state. This way you don't have to keep reheating and agitating them liquid everytime you want to refill your doser reservoirs.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Disappointed to report that the stirred up dosing container situated in a 1L plastic pot sat beside the sump touching the glass (i.e. Should be warmed soluble levels), has resettled on the bottom overnight.

Not sure how I'm meant to keep this stuff dissolved!

Dilute it with RO/DI to dissolve it more readily, and add more each day to compensate. That works with any alk additive

If it is just a bit of minor precipitate, ignore it.

 

[Ashley Kekua]

Where does it preciptate to? on what item in the tank?

 

[ScottF83]

Where does it preciptate to? on what item in the tank?

It's not in the tank?

 

[ScottF83]

Dilute it with RO/DI to dissolve it more readily, and add more each day to compensate. That works with any alk additive

If it is just a bit of minor precipitate, ignore it.

It's just a light dusting on the bottom of the dosing container. Probably only a mm or two thick.

My containers are only a liter and dosing 100ml per day means it is nearly empty. I will take this opportunity to fully dissolve and dilute the next refill of the dosing container. It's been fairly cold here in the UK so I need to spend some time warming up the source containers and fully dissolving any precipitation here before topping off my dosing containers. (thank you for the advice on that, guys)

I've attached the readings for the past few days. I used baking soda to raise the level initially but have kept 100ml per day via dosing.

It's still falling as you can see and I simply don't understand the stepped nature of the drop. My brain is willing it to be linear, but it simply isn't for whatever reason.

I've also purchased some calcium hydroxide which will arrive in a few days.

I'm debating whether to switch fully to this, stick with triton after tending to the solutions, or try a mix of kalk and triton. Any thoughts on that?

Ultimately, the tank is absolutely fine and the corals look amazing but I'm trying to reduce this daily grind of alkalinity monitoring and maintenance so that, as summer comes, I can go on holiday without worrying too much :)


Also, finally, I'd like to say a quick thank you to Randy for all the articles you have written and continued advice on the forums. I've spent hours reading it all! Fascinating subjects and it's why I love reef systems :)