Bolus dosing

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

of 7.8. After starting the Bolus method it rose to an average of between 8.1 and 8.2. To me that it is only a comparison to what I was doing before which may or may not have been an effective methodology.

Thanks. :)

 

[Jari]

of 7.8. After starting the Bolus method it rose to an average of between 8.1 and 8.2. To me that it is only a comparison to what I was doing before which may or may not have been an effective methodology.

Just curious, did you also increase the light intensity by 20% (as recommended) when starting the bolus method?

 

[Oldreefer44]

Just curious, did you also increase the light intensity by 20% (as recommended) when starting the bolus method?

Yes but have gradually increased by 50% to 75% for the first 4 hours gradually tapering off after that. That gives me a PAR of 420 at 30 cm and 300 at 45cm. didn't loser any corals in the process

 

[Jari]

Yes but have gradually increased by 50% to 75% for the first 4 hours gradually tapering off after that. That gives me a PAR of 420 at 30 cm and 300 at 45cm. didn't loser any corals in the process

Ok thanks, pretty big increase in photosynthesis (and pH) I presume.

 

[Oldreefer44]

yes on PH , Presumptive yes on photosynthesis based on coral growth rate.

 

[WILDREEFER1000]

Just an exemple of the kh variation on bolus. I dose 520 ml kh. bolus time at 8h30.
Yesterday evening around 20h :kh 8,5
This morning at 7h: kh 8,4
9h30 one hour after the bolus dosing: kh 9,3
Today 22h: kh 8,3

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the info. :)

 

[Superlightman]

Thanks for the info. :)

can you deduce something from it?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

can you deduce something from it?

The bolus boosted alk up to at least 9.3 dKH (that was 60 min after dosing, may have been higher right after) it was consumed during the day down to 8.5, and was not much consumed at night (0.1 dKH). Seems fairly ordinary unless more info is provided. :)

 

[twentyleagues]

The bolus boosted alk up to at least 9.3 dKH (that was 60 min after dosing, may have been higher right after) it was consumed during the day down to 8.5, and was not much consumed at night (0.1 dKH). Seems fairly ordinary unless more info is provided. :)

It would be interesting to know the tank volume. Seems like a lot of product dosed for only a .9 increase. Tank might be huge idk.

 

[carbl]

Published recently by Claude himself. The graph shows the KH swings in his coral farm. The values from August 29 onwards can be ignored, as he had a problem with the dosing system.

Where is the table-top effect? faunamarin writes in his "how to":

"It is common for the alkalinity to rise up high and remain high and constant for a large part of the photoperiod. This ‘Table-top’ effect where the alkalinity will plateau is a feature of the Bolus method and creates a remarkably stable alkalinity throughout the photoperiod. If you have the means of measuring this phenomenon it is evidence that the Bolus method is working as it should in your tank."

 

[twentyleagues]

Published recently by Claude himself. The graph shows the KH swings in his coral farm. The values from August 29 onwards can be ignored, as he had a problem with the dosing system.

Where is the table-top effect? faunamarin writes in his "how to":

"It is common for the alkalinity to rise up high and remain high and constant for a large part of the photoperiod. This ‘Table-top’ effect where the alkalinity will plateau is a feature of the Bolus method and creates a remarkably stable alkalinity throughout the photoperiod. If you have the means of measuring this phenomenon it is evidence that the Bolus method is working as it should in your tank."

Huh! I am pretty sure I get a steadier alk with AFR. I dont have an auto tester and have not tested multiple times a day in a long time though. Thats a lot of testing by hand. Bolus AFR for the win! lol

 

[Koty]

My tank is loaded with corals (no more space and a few territory wars), many are fast-growing sps, and the alkalinity is changing on a scale of days. Why measure so many times per day? :

 

[Garf]

The values from August 29 onwards can be ignored, as he had a problem with the dosing system.

Perhaps the dosing issue started prior to the 29th?

 

[elysics]

My tank is loaded with corals (no more space and a few territory wars), many are fast-growing sps, and the alkalinity is changing on a scale of days. Why measure so many times per day? :

It's changing slowly over the course of days but also quickly over the course of hours. There's multiple things going on, if you only measure once per day you won't even notice the faster changes.

Think about it like this: if you only ever look outside at the sky once per day at noon, you'd notice that the position of the sun slowly changes over the seasons, but you'd never know that it goes down at night

That's also why you're supposed to always measure at the same time of day if you want to figure out consumption

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Published recently by Claude himself. The graph shows the KH swings in his coral farm. The values from August 29 onwards can be ignored, as he had a problem with the dosing system.

Where is the table-top effect? faunamarin writes in his "how to":

"It is common for the alkalinity to rise up high and remain high and constant for a large part of the photoperiod. This ‘Table-top’ effect where the alkalinity will plateau is a feature of the Bolus method and creates a remarkably stable alkalinity throughout the photoperiod. If you have the means of measuring this phenomenon it is evidence that the Bolus method is working as it should in your tank."

Thank you for posting it. The alk result seems exactly what one would expect from a bolus alk dose at the beginning of the light cycle without invoking anything unexpected or worthy of discussion.

 

[Orito]

looking forward for Doug explaining why I'm not intelligent enough to understand the graph

 

[BeanAnimal]

Does Doug have central processing unit, or is he just a dumb terminal wired to Claude?

 

[Koty]

It's changing slowly over the course of days but also quickly over the course of hours. There's multiple things going on, if you only measure once per day you won't even notice the faster changes.

Think about it like this: if you only ever look outside at the sky once per day at noon, you'd notice that the position of the sun slowly changes over the seasons, but you'd never know that it goes down at night

That's also why you're supposed to always measure at the same time of day if you want to figure out consumption

I find it hard to believe that a change "over the course of hours" will be at the same or higher range of what I detect (I actually do not even test every day). The prediction of what you claim means that I will never see a clear trend because I test at various times of the day. I agree that there are minute changes, but at a scale that makes testing a waste of time and money (IMO). Maybe the Bolus is a remedy to people's frustration after investing in these automatic systems that test every other hour, showing no significant change. The Bolus provides "results": KH is unstable during the day, giving nice plots. I still think the general guideline of trying to imitate nature's environment as much as possible is the right way. Stability is much more important than making corals grow as fast as possible.

 

[Oldreefer44]

After 14 months of use, it is still the most cost effective and therefore the greatest ROI on any of the methodologies I have used in almost 50 years in the hobby. AFR was also effective but eventually led to an imbalance of high CA and while definitely an easier process, was more expensive. Not endorsing just reporting.