Daily Alk Swing Amount Poll: SPS Dominant

[Poseidon03]

Calling all experienced SPS keepers! I was curious, how much do you guys let your alk swing?

Personally, mine swings about .5 dKh per day due to dosing kalk at night. When I get more consumption and everything grows into big colonies, I plan on dosing 2 part during the day and kalk at night to keep the swings at a minimum.

From your experience, when would you do that? What's your maximum daily alk swing you allow?

 

[exnisstech]

I don't consider my self very experienced but I do have a bunch of sps frags growing out. I have to say that I have no idea if my alk swings or not. I started using a doser a few months ago and my alk is always 8.3 when I test it but I test at about the same time everyday and have no idea if it swings between tests. I only test once a week now that things are stable.

 

[Mwatts12]

This is a good poll. Good idea!

 

[Poseidon03]

This is a good poll. Good idea!

Thanks!

It would be cool if the big-time farms end up voting in. I feel like it could help document what everyone's thoughts and practices are for the newer SPS keepers. I've been keeping SPS successfully for about a year now, so nowhere near experienced.

I'll ping a couple of the farms, hoping they would be willing to help the hobby out and share their experiences. A lot of them cycle a lot of water though due to selling frags.

@RiptideAquaculture @WWC @TSA Corals @TCK Corals
@Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[Poseidon03]

I don't consider my self very experienced but I do have a bunch of sps frags growing out. I have to say that I have no idea if my alk swings or not. I started using a doser a few months ago and my alk is always 8.3 when I test it but I test at about the same time everyday and have no idea if it swings between tests. I only test once a week now that things are stable.

I run a trident, which is gaining in popularity, but is still a high barrier of entry for most. Do you dose 24/7 like a calcium reactor or dripping kalk or do you only dose at night? This is my ASD milli that has grown out for a year now with a few frags here in there created by my fish.

 

[Thuan]

By no means, I'm experienced. I tried to spread out my esv 2 part with the least swing as possible. I spread it out within 12 hrs period. Light come on 7am and off at 8pm. 1st dose is at 9am. Dosage varies, with less after lights goes out and more during day. When I first started, I test same time @8am and at 8pm. Depends on the swing, I adjust accordingly. My alk is never more than .2. Most of the time, its either the same or .1 swing

 

[Poseidon03]

By no means, I'm experienced. I tried to spread out my esv 2 part with the least swing as possible. I spread it out within 12 hrs period. Light come on 7am and off at 8pm. 1st dose is at 9am. Dosage varies, with less after lights goes out and more during day. When I first started, I test same time @8am and at 8pm. Depends on the swing, I adjust accordingly. My alk is never more than .2. Most of the time, its either the same or .1 swing

Hey, you're more experienced than the people new to SPS that might look this up, so it can help give them a starting point! Most people aren't experts in this hobby since more and more science comes out every year about it that changes the way we think. I mean not too long ago, ULN was the "best way to go," but now it is said that raised nutrients are better. I can't wait for an auto nitrate/phosphate tester comes out because I feel like it will help correlate more trends. I mean tracking alk and cal consumption with nitrate and phosphate levels would be great!

 

[exnisstech]

Hey, you're more experienced than the people new to SPS that might look this up, so it can help give them a starting point! Most people aren't experts in this hobby since more and more science comes out every year about it that changes the way we think. I mean not too long ago, ULN was the "best way to go," but now it is said that raised nutrients are better. I can't wait for an auto nitrate/phosphate tester comes out because I feel like it will help correlate more trends. I mean tracking alk and cal consumption with nitrate and phosphate levels would be great!

I'm a little familiar with the triton system but have never considered it. I'm a bit of a simpleton and it sounds complicated to me. I dose 2part six times a day between 9am and 11pm on 2 tanks. I dose that schedule because I read that it was better to dose during lights on and my dosers are little noisy and I'm a light sleeper. I dosed 2part manually once a day for several years and all was fine. I just wanted more stability when I set up a new tank for sps so I added a doser. I liked it so well I added a second to another tank. I run 3 tanks, 2 sps dominant and one a mixed reef. Recent shots of the tanks are shown below. LR tank is 8yo BR 4-5 yo and DR 11 months. The living room mixed reef tank gets kalk only, dripping 24/7 via a brs 50ml minute doser on a timer, no 2 part. I drip 7200 ml daily which is just under my evaporation rate. While my alk is a little less than I like 7.5ish it stays rock solid and tank inhabitants seem fine so I roll with that. I tried kalk in the ato but my evap rate varies too much so I started dripping it. Kalk is the easiest and cheapest of all but you have to have a high enough evaporation rate for it to work and consumption can change as coral grow. A kalk reactor may work better but I'm not very familiar with them and I would most likely just supplement 2 part with the kalk rather than add another piece of equipment to maintain.

Living room

Dining room


Bedroom

 

[Poseidon03]

I'm a little familiar with the triton system but have never considered it. I'm a bit of a simpleton and it sounds complicated to me. I dose 2part six times a day between 9am and 11pm on 2 tanks. I dose that schedule because I read that it was better to dose during lights on and my dosers are little noisy and I'm a light sleeper. I dosed 2part manually once a day for several years and all was fine. I just wanted more stability when I set up a new tank for sps so I added a doser. I liked it so well I added a second to another tank. I run 3 tanks, 2 sps dominant and one a mixed reef. Recent shots of the tanks are shown below. LR tank is 8yo BR 4-5 yo and DR 11 months. The living room mixed reef tank gets kalk only, dripping 24/7 via a brs 50ml minute doser on a timer, no 2 part. I drip 7200 ml daily which is just under my evaporation rate. While my alk is a little less than I like 7.5ish it stays rock solid and tank inhabitants seem fine so I roll with that. I tried kalk in the ato but my evap rate varies too much so I started dripping it. Kalk is the easiest and cheapest of all but you have to have a high enough evaporation rate for it to work and consumption can change as coral grow. A kalk reactor may work better but I'm not very familiar with them and I would most likely just supplement 2 part with the kalk rather than add another piece of equipment to maintain.

The tanks definitely look great! You are doing something right. I like dosing kalk every 30 minutes for 12 hours at night personally for the pH benefits. My tank doesn't have too much evaporation though due to being an older acrylic tank with acrylic lids and a hood. I've been considering replacing the lids with screens to get extra evaporation, but haven't decided yet.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’d just caution that folks with tight control get it from a machine that is not necessarily adjustable for less control. It is what it is. So what people actually do and vote in a poll that may be different than what they think is required or desirable (assuming they have experience with the same system with less control).

I also think the the pH swing is a part of the same story, though most people do not recognize it. Corals do not take up a thing called alkalinity. They take up bicarbonate or maybe carbonate, and at a fixed alk these change as pH changes. In the future, I expect we will have a better understanding of what chemicals we actually want stable, but we are not there.

 

[Garf]

I started dosing kalk just during the day to minimise swing, I must say the only benefit I've noticed is that I can test any time of day to get a reliable trend.

 

[Poseidon03]

I started dosing kalk just during the day to minimise swing, I must say the only benefit I've noticed is that I can test any time of day to get a reliable trend.

How much does your pH swing, though?

 

[Garf]

How much does your pH swing, though?

8.2ish to 8.5ish.