Water Test Update and Salt Mix Issue
Did a water test yesterday, got this:
Alk: 9.3 (what the heck???)
Cal: 410 (ok fine)
PO4: 0.13 (come on....)
I did a 5g water change a few days before the testing, I am using Red Sea Coral Pro and I think it's driving my numbers up. I don't think I'll be able to get my Alk down to 8, stable, and still use this stuff. RSCP targets between 11-12 Alk which is too high for me.
The other problem is stability, I am currently dosing 1mL / day for Alk however even if I stop dosing, every time I do a water change I am going to get an Alk swing.
As a result I am forced to change salts to something else, and am going to get Tropic Marin Pro Reef. It sucks in a way because TMP costs a wee bit more:
TMP: $130 / 200gal = $0.65/gal
RSCP: $84 / 175gal = $0.48/gal
Which is a 35% price jump. Yikes.
But as an added bonus aside from better parameters (for me), RSCP is terrible in terms of residue. It's basically not possible to keep it in a bucket for longer than 4 hours without getting sediment. TMP remains mixed with no sediment for months. Since I am going Triton, I don't see myself using too much mix so the price difference won't be as painful.
On the topic of PO4, something is reintroducing phosphates after I pulled my GFO, and I suspect it could be the die off of the cyano. It is starting to slowly disappear, SLOWLY, and perhaps it's adding this stuff back in the water. I am going to add some GFO again, maybe half the recommended dose, just to make sure the death of cyano doesn't feed something else.
Triton Update - Dosing Gear
On the topic of dosing, I have decided to wait until Black Friday deals start coming to get the pumps and Triton stuff. If I buy them now and BRS has a sale on them in 2 weeks, I'll be.... displeased. This pushes out my Triton migration a bit but clearly I need the time to get my water parameters a bit more in check.
Did a water test yesterday, got this:
Alk: 9.3 (what the heck???)
Cal: 410 (ok fine)
PO4: 0.13 (come on....)
I did a 5g water change a few days before the testing, I am using Red Sea Coral Pro and I think it's driving my numbers up. I don't think I'll be able to get my Alk down to 8, stable, and still use this stuff. RSCP targets between 11-12 Alk which is too high for me.
The other problem is stability, I am currently dosing 1mL / day for Alk however even if I stop dosing, every time I do a water change I am going to get an Alk swing.
As a result I am forced to change salts to something else, and am going to get Tropic Marin Pro Reef. It sucks in a way because TMP costs a wee bit more:
TMP: $130 / 200gal = $0.65/gal
RSCP: $84 / 175gal = $0.48/gal
Which is a 35% price jump. Yikes.
But as an added bonus aside from better parameters (for me), RSCP is terrible in terms of residue. It's basically not possible to keep it in a bucket for longer than 4 hours without getting sediment. TMP remains mixed with no sediment for months. Since I am going Triton, I don't see myself using too much mix so the price difference won't be as painful.
On the topic of PO4, something is reintroducing phosphates after I pulled my GFO, and I suspect it could be the die off of the cyano. It is starting to slowly disappear, SLOWLY, and perhaps it's adding this stuff back in the water. I am going to add some GFO again, maybe half the recommended dose, just to make sure the death of cyano doesn't feed something else.
Triton Update - Dosing Gear
On the topic of dosing, I have decided to wait until Black Friday deals start coming to get the pumps and Triton stuff. If I buy them now and BRS has a sale on them in 2 weeks, I'll be.... displeased. This pushes out my Triton migration a bit but clearly I need the time to get my water parameters a bit more in check.