do you autodose fritz RPM alkalinity? If you do, do you have this problem?

[leonardomanzano]

I recently got an automatic doser and started dosing my alkalinty but after a few days when I can home and checked up on the beaker the liquid solidified into what can best be described as wet snow. when I stirred it, it started to return to its liquid form.

my question is, is this normal? should I try a different brand that won't do this? if so what product should I change over to?

Im considering trying out the triton method since my sump is essentially a large refugium and my pump is pushing out 800GPH on my 55 gallon so i do fit the minimum requirement for the triton method at least.

Will the triton liquids also undergo this problem as well?

 

[ZombieEngineer]

I haven't used fritz alk personally, but I have found most alkalinity and calcium supplements to be a complete waste of money. That supplement is 6x the cost of soda ash normalized to dKH rise which works just as good.

Usually better to just stick with baking soda or soda ash for alk and calcium chloride for calcium. Substantially cheaper and work just as well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I recently got an automatic doser and started dosing my alkalinty but after a few days when I can home and checked up on the beaker the liquid solidified into what can best be described as wet snow. when I stirred it, it started to return to its liquid form.

my question is, is this normal? should I try a different brand that won't do this? if so what product should I change over to?

Im considering trying out the triton method since my sump is essentially a large refugium and my pump is pushing out 800GPH on my 55 gallon so i do fit the minimum requirement for the triton method at least.

Will the triton liquids also undergo this problem as well?

Alk supplements can precipitate if they get cold. Diluting with pure fresh water and/warming them helps.

I’m not sure what you mean by returns to liquid state on stirring. Did it dissolve and go clear, or make a cloudy slurry?

Never put tank water into the alk and calcium parts, and do not combine them.

 

[leonardomanzano]

A cloudy slurry would describe it best.
If I were to add RO water to it how much should I add before the ratio of water to solution is too high that I have to dose more of the solution?

i have separate beakers for each of my nutrients

 

[leonardomanzano]

I haven't used fritz alk personally, but I have found most alkalinity and calcium supplements to be a complete waste of money. That supplement is 6x the cost of soda ash normalized to dKH rise which works just as good.

Usually better to just stick with baking soda or soda ash for alk and calcium chloride for calcium. Substantially cheaper and work just as well.

What brands do you use? Would the BRS soda ash be okay?

 

[ZombieEngineer]

What brands do you use? Would the BRS soda ash be okay?

I use the BRS stuff cause I don't want to bake it myself. Others have had great success with just basic baking soda and cooking on a parchment lined baking sheet in the oven to turn it into soda ash. If you have very high pH already (most don't), or you will be dosing this manually once per day, you want just plain baking soda. Soda ash has a pH increasing property so it needs to be dosed slowly, but has the benefit of raising pH, which most people are a bit low on.

 

[leonardomanzano]

I use the BRS stuff cause I don't want to bake it myself. Others have had great success with just basic baking soda and cooking on a parchment lined baking sheet in the oven to turn it into soda ash. If you have very high pH already (most don't), or you will be dosing this manually once per day, you want just plain baking soda. Soda ash has a pH increasing property so it needs to be dosed slowly, but has the benefit of raising pH, which most people are a bit low on.

Alright cool, thank you! I’ll add it to my BRS cart.

have you tried the calcium and magnesium powders as well? They have a 3 set combo for them and I’m wondering if I should get buy that and save me the hassle later on.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Alright cool, thank you! I’ll add it to my BRS cart.

have you tried the calcium and magnesium powders as well? They have a 3 set combo for them and I’m wondering if I should get buy that and save me the hassle later on.

That's what I have been using for years. I am considering getting balling components part C instead of magnesium though to keep trace elements up but haven't purchased yet. When Sodium Carbonate and Calcium Chloride precipitate or are used by corals for skeletal growth, pure Sodium Chloride with no trace elements is left over from the process. This can cause NaCl to build over time and leave trace elements really low. I have been dealing with this in the past by just doing reasonable amounts of water changes, but the balling part C replenishes the trace elements so I could do maybe 5% weekly changes instead of 10% and potentially save money. Still need to do more calculations to make sure it's actually to my benefit but seems really promising

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

A cloudy slurry would describe it best.
If I were to add RO water to it how much should I add before the ratio of water to solution is too high that I have to dose more of the solution?

i have separate beakers for each of my nutrients

Id double the volume as a test and see if that clears it up.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That's what I have been using for years. I am considering getting balling components part C instead of magnesium though to keep trace elements up but haven't purchased yet. When Sodium Carbonate and Calcium Chloride precipitate or are used by corals for skeletal growth, pure Sodium Chloride with no trace elements is left over from the process. This can cause NaCl to build over time and leave trace elements really low. I have been dealing with this in the past by just doing reasonable amounts of water changes, but the balling part C replenishes the trace elements so I could do maybe 5% weekly changes instead of 10% and potentially save money. Still need to do more calculations to make sure it's actually to my benefit but seems really promising

Just bear in mind that Balling Part C does not offset any trace element consumption, only the salinity correction effect you note.