homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
You shouldn't bring your DKH over 1 point per day. Even slower is better for the corals.
DOS Setup
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homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
I would let it fall all the way back to 6.5. Dose it up to 7 in one shot using the calculator I linked earlier.
Then test for like 4 days in a row. Write it down(use an app, but someway to track it). then on the fourth day figure out your daily consumption by dividing by 4.
Dose back up to 7, or 8, or wherever you want to keep it, but slowly!. And set your doser to dose the drop daily over 24 hours.
FYI, always test at the same time every day, hourly fluctuations are normal, thats why your should test at the same time every day.
Then test for like 4 days in a row. Write it down(use an app, but someway to track it). then on the fourth day figure out your daily consumption by dividing by 4.
Dose back up to 7, or 8, or wherever you want to keep it, but slowly!. And set your doser to dose the drop daily over 24 hours.
FYI, always test at the same time every day, hourly fluctuations are normal, thats why your should test at the same time every day.
phillygeeks
Active Member
Are you switching to sodium bicarb also?
Davisc1293
Active Member
I would like to avoid switching because even with a co2 reactor and using soda ash I'm still around 7.9-8 but like i said before if that's what its going to take to get this under control I will and possibly switch back later
phillygeeks
Active Member
Gotcha. I found the old thread where I had the same issue. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/when-is-too-much-2-part.278262/#post-3453616
I would just say have a very low threshold to switch to bicarb based if it looks like consumption is going too high again. It sounds like @homer1475 switched to bicarb also when he was battling this issue. At the time was trying for all these ideal numbers but ultimately I settled on a dkh of around 8 and allowed for a pH under 8 and just let things settle for a while. That is when my tank took off. Ultimately I went with the classic ESV b-ionic and just left things there with a lower dkh salt and things took off.
I would just say have a very low threshold to switch to bicarb based if it looks like consumption is going too high again. It sounds like @homer1475 switched to bicarb also when he was battling this issue. At the time was trying for all these ideal numbers but ultimately I settled on a dkh of around 8 and allowed for a pH under 8 and just let things settle for a while. That is when my tank took off. Ultimately I went with the classic ESV b-ionic and just left things there with a lower dkh salt and things took off.
Davisc1293
Active Member
So letting it drop to 6.5 bringing it back to 7 with bi carb and then starting the doser back up with soda ash did not work. Very frustrating
phillygeeks
Active Member
I would suggest sticking with the sodium bicarb and leaving the soda ash out for now
homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
Agreed with above.
Once things settle down, by all means switch back to the ash for the PH boost.
Better yet would be to dose kalk for the PH, and slight alk and cal boost. The dose 2 part for the extra you may need. You would cut back on the 2 part this way too.
Once things settle down, by all means switch back to the ash for the PH boost.
Better yet would be to dose kalk for the PH, and slight alk and cal boost. The dose 2 part for the extra you may need. You would cut back on the 2 part this way too.
Davisc1293
Active Member
i will try but i dont understand why im having this problem, this is the whole reason i bought the doser so i could use the soda ash and my other concern was the bi carb dose is much much higher so i will no longer be dosing equal parts.
homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
Why would you not be dosing equal parts?
Davisc1293
Active Member
i dont understand what you mean i though people dose kalk to replace two part
Davisc1293
Active Member
because the soda ash is about equal part to cal but the dose for bi carb is more then double of soda ash i beleive
homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
Other way around
Start with kalk, then move on to 2 part when kalk can no longer keep up with demand. I forget what size tank you have, but kalk may be all you need.
Start with kalk, then move on to 2 part when kalk can no longer keep up with demand. I forget what size tank you have, but kalk may be all you need.
homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
You do not need to dose the 2 part equally. This is a myth. You should dose what is needed. All of my systems require different 2 part dosing of alk and cal. This could be your issue. I read thru the thread didn’t see much listed about your alk and cal numbers please post those for me. This is one reason why I got trident for all my systems to make getting this stable easier for me… my friends 120 also does not use alk and cal equal he dose 45ml of alk and 10 of cal a day I does 90 alk and 40 cal. Granted we both do daily auto water changes aswel which could contribute to this. IMO what you need to do is start low and slow and test daily. Set dos to dose over the 24 hour period and set lower then should be and run for days and very slowly raise alk only assuming cal is above 380-400.
This exact issue was happening to me many years ago when I dosed equal parts and then all of a sudden the numbers started to run off in the up direction sand got hard and I fixed it by only dosing alk. I let cal fall to 350ish then maintained it with as little as possible to the 400 range. I have had systems that only required alk dosing. Btw I use brs 2 part
Davisc1293
Active Member
I'm using BRS soda ash and calcium I have BRS bicarb too that I used for larger adjustments but like i said the dose is always way more then soda ash. I don't want to switch to kalk as I just bought the DOS for nothing. ill switch to bi carb until things stabilize if that's what's needed but I don't understand why its still a problem.
homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
Ok if you switch to bicarb, then when mixing the calcium part, just use half the recommended amount.
In weight thats 261G, or 1 1/4C.
I do the same, but use arm and hammer baking soda per randy's diy recipe for the bicarb part, and BRS calcium. BRS chems are based off randys DIY recipe.
Same stock solutions now as soda ash and calcium chloride, just at about half the strength, and not as high PH in thr ALK part.
Had randy explain this to me when I was dosing large amounts of sodium bicarb, and small amounts of calcium chloride. BRS's calcium chloride is meant to dosed in equal amounts to soda ash. So cutting the recipe in half, means you can dose equal parts of sodium bicarb.
In weight thats 261G, or 1 1/4C.
I do the same, but use arm and hammer baking soda per randy's diy recipe for the bicarb part, and BRS calcium. BRS chems are based off randys DIY recipe.
Same stock solutions now as soda ash and calcium chloride, just at about half the strength, and not as high PH in thr ALK part.
Had randy explain this to me when I was dosing large amounts of sodium bicarb, and small amounts of calcium chloride. BRS's calcium chloride is meant to dosed in equal amounts to soda ash. So cutting the recipe in half, means you can dose equal parts of sodium bicarb.
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