Experiment and discussion about calcification rate in my Aquarium

[Lasse]

A description of my aquarium.

I use Core7 Triton method in order to maintain most of my parameters
The aquarium is around 310 L water
Heavy stocked with both hard and soft corals and 5 clams
40+ fish in small and middle sized fish
The filtration
A reversed deep sand bed
Refugium (the DSB is in the refugium)
Oversized Skimmer
Chaeto reactor
Oxidator
No WC for around 3 years
Additatives
Daily add of iron, strontium, iodine, vanadium, manganese and boron. I´m adding 1.6 ml of Triton Boron at 20,:07 every evening.
small adding of ethanol below the DSB - around 2 ml 4% a day
Triton IPC around every 3:th month. Dosing mostly after their instructions after test

The alkalinity part of the Core7 Triton method will rise the pH - therefore I have for a some years always add it during night time when my pH tends to drop. Before the 11 th of march - I run the Core7 3a+b dosing between 22:00 and 12:00, Ph swing around 0.21 as highest. Max pH 8,41 - lowest 8.2

​

In the end of this period - lowest daily pH was slowly rising. During march I also lowered my max light during the day to 75 % intensity (of the one I had before). This was because I had some starting small Cyano patches that I did not get totally rid of. NO3 around 4 - 5 and Phosphorous between 0.05 and 0.1. When I lowered my light intensity - I was afraid that I would affect the growth of my corals. I did a serie of measurements of my KH drop during the time I did not dose Core 7 3a+b. Between 12:00 and 20:00 - my system consume around 1 dKH in alkalinity - it responds to a limestone (CaCO3) production or/and precipitation of around 5 g during this time. I redo the measurements after I had lower my light with 25 % in intensity - I was expected a lower production or/and precipitation of CaCO3 - but the result was the opposite

Alkalinity switch before 25/2 - 100 % light

After the 25/2 - note between the 26/2 and late 2/3 - no measurements because that I was out of home.

continue

​

Around the 16/3 - the measurements was nearly the same- However I had shortened the period during I add Core7 3a+b

My conclusion is that lowering the light intensity in my aquarium did not negative affect my calcification rate during the period from 12:00 to 20:00 - more likely the opposite. I was probably in a situation of photoinhiberation before.


To be continued soon

Sincerely Lasse

​

 

[Lasse]

The result until the 20 th of March indicate that the calcification and/or precipitation rate not had be lower - more likely higher between 12:00 and 20:00 in my aquarium when I lower my light intensity (still the same spectra) from 100 % to 75 %. During this time I was partly in hospital and the start alkalinity (after all night dosing) get a little bit to high IMO. Therefore I shortened the time and dose it was active during night time. From around 135 ml Core 7 3a+b (both together) during 22:00 - 12:00 until 11/3 to 116 ml (a+b) from 22:00 to 10:00 and 107 ml (a+b) from the 13/3. During the las two days I have take it down to 87 ml a day but will raise it to 107 again.

​

Together with pH. The average pH and the swing have dimmish the last month but that´s probably because it is warmer outside and more open doors to the outside. Its not only that but a par - IMO

Let us see the last week. It is clear how the pH is affected of adding Core7 3a+b and the photosynthesis

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The last days - whats happens these days. I shortened the dosing hours because another test

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I decided to take alkalinity measurements nearly every hour during daytime. I use Hanna Checker marine alkalinity meter that give the answer in mg/L CaCO3 but I have converted in this graph to dKH. Important to note is that the accuracy of this test equipment is ± 0.28 dKH and the hourly change is often lesser than that - therefore is not the actual figures most interesting is the trend and the start + end figures. The part in red is analyzed with a new batch of reagents. IMO - there is sometimes differences according to batches with this reagent

Interesting here is that my alkalinity change between 9:00 and 23:00 with 2dKH the last day . give it 2.5 - 1.5 dKH if the two endpoints was in extreme variations of the accuracy. 2 dKH is nearly 35 mg/l CaCO3 and my system is 310 L. It means that during last day my production/precipitation of CaCO3 between 09:00 to 23:00 was more than 10 g !!

Let us combine with pH and dosing of Core7 3a+b

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This findings put a lot of questions - where does the law of stable alkalinity go. My corals and clams have never been better looking than now. I have had this daily variation for more than 2 years now because I aim to a stable pH instead of a stable alkalinity. During the dark period - what is the calcification/precipitation rate? Of cause - I could do a reversed experiment but for the moment - not.

Do we run our aquarium with to much light nowadays? Do we fire for the crows?

I´m adware that my aquarium is an extreme with these four rather big clams that grow and grow and...... But will photoinhibition occur more often than we believe?

I will add that my temperature is stable - very stable

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Sincerely Lasse

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[Lasse]

My aquarium - last FTS

Sincerely Lasse

 

[ScottR]

Nice, Lasse. Thanks for sharing and following.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It's a lot to digest, thanks for posting it.

Might the effect of higher demand for alk be driven by the higher pH, either from when you were not home or from warmer air leading to more open windows?

The pH is peaking higher between March 16 and Mar 22 compared to early in the experiment.

 

[arking_mark]

I've been playing around with more tightly controlling my pH, and found there was a direct correlation between pH and Alk consumption as @Randy Holmes-Farley told me there would be.

I have few corals in my young tank but was able to maintain a 1dKH consumption with a 8.32 - 8.37 pH. An oversized skimmer with CO2 scrubber was helping maintain my pH.

I had to stop my skimmer for 72hrs to treat a fish. I maintained the ~1dKH kalk drip and found my pH slowly dropping while my dKH rose.

My current pH is has dropped to about 8.18 and may continue to drop and my alk has gone from 7.6 to 8.6 and may continue to rise.

As the skimmer and CO2 scrubber starts back up today, I expect my pH to rise and alk to stop rising and potentially come down.

 

[Lasse]

Might the effect of higher demand for alk be driven by the higher pH, either from when you were not home or from warmer air leading to more open windows?

That´s was my first thought too - but as usually data can´t either confirm or dismiss this. It was only me that was away - not my wife and the cat.

My indoor CO2 levels during march. its true that it looks like the average CO2 level is lower the last days - but the lowest value these days seems to be higher than before

The peak pH had rise the last days but also the average - I did a calibration around 2 weeks ago.

I think it important to stress that the absolute figures not need to be tru - but the tendency is clear - IMO.

befora i start to experiment with the dosage of Triton Core7 3a+b - the swing of pH was only like 0.12 - 0.14 - lowest I ever seen. I also loaded my oxydator 15/3 - after that a little higher top pH. I have seen that before but can´t explain it in a proper way.

Please let more comments and experiences come in

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Lasse]

Yesterday - I got back to the old way of dosing - between 22:00 and 09:00 - the patten is still the same - average pH a little bit higher

​

Probably reason why pH a little higher - a beautiful day and door to the balcony open - a cat going back and forth

​

I cant say that I love these alkalinity swings - according to everything I have read about alkalinity stability and i try to figure out next step. Today I dose 1.6 ml Triton Core7 3a+b every 10 minutes during the time period of 22:00 to 9:00. It means around 110ml a+b a day. I think that I will measure this day too and take a decision how to dose during next night.

If I´m going down to dose 1 ml every 10 minutes - I can dose for nearly 17 hours - between 21:00 to 14:00 - could be interesting to see how this will affect my highest alkalinity concentration and my night pH

Sincerely Lasse

 

[arking_mark]

Yesterday - I got back to the old way of dosing - between 22:00 and 09:00 - the patten is still the same - average pH a little bit higher

​

Probably reason why pH a little higher - a beautiful day and door to the balcony open - a cat going back and forth

​

I cant say that I love these alkalinity swings - according to everything I have read about alkalinity stability and i try to figure out next step. Today I dose 1.6 ml Triton Core7 3a+b every 10 minutes during the time period of 22:00 to 9:00. It means around 110ml a+b a day. I think that I will measure this day too and take a decision how to dose during next night.

If I´m going down to dose 1 ml every 10 minutes - I can dose for nearly 17 hours - between 21:00 to 14:00 - could be interesting to see how this will affect my highest alkalinity concentration and my night pH

Sincerely Lasse

Awhile back, I was dosing Triton via GHL KH Director to a small lower demand tank. I wasn't tracking pH, but I was able to get my Alk very stable with 6x a day dosing.

I'm not sure this will help, but here's how I set it up and why...

1. I set doser for the nominal dose a reef tank uses per day, which is .5dKH. For my tank, I dose 6 times a day and require 24ml of supplement. So 4ml per dose. This ensures that if my tank is at target 8dKH, it still will dose this minimum amout that will be used up b4 next dose.
2. I set the 1dKH deviation volume to the actual ml needed to raise my dKH by 1. The KHD is set to measure 30 minutes b4 dosing. This ensures that after every measurement, my dKH is replenished to at least 8 plus my minimal dose.
3. I limit the max/min dose adjustment to .25dKH because I never want a larger change then that. It protects my tank from anomalous readings as well.

With these setting, I'm typically between 7.9 and 8.1 dKH. Sometimes a little higher and sometimes a little lower. The dKH consumption of my tank varries throughout the day. The more measurements / doses you do the tighter you can lock in the target dKH.

 

[Lasse]

I have zero issues with the web browser or the local web page when I'm home.
I'm thinking it's related to Charts,

Thanks for the reply

Yes i´m aware of how to minimize the alkalinity swing but the interesting thing with this - in spite of the fact that my swing is around 2 dKH - the tank have a growth rate corresponding to around an alkalinity demand round 3 dKH ( if you use the normal formula 2/3 during light and 1/3 during dark conditions) - it correspond to a production/precipitation rate of around 53 mg/L and day of CaCO3, In my case its around 16 g daily production/precipitation of CaCO3 (or limestone)

I have SPS, LPS and clams in my aquaria. Everythere - in literature, at reef forums and articles - people talk about alkalinity stability as the Gordian knot in order to hold thriving stone corals and clams. You can say that this data in this thread is more or less the sword that destroy that knot.

The question is now - if I try to even down the alkalinity swing to the levels you have - ±0,1 dKH - will i have even more insane production / precipitation of CaCO3 compared to now? For the book - I´m not sure that I want a higher production / precipitation rate . Or is the postulate about alkalinity stability for stony corals health - at least in my aquarium - a myth?

I have run this set up for more than 2 years. The most important change I have done it not any stability issues - it is that I lower my light intensity with around 25 %. Of cause - I have limited data about my alkalinity consumption before I lowered the light - but the few data I have indicate a rise in the production / precipitation rate after I lowered my light intensity

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Cory]

A description of my aquarium.

I use Core7 Triton method in order to maintain most of my parameters
The aquarium is around 310 L water
Heavy stocked with both hard and soft corals and 5 clams
40+ fish in small and middle sized fish
The filtration
A reversed deep sand bed
Refugium (the DSB is in the refugium)
Oversized Skimmer
Chaeto reactor
Oxidator
No WC for around 3 years
Additatives
Daily add of iron, strontium, iodine, vanadium, manganese and boron. I´m adding 1.6 ml of Triton Boron at 20,:07 every evening.
small adding of ethanol below the DSB - around 2 ml 4% a day
Triton IPC around every 3:th month. Dosing mostly after their instructions after test

The alkalinity part of the Core7 Triton method will rise the pH - therefore I have for a some years always add it during night time when my pH tends to drop. Before the 11 th of march - I run the Core7 3a+b dosing between 22:00 and 12:00, Ph swing around 0.21 as highest. Max pH 8,41 - lowest 8.2

​

In the end of this period - lowest daily pH was slowly rising. During march I also lowered my max light during the day to 75 % intensity (of the one I had before). This was because I had some starting small Cyano patches that I did not get totally rid of. NO3 around 4 - 5 and Phosphorous between 0.05 and 0.1. When I lowered my light intensity - I was afraid that I would affect the growth of my corals. I did a serie of measurements of my KH drop during the time I did not dose Core 7 3a+b. Between 12:00 and 20:00 - my system consume around 1 dKH in alkalinity - it responds to a limestone (CaCO3) production or/and precipitation of around 5 g during this time. I redo the measurements after I had lower my light with 25 % in intensity - I was expected a lower production or/and precipitation of CaCO3 - but the result was the opposite

Alkalinity switch before 25/2 - 100 % light

After the 25/2 - note between the 26/2 and late 2/3 - no measurements because that I was out of home.

continue

​

Around the 16/3 - the measurements was nearly the same- However I had shortened the period during I add Core7 3a+b

My conclusion is that lowering the light intensity in my aquarium did not negative affect my calcification rate during the period from 12:00 to 20:00 - more likely the opposite. I was probably in a situation of photoinhiberation before.


To be continued soon

Sincerely Lasse

​

Ive had in my mind from 8 years ago when i had my corals suddenly explode in growth by showing white growth tips. But the only difference was i raised my light like 10 inches! It was a kessil a360.

 

[Lasse]

That rise spread you photons and diminished the PAR values too - IMO

Maybe we sometimes use to much light

Sincerely Lasse

 

[arking_mark]

That rise spread you photons and diminished the PAR values too - IMO

Maybe we sometimes use to much light

Sincerely Lasse

In my expeience, coralline algae doesn't grow under high-par light and prefers lower light. Are you seeing any coralline growth?

 

[Lasse]

In some place - yes good growth of Corallines - i little more than 1 months ago - I was able to look through this window

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On the other han - my corals have a good growth too

​

Sincerely Lasse

​

 

[arking_mark]

In some place - yes good growth of Corallines - i little more than 1 months ago - I was able to look through this window

​

On the other han - my corals have a good growth too

​

Sincerely Lasse

​

It would seem that your current increased Alk demand is due to lower lighting. Some of your coral is responding better to that level of lighting and you are experiencing quite a bit of coralline algae growth.

With regard to the Alk swings and seeking stability, I would guess that stability would probably be beneficial but I am not sure how. I do know that some coral can react negatively to Alk and other parameter swings.

There are also some experiments that have shown that elevated pH/Alk/Ca leads to increased growth of certain corals. Others have shown that high-end coral coloration that happens at highly elevated PAR slows down coral growth.

I know that for my WD frag, I am focusing on growth and have it at about 350 PAR and it is growing well. However, if I want to get those WD colors that we see, those are achieved at much higher PAR. The individual I purchased it from recommended to grow it out 1st then raise the PAR for coloration. He frags his mother colony, which looks incredible, and then grows the frag quickly at a lower PAR. I was able to get a fully encrusted frag this way. Following his advice for the last 6 months, my frag growth has accelerated despite being put into a new tank and messing around with getting parameters stable. In the last month, with elevating my pH I've seen noticeable growth in a short time.

 

[Lasse]

Today i change a little in the set up. Before I dose 1.4 ml of Core7:3 a+b every ten minutes between 22:00 and 09:00. I have changed to 1 ml every 10 minutes between 22:00 and 13:00. I´l try to see what this means according to pH stability, pH swing and swing of alkalinity

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Lasse]

During the new regime - dosing 1.1 ml Core7:3a+b between 22:00 to 13:00 - the alk swing has gone down to around 1.2 between 09:00 and 22:00 but - also - the pH swing have increase a little and - especially - low pH during night time is lower

Last 24 hours

Yesterday

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2 days ago

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3 days ago

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Reef and Dive]

That’s very interesting! I wanted to do these hourly alk experiment myself and that was delayed because of my work (doctor in Brazil, so you can imagine COVID trouble around here).

I run a fuge with inverse cycles and previously dosed alk at night for pH stability reasons. But since I noticed a significant pH drop during the day cycle I started to distribute it.

I still question myself: what would be best for stony corals? Greater pH stability or greater alk stability?

 

[arking_mark]

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[Lasse]

Already been there

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Sincerely Lasse