formula question and or matching new saltwater parameters.

[Sleeperls]

Using instant ocean purple and dosing brs two part. I'm keeping the alk around 8.5(with hannah checker) 8.8 with salifert test kits. On average mixing salt and letting is rest a couple days before weekend water change the new saltwater alk is at 9.6 hannah and 9.9-10.0 salifert.

The question is 50g system . ive been doing water changes every 2 weeks due to low nitrates working on getting them up so far it has been working doing bi weekly raising it slowly. If doing weekly i do a 5g change, and if its two weeks 7-10g depending on how im feeling. Was suprised at the alk jump last water change on a 20% 10g change. its a non issue doing 5g alk will jump .3 i just dont dose on water change day and it keeps it right at 8.5. I test around 7pm plus or minus 30 min for consistency. Last time i did 10g change it went from 8.3 to 9 on the hannah. Was the bottom of the salt bucket. But still verified test 3 times.

Should i save my self the headache and match the newly mixed water to the tank alk or just deal with the spikes for now. I only dose 13ml of soda ash daily. never worried about it much in the past.

 

[rishma]

Do you see any negative effects? I doubt the spikes are causing any real issue. I think you are close enough to not worry about it.

 

[Sleeperls]

Only thing that worries me is the sps. First tank where im actually trying them and have about 20 pieces at the moment. Dont know whats acceptable swings are with them. All my old tanks heck i hardly ever tested and had great results for many years with lps/softies etc.

 

[bobnicaragua]

Going from 8.3 alkalinity to 9 won’t hurt your SPS.

I’ve never had any issues when my alk gets too low. The acros don’t seem to mind at all.

Spiking alk too high, like a doser failure, is where people get in trouble.

Can you post a pic of your SPS frags? (Just cause I like SPS)

 

[Sleeperls]

Going from 8.3 alkalinity to 9 won’t hurt your SPS.

I’ve never had any issues when my alk gets too low. The acros don’t seem to mind at all.

Spiking alk too high, like a doser failure, is where people get in trouble.

Can you post a pic of your SPS frags? (Just cause I like SPS)

The spike is what im worried about. as new water is about a point higher than what i keep tank at. Ive got a build thread going in the aio forum. I did just add a few more peices from jason fox last week but no high end stuff imho. I havnt posted those yet. added a red roses monti, jf frankies kryptonite, and jf lemongrass and a blueberry fields stylo. other peices i have are tubbs stellata, bubblegum digi, ora frogskin, organ tort, cherry coral hellboy, jf fox flame, capps cali, merlin staff, bright orange supposedly grafted setosa. and some other stuff from locals to see how the tank would fair with sps. like birds nest, iridecent pocillopora that will be taken out soon as i find something to replace it with. cactus potato chip. and some sort of encrusting sps.

 

[rishma]

I don’t think your SPS will mind. If your alkalinity was 8.5 dKH and you change 20% with 10 dKH….

(40x8.5 + 10x10)/50=8.8 dKH. No worries

 

[bobnicaragua]

The spike is what im worried about. as new water is about a point higher than what i keep tank at. Ive got a build thread going in the aio forum. I did just add a few more peices from jason fox last week but no high end stuff imho. I havnt posted those yet. added a red roses monti, jf frankies kryptonite, and jf lemongrass and a blueberry fields stylo. other peices i have are tubbs stellata, bubblegum digi, ora frogskin, organ tort, cherry coral hellboy, jf fox flame, capps cali, merlin staff, bright orange supposedly grafted setosa. and some other stuff from locals to see how the tank would fair with sps. like birds nest, iridecent pocillopora that will be taken out soon as i find something to replace it with. cactus potato chip. and some sort of encrusting sps.

It sounds like you’re stocked! I have had a lot of those corals over the years.

Not that long ago, a lot of people used to dose 2 part by hand. So all the daily soda ash for a big SPS tank can get dumped in all at once. The bolus method still doses this way.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The question is 50g system . ive been doing water changes every 2 weeks due to low nitrates working on getting them up so far it has been working doing bi weekly raising it slowly. If doing weekly i do a 5g change, and if its two weeks 7-10g depending on how im feeling.

The timing of water changes is not likely to impact nitrate export, and if you are worried about alk changes after a water change, more smaller water changes solves it.

That said, nitrate is easy to raise by inexpensive dosing if that is a primary concern. I recommend food grade sodium nitrate, calcium nitrate, or ammonium bicarbonate. I use both sodium nitrate (for needed occasional boosts) and ammonium bicarbonate (for regular daily dosing by pump).

 

[Sleeperls]

The timing of water changes is not likely to impact nitrate export, and if you are worried about alk changes after a water change, more smaller water changes solves it.

That said, nitrate is easy to raise by inexpensive dosing if that is a primary concern. I recommend food grade sodium nitrate, calcium nitrate, or ammonium bicarbonate. I use both sodium nitrate (for needed occasional boosts) and ammonium bicarbonate (for regular daily dosing by pump).

That is what I'm doing to raise the nitrates. Tank seems to use .5 a day so I've been doing .75 to a point raise a day. Had a heck of a time getting it up but now it's working. I'm using the brightwell stuff for now but soon as this bottle is gone to Amazon I go.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That is what I'm doing to raise the nitrates. Tank seems to use .5 a day so I've been doing .75 to a point raise a day. Had a heck of a time getting it up but now it's working. I'm using the brightwell stuff for now but soon as this bottle is gone to Amazon I go.

Sounds good.

Happy Reefing!