frequent 20% water changes to raise alk,calc,mag, etc

[dontbuyxenia]

I have been using instant ocean salt for awhile now in my tank and my parameters are quite low. Dosing seems to cause more issues than it helps because the parameters will go up briefly and crash right back down. Im switching to red sea coral pro since it mixes to a more desirable alkalinity value. I thought that doing 20% water changes each day till I get to around 8.5-9.0 alkalinity would be a good idea since each 20% water change raises the alkalinity by around 0.7 dkh after each water change. It holds pretty well and I see a minimal decrease in alk and other parameters in the days that follow(Im only listing alk but calc and mag increase in a similar fashion). I figure once I get my parameters where I want them dosing will better maintain the parameters between water changes. Im also dealing with a GHA problem so I figure it will help that too. Is this a good idea? thanks
My parameters:
alk:6.7-7.0
calc:380-400
mag:1200

 

[Lavey29]

What are you using for tests? 20 percent daily changes is not necessary unless you have a serious problem in the tank that requires immediate fresh water.

 

[jda]

Why not just add some baking soda to raise the alk? Baking soda and calcium chloride are all that you need. You can order cheap calcium chloride online or there are plenty of products that you might be able to find locally that are the same thing - dowflake is pure and good and sold at tennis/turf shops and even as driveway melt.

Eventually, you are going to need to move past just salt to maintain the big-three (at least big-two). Water change maintenance works for a while, but eventually cannot keep up.

 

[homer1475]

IO mixes up to around 11dkh, not sure how it's dropping if your supplying 11DKH water.

Might want to double check salinity if ALK is lower then that in NSW.

 

[dontbuyxenia]

the salinity is of tank and water I buy is 1.024. And Im using salifert kits. I do want to dose, but getting the parameters to be any higher than those feels impossible and the swings stress my corals. I figured the water changes would help get the new salt in faster and get the parameters to a point where dosing makes sense as maintenance. It would also help my GHA problem by lowering nutrients.

 

[LeftyReefer]

I'd just add more salt.

NSW is 1.026.

You are running 1.024, so your running water lower on salt/mineral content to begin with and then wondering why it is dropping between changes? I would try bumping up the salinity and see if ALK stays up then.

 

[ClownSchool]

Why not just add some baking soda to raise the alk? Baking soda and calcium chloride are all that you need. You can order cheap calcium chloride online or there are plenty of products that you might be able to find locally that are the same thing - dowflake is pure and good and sold at tennis/turf shops and even as driveway melt.

Eventually, you are going to need to move past just salt to maintain the big-three (at least big-two). Water change maintenance works for a while, but eventually cannot keep up.

Agreed. Especially, once coralline starts establishing. I causes alk to drop even faster.

 

[dontbuyxenia]

Why not just add some baking soda to raise the alk? Baking soda and calcium chloride are all that you need. You can order cheap calcium chloride online or there are plenty of products that you might be able to find locally that are the same thing - dowflake is pure and good and sold at tennis/turf shops and even as driveway melt.

Eventually, you are going to need to move past just salt to maintain the big-three (at least big-two). Water change maintenance works for a while, but eventually cannot keep up.

If I added that though, how would I prevent it from crashing down again

 

[homer1475]

Keep dosing at the rate of consumption. It's how dosing works.

 

[jda]

You will constantly be adding it the whole time that you are in the hobby. If not, then nothing is growing and using it.

 

[Lavey29]

Agreed. Especially, once coralline starts establishing. I causes alk to drop even faster.

And calcium

 

[dontbuyxenia]

Keep dosing at the rate of consumption. It's how dosing works.

I understand that, but the main issue Im having is that through dosing(I have been using esv B-ionic 2 part and the aquavitro ions) I have not seen the values hold. So I dose in the morning to bring the numbers from 6.0 to 6.7 but by the next morning its back to 6.0. I dont want to raise it more than .7 to prevent shocking my corals but cant seem to keep it up.

 

[homer1475]

Thats because your corals are consuming it.

You need to dose not just once a day, but many times day, and at the rate of consumption.

If you do dose once a day, you'll see the decline like your seeing.

Dose, raise supplement. Check 24 hours later and back down. That decline is your daily consumption. Write it down.

Add what you need to add to bring the level up, the continue to dose the amount you wrote down throughout the day to prevent the decline.

 

[LeftyReefer]

I understand that, but the main issue Im having is that through dosing(I have been using esv B-ionic 2 part and the aquavitro ions) I have not seen the values hold. So I dose in the morning to bring the numbers from 6.0 to 6.7 but by the next morning its back to 6.0. I dont want to raise it more than .7 to prevent shocking my corals but cant seem to keep it up.

Sounds like you need a dosing pump to break up the daily dose into several smaller doses througout the day...
Instead of one big dose to bring the tank back in line every morning causing a spike, break the dosage up into one every hour or two to keep it steady.

 

[dontbuyxenia]

Would it be worth to try and just raise Magnesium first as it would be hard to keep either calc or alk elevated without that?

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Is your avatar picture your tank? Tbh I wouldn't worry about it. What you're doing seems to be working well enough, just do a 20% water change and roll with it. I don't think I saw anything in your tank that needs insanely stable parameters.

 

[dontbuyxenia]

Is your avatar picture your tank? Tbh I wouldn't worry about it. What you're doing seems to be working well enough, just do a 20% water change and roll with it. I don't think I saw anything in your tank that needs insanely stable parameters.

It was. I had a 150 gallon mixed reef that was beautiful and never did a water change on it. I took that tank down when I moved to Athens from Atlanta and have a little red sea 250 now. I miss the old one real bad lol

 

[All_talk]

Easiest way to distribute Alk/Ca dosing through the day is Kalk in the ATO reservoir (assuming you have an ATO). If you have a good idea how much top up water you are using, you should be able to calculate how much Kalk you need to hit your +.7 Alk per day. Start with that and ramp up until you are seeing the gains you need.

 

[Lavey29]

Since you have the RS250, I have a similar tank XL300. When my water changes no longer kept up with demand a few months back, I got the Red Sea 2 head doser. Very easy to program and set up with the app. Doses alk and cal over a 24 hour period few mils at a time. Not expensive at all. You can see my dosing reservoirs in the pic and how they would fit nicely in your cabinet also.