Gut check on alk demand for a few frags - new to sps/acro's

[littlebeard]

Hi! I just need a gut check to make sure I'm doing things right.

I finally decided to tip my toes into the world of acro's and monti's. I bought 4 acro frags and 2 monti frags and a wall hammer a little over a month ago. The demand on my tank before these frags was fairly minimal and I could keep up with it via water changes. Over the last 2 weeks however it has been a different story. While it seems like the acros are encrusting nicely on the frag plugs the demand for alk is now at ~ .2 dkh a day. While I know for some of the more mature reefs this is tiny, I just wanted to check with some more experienced reefers to see if my new demand actually make sense for a few frags or if something is awry with my tank.

I use HW-Marinemix Reefer and the dkh is ~9dkh.

My tank fell to about 7.4 before I caught it and I'm slowly raising it back up(I actually didn't believe it, so I tested a batch of new salt water which measured 8.9dkh so I know my test isn't bad).
How fast can I raise it a day? I've been trying to raise it no more than .5 a day spacing out my dosing throughout the day.


Finally, I bought a doser to deal with this eventuality however it seems to be leaking between the connector of the dosing pump and the silicone tubing running to my tank. Is there a good way to seal it? Should I just try a new section of silicone tubing? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[MnFish1]

Hi! I just need a gut check to make sure I'm doing things right.

I finally decided to tip my toes into the world of acro's and monti's. I bought 4 acro frags and 2 monti frags and a wall hammer a little over a month ago. The demand on my tank before these frags was fairly minimal and I could keep up with it via water changes. Over the last 2 weeks however it has been a different story. While it seems like the acros are encrusting nicely on the frag plugs the demand for alk is now at ~ .2 dkh a day. While I know for some of the more mature reefs this is tiny, I just wanted to check with some more experienced reefers to see if my new demand actually make sense for a few frags or if something is awry with my tank.

I use HW-Marinemix Reefer and the dkh is ~9dkh.

My tank fell to about 7.4 before I caught it and I'm slowly raising it back up(I actually didn't believe it, so I tested a batch of new salt water which measured 8.9dkh so I know my test isn't bad).
How fast can I raise it a day? I've been trying to raise it no more than .5 a day spacing out my dosing throughout the day.


Finally, I bought a doser to deal with this eventuality however it seems to be leaking between the connector of the dosing pump and the silicone tubing running to my tank. Is there a good way to seal it? Should I just try a new section of silicone tubing? Any advice is appreciated.

1. you could try cutting the silicone and replacing it on the connector. Is there any damage to the connector itself? Is the tubing the right size?
2. .5 a day should be good. On the other hand - .25 a day would probably be better. (i.e. since it dropped over 2 weeks, why not correct it over 2 weeks - unless there is a problem)
3. As to whether this seems 'normal' - how big is your tank, compared to how big your frags are? Are you testing Alk at the same time of day (because it can vary - not usually that much).

Hope this helps

 

[littlebeard]

.5 a day should be good. On the other hand - .25 a day would probably be better. (i.e. since it dropped over 2 weeks, why not correct it over 2 weeks - unless there is a problem)

Thanks for the input! Sometimes I forget stability is greater than matching a number.

s to whether this seems 'normal' - how big is your tank, compared to how big your frags are? Are you testing Alk at the same time of day (because it can vary - not usually that much).

It's a 125 Gallon tank. The acro frags are about 2 inches long with 2-4 branches on them. The millie has a lot of branches... 8+. The wall hammer that I got is probably 3+ inches long. The monti's are probably the smallest at 1 inch.

I also have 2 softball sized branching hammers and a few more small lps frags.

Below are my parameters over the last 3 months. Most of the time the tests are done between 3 and 6 pm.