How much is too much of a swing? What should my goal be? (Also, alk to nutrient ratios.)

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Wet/dry filters were trashed for being nitrate factories. That was way before anyone considered adding nitrate.
Would adding a small wet/dry be a reasonable way to elevate nitrates?

Maybe. Seems like a hard to control solution, however.

 

[am3gross]

i mix 1 tablespoon with 500ml of rodi water, then dose 30 ml to bring my level up by about 0.3-0.5 this way I'm not adding so much rodi water to my tank independently of my ato system.

This right here is quality! Real life experiences! I will do the same thing, with me having more water volume then this "should" be a safe start for me.

As far as me making the gallon, I was going to add X amount from the gallon until I reached the number I was shooting for. It was going to be a lot of trial and testing! You just saved me so much time.

My nitrate should be here tomorrow.

My ALK is on its way down as per my Trident. I stopped dosing at 0923 yesterday 21JAN2021, at noon it was 9.16, 1800-9.05, midnight- 8.86, 0600-8.87, so the gradual climb down is very slow, which is good as to not shock the corals. I will record numbers so I can see how much ALK I am actually using before I turn the dose back on.

Again, the amount of time everyone is putting into this thread is at the very least helping me, and I want to thank everyone for that.

Hopefully it will help others as well!

Mike

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Exactly! Why do I keep hearing the ocean's alk is 8-9.
Some very well known sellers keep saying this.
Such is the hobby I guess.

People repeat what they hear... been hearing that my entire tank will die if my alk jumps 1 dkh within 24 hours since 2008 but have only had coral death when my po4 gets too low. My rule these last few years is to take all advice with a grain of salt until I see your tank.

I had a tank sitter pour soda ash in my tank for some odd reason 3 years ago and jumped my alk from 7.5 to 14 in about 5 mins. I set a delay timer on my doser remotely that I messed up and my alk dropped to 5.5 over the next three days and didn’t lose a single coral.

I never test fate with alk stability but even with a calcium reactor now it fluctuates as much as .8 through the day and according to some here that is eminent death. My tank is jammed packed with sps and it doesn’t seem to have any issues.

 

[Jax15]

Mike,

Agreed this thread is awesome. I’m following for sure.

Your alk numbers actually seem to be dropping pretty fast.. I’d think about reducing your dosing rather than cutting it off completely. Your trying to drop a few DKH, might as well do it over a few weeks to month if you have the trident to get that much control.

 

[X-37B]

People repeat what they hear... been hearing that my entire tank will die if my alk jumps 1 dkh within 24 hours since 2008 but have only had coral death when my po4 gets too low. My rule these last few years is to take all advice with a grain of salt until I see your tank.

I had a tank sitter pour soda ash in my tank for some odd reason 3 years ago and jumped my alk from 7.5 to 14 in about 5 mins. I set a delay timer on my doser remotely that I messed up and my alk dropped to 5.5 over the next three days and didn’t lose a single coral.

I never test fate with alk stability but even with a calcium reactor now it fluctuates as much as .8 through the day and according to some here that is eminent death. My tank is jammed packed with sps and it doesn’t seem to have any issues.

The thing is, and I wont say who, the ocean alk is 8-9 is on a very reputable site who is a sponser here.
I sent them a message to the blog and it was never answered or uploaded, lol.

 

[Greg P]

This right here is quality! Real life experiences! I will do the same thing, with me having more water volume then this "should" be a safe start for me.

As far as me making the gallon, I was going to add X amount from the gallon until I reached the number I was shooting for. It was going to be a lot of trial and testing! You just saved me so much time.

My nitrate should be here tomorrow.

My ALK is on its way down as per my Trident. I stopped dosing at 0923 yesterday 21JAN2021, at noon it was 9.16, 1800-9.05, midnight- 8.86, 0600-8.87, so the gradual climb down is very slow, which is good as to not shock the corals. I will record numbers so I can see how much ALK I am actually using before I turn the dose back on.

Again, the amount of time everyone is putting into this thread is at the very least helping me, and I want to thank everyone for that.

Hopefully it will help others as well!

Mike

You've been getting tons of great advice.
I'd like to add a bit based on your current lowering of Alk.
Maybe not completely turn off your Trident, but rather adjust it.
I had an issue last year where I allowed Alk to drop from 9.6 to 7.7 over a week and my SPS started STN from the tips down, and within a month the whole tank was shedding.
During this time, my N&P were 2-5 and 0.03-0.06

Maybe consider letting Alk drop slower. Say, 0.5/week.
If you do start tip recession you may not be able to stop it.

 

[X-37B]

You've been getting tons of great advice.
I'd like to add a bit based on your current lowering of Alk.
Maybe not completely turn off your Trident, but rather adjust it.
I had an issue last year where I allowed Alk to drop from 9.6 to 7.7 over a week and my SPS started STN from the tips down, and within a month the whole tank was shedding.
During this time, my N&P were 2-5 and 0.03-0.06

Maybe consider letting Alk drop slower. Say, 0.5/week.
If you do start tip recession you may not be able to stop it.

Thats good advice.
When I went from 8.5 to 7 I did it over 30+ days with no issues.

 

[am3gross]

You've been getting tons of great advice.
I'd like to add a bit based on your current lowering of Alk.
Maybe not completely turn off your Trident, but rather adjust it.
I had an issue last year where I allowed Alk to drop from 9.6 to 7.7 over a week and my SPS started STN from the tips down, and within a month the whole tank was shedding.
During this time, my N&P were 2-5 and 0.03-0.06

Maybe consider letting Alk drop slower. Say, 0.5/week.
If you do start tip recession you may not be able to stop it.

I am gunna take this advice, I will make the adjustment to start adding some ALK back in so that it slows down the drop. My current level is 8.85, I know it is not going to drop much tonight, but I will start it back up. I am starting to see some polyp extension so it may be in a spot that the SPS like.

thanks everyone

 

[am3gross]

UPDATE:

Current levels are,

Salinity: 35
ALK: 8.67
CAL: 423
MAG: 1369
PH: 7.73
PO4: .05
NO3: 3.35

I slowed down on decreasing the ALK, still want it to go a little lower, but every thing is looking happy right now. My PH I can not get it above 8, the range is usually 7.71ish (morning) and 7.87 (night).. Adding 100 ml of Nitrate every day. should be dwindling that down here in a day or 2.

The little bit of Cyano I had is starting to go away as well. Still have a good amount of bubbles through out the rock however.

Again I cant thank everyone enough for the the response's in this thread, Thank you!