Is there a way to turn off DOS? Please help.

[canadianeh]

I have had several coral losses recently. The DOS was set to dose 9 ml daily to maintain 9 dkh. After the coral losses, I noticed that the Alk is slowly creeping up and now it is at 9.3 dkh.

Is there a way to temporarily turn off the DOS until the Alk comes down to 9 dkh?
what’s the best safest way to deal with this issue? Please help.
Thanks

 

[jassermd]

Yes there is. You should see a slide bar for the DOS in your Apex Fusion dashboard. Just slide that to the off position and that will turn the DOS off.
If you don’t see the slider, you need to pull it down from the available sliders.
Here’s a screenshot of the sliders and you can see my Mg DOS is off and the others are on.
You will need to manually turn it back on to AUTO for it to start dosing again.

 

[Gtinnel]

I just got a Neptune Apex and dos (haven't even set them up yet) but why not just set it to dose a slightly smaller amount of solution. If 9ml caused your alk to go above your target amount wouldn't stopping the dos to let alk drop the starting back at 9ml just cause the problem to reoccur.
Also, a difference between 9 and 9.3 is pretty insignificant and could just be testing differences.

 

[canadianeh]

I just got a Neptune Apex and dos (haven't even set them up yet) but why not just set it to dose a slightly smaller amount of solution. If 9ml caused your alk to go above your target amount wouldn't stopping the dos to let alk drop the starting back at 9ml just cause the problem to reoccur.
Also, a difference between 9 and 9.3 is pretty insignificant and could just be testing differences.

Well here is the thing. It has been trending up. It has never trending up like this before ever. It started when the amount of corals started to go down and I have not replaced the corals as I want to deal with algae issue.
I reduced the daily dosing to 8 ml per day and it is still going up from 9.1 to 9.3. I notice that my fragspwan started to polyp bail out. I have to take action ASAP.
What’s you guys suggest?

I just reduced it again from 8ml daily to 7 ml daily. Should I turn it off or just wait and see now?

 

[jassermd]

I don’t think coral dying or bailing would be due to a 0.3-0.5 change in alk.
Re: your question... you can do either. You can decrease the dose or turn it of temporarily.
Bigger question: how big is your tank, how new, what are the other parameters? 9ml is not a lot for dosing, but that depends on several variables, such as your tank size and the amount of consumption, as well as your pH.
I wouldn’t jump to conclusions that the slight increase in alk is causing all your problems. There is a high likelihood that there are other things going on...
Just my 2 cents

 

[canadianeh]

I don’t think coral dying or bailing would be due to a 0.3-0.5 change in alk.
Re: your question... you can do either. You can decrease the dose or turn it of temporarily.
Bigger question: how big is your tank, how new, what are the other parameters? 9ml is not a lot for dosing, but that depends on several variables, such as your tank size and the amount of consumption, as well as your pH.
I wouldn’t jump to conclusions that the slight increase in alk is causing all your problems. There is a high likelihood that there are other things going on...
Just my 2 cents

Alk 9.3
Cal 474
Mag 1438
Ph 7.9
Temp 78.8
The above are from Neptune.
Last week phosphorus at 9 ppb (Hanna)
Didn’t measure nitrate as generally it is super low
I am dealing with hair algae right now.
Running GFO and carbon.
tank is 65 gallons and over 1 year old

 

[jassermd]

I wouldn't go chasing numbers...
Your alk is good and a 0.3 change is not significant and could be testing error and pH swing.
You may want to just decrease the dosing a couple ml and monitor.
If your no3 and po4 are "super low" you're likely starving your coral.

 

[canadianeh]

I wouldn't go chasing numbers...
Your alk is good and a 0.3 change is not significant and could be testing error and pH swing.
You may want to just decrease the dosing a couple ml and monitor.
If your no3 and po4 are "super low" you're likely starving your coral.

What’s super low? I only have LPS and very lightly stocked. I just measured my Phosphate and it is 0.009. I haven’t tested my nitrates yet as I ran out of it.

 

[ZoWhat]

Isn't it amazing the amount of work it takes to automate a system to make our jobs easier?

 

[jassermd]

What’s super low? I only have LPS and very lightly stocked. I just measured my Phosphate and it is 0.009. I haven’t tested my nitrates yet as I ran out of it.

Super low would be anything close to or at zero... if you're testing po4 at 0.009, I'm wondering what test you're using to get that level of accuracy.
That's likely 0 or testing error. Given what you've already provided, I assume that's zero and would qualify as super low.
LPS do well in no3 <5 and po4 <0.1, but not zero. Remember, coral need no3 and po4 to survive and if you run your system close to or at 0, you are starving the coral.
From personal experience, I keep my no3 around 3-5 and po4 .05-0.08.
Best advice I can give is try to keep the levels close to but not at zero and don't chase numbers... watch your coral for stress.

 

[canadianeh]

Super low would be anything close to or at zero... if you're testing po4 at 0.009, I'm wondering what test you're using to get that level of accuracy.
That's likely 0 or testing error. Given what you've already provided, I assume that's zero and would qualify as super low.
LPS do well in no3 <5 and po4 <0.1, but not zero. Remember, coral need no3 and po4 to survive and if you run your system close to or at 0, you are starving the coral.
From personal experience, I keep my no3 around 3-5 and po4 .05-0.08.
Best advice I can give is try to keep the levels close to but not at zero and don't chase numbers... watch your coral for stress.

I am using Hanna ULR phosphorus. I used to have phosphate at 0.05 and 0.08 and man oh man I am dealing with tons of hair algae now. That’s why I am bringing it down now and rather running ultra low

 

[Tamberav]

GFO with that low of po4 is probably what is killing your coral. You will starve out coral before algae.

 

[canadianeh]

GFO with that low of po4 is probably what is killing your coral. You will starve out coral before algae.

Some of my corals started to die when my phosphate was between 0.05-0.08 and I also was running GFO. Then hair algae took over the tank. What else I am supposed to do?

 

[Tamberav]

Some of my corals started to die when my phosphate was between 0.05-0.08 and I also was running GFO. Then hair algae took over the tank. What else I am supposed to do?

That might be a subject for a separate post so you can get help.

Dry or live rock?
Age of tank?
Water change schedule?
Filtration?
Tank size?
Do you clean your sandbed regularly? Turkey baste the rocks?
What do you have for a clean up crew?
What type of fish do you have?
Be sure it is hair algae and not bryopsis.