Just did my First DKH test and....

[mimi117]

Interesting, gotta love biology, on an off note - setting up my phyto farm in a little while, just got my F2 delivered, also purchased some Reef Nutrition Tiger Pods, tons in the bottle, I plan to grow them out and feed them along with phyto to my tank on a regular basis and see what that does to the diversity in the tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Interesting, gotta love biology, on an off note - setting up my phyto farm in a little while, just got my F2 delivered, also purchased some Reef Nutrition Tiger Pods, tons in the bottle, I plan to grow them out and feed them along with phyto to my tank on a regular basis and see what that does to the diversity in the tank.

Sounds good!

 

[Lavey29]

Sorry but a new tank with a few soft corals has no alk consumption. How are you testing salinity for water changes? Have you checked magnesium which is the buffer for alk and calcium? New tanks don't need any dosing at all just weekly water changes. Put a small fan in your tank room and circulating air will help PH levels. If it's at AIO tank how are you doing ATO? By hand? Or do you have an RODI reservoir and auto top off system.

 

[mimi117]

Sorry but a new tank with a few soft corals has no alk consumption. How are you testing salinity for water changes? Have you checked magnesium which is the buffer for alk and calcium? New tanks don't need any dosing at all just weekly water changes. Put a small fan in your tank room and circulating air will help PH levels. If it's at AIO tank how are you doing ATO? By hand? Or do you have an RODI reservoir and auto top off system.

I have a refractometer that I use to test both the display tank and my new salt water mixed, I do 5G at a time and try to stay at 1.024-1.025, auto top off is 5G fresh RO/DI from my home, reads 0 ppm from the tap.

I have not checked my magnesium, I would need to purchase a test kit for that.

As far as the fan, I have my main fan for my room on, full blast all day, except when I sleep, I turn it down a little.

 

[Lavey29]

I have a refractometer that I use to test both the display tank and my new salt water mixed, I do 5G at a time and try to stay at 1.024-1.025, auto top off is 5G fresh RO/DI from my home, reads 0 ppm from the tap.

I have not checked my magnesium, I would need to purchase a test kit for that.

As far as the fan, I have my main fan for my room on, full blast all day, except when I sleep, I turn it down a little.

A small fuge in one of your chambers will help keep PH stable to. You run the light overnight opposite your tank lights.

 

[mimi117]

Yes, I have considered it, problem is right now I have very low nitrates as it is and I know some corals like to have some nitrates in the water, If I add a fuge it would prob be later on if I am having nitrate issues.

 

[Lavey29]

Yes, I have considered it, problem is right now I have very low nitrates as it is and I know some corals like to have some nitrates in the water, If I add a fuge it would prob be later on if I am having nitrate issues.

They really don't do much for nitrates . Mine grows like a weed. I cut football size pieces off every 2 weeks and my nitrates stay at 20. A fuge is good for filtering water, helping with pods and biodiversity and keeping PH consistent overnight when it typically drops. New tanks are inheritantly unstable. I had to double dose neophos and neonitro for multiple months before I got measurable numbers.

 

[mimi117]

@Lavey29 Interesting, yea I seen on youtube a guy get one of those Innovative Marine Caddies, take out all the baffles, and turn that into a fuge, I think I may look into that option.

Any reason turning one of the overflow sides a refugium a bad idea, instead of one of the secondary chambers, reason being I can't get behind the tank to cut away the black wrap to put a light for the cheato, but I CAN cut the side of the tank on one of the first chambers to put a light there.... Maybe I can leave one baffles on the top for my sponge/filter floss combo to pick up the big things, and let the rest smaller particles go into the fuge for the pods for further break down.

thoughts?

 

[Lavey29]

@Lavey29 Interesting, yea I seen on youtube a guy get one of those Innovative Marine Caddies, take out all the baffles, and turn that into a fuge, I think I may look into that option.

Any reason turning one of the overflow sides a refugium a bad idea, instead of one of the secondary chambers, reason being I can't get behind the tank to cut away the black wrap to put a light for the cheato, but I CAN cut the side of the tank on one of the first chambers to put a light there.... Maybe I can leave one baffles on the top for my sponge/filter floss combo to pick up the big things, and let the rest smaller particles go into the fuge for the pods for further break down.

thoughts?

I've never had a reef AIO but have seen tanks on here where they have converted a rear chamber to a fuge. I think IM makes a specific light to for AIO chamber fuges. Or maybe I saw it on Amazon? Yes, the fuge can filter particles for you too.

 

[rishma]

I have a refractometer that I use to test both the display tank and my new salt water mixed, I do 5G at a time and try to stay at 1.024-1.025, auto top off is 5G fresh RO/DI from my home, reads 0 ppm from the tap.

I have not checked my magnesium, I would need to purchase a test kit for that.

refractometer calibration solutions purchased retail are notoriously inaccurate. It’s a big enough issue thst I’d suggest making your own calibration solution with table salt. Randy has posted a diy recipe. It’s urgent, you are probably good enough for now, but figured I’d mention it for consideration.

I would not bother with a magnesium test kit. Look up Randy’s Magnesium Method thread. It will tell you what you need to know.

Yes, I have considered it, problem is right now I have very low nitrates as it is and I know some corals like to have some nitrates in the water, If I add a fuge it would prob be later on if I am having nitrate issues.

I have kept refugiums many times. In my experience, algae like cheato consume nitrate and phospate (along with trace elements). They can be effective at helping control nutrients and boosting nighttime pH. I don’t currently run one and likely won’t again except as a separate display attached to a larger tank and a place to grow pods. I find the effort is not worth it to me. There are easier ways for me to accomplish my pH and nutrient goals, especially in a small tank

 

[mimi117]

Interesting, maybe I can take some display tank water, and fresh made salt water to a store and have them check the salinity, I would be surprised if my salinity was off.... good thinking on that one.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have a refractometer that I use to test both the display tank and my new salt water mixed, I do 5G at a time and try to stay at 1.024-1.025, auto top off is 5G fresh RO/DI from my home, reads 0 ppm from the tap.

I have not checked my magnesium, I would need to purchase a test kit for that.

As far as the fan, I have my main fan for my room on, full blast all day, except when I sleep, I turn it down a little.

I do not recommend testing magnesium. Too much error.

At that specific gravity, expect all ions to be lower than at 35 ppt (sg = 1.0264).

 

[rishma]

It’s urgent, you are probably good enough for now, but figured I’d mention it for consideration.

apologies, this should have said it’s NOT urgent. You are probably ok but all elements are lower if salinity is lower than target.

I would trust a store salinity reading less than one done you did yourself at home.

 

[mimi117]

^ I feel that, worst case doesn't hurt to have them test it just to see if there are any differences, maybe I can test some of their water with my refractometer too, figure out where the variance is coming from, their end or mine.

 

[Shirak]

^ I feel that, worst case doesn't hurt to have them test it just to see if there are any differences, maybe I can test some of their water with my refractometer too, figure out where the variance is coming from, their end or mine.

Easier, faster and cheaper to just make up a little DIY refractometer calibration solution at home and check your refractometer. Going to the LFS and testing theirs etc won't do you much good because you still should be checking the calibration on your device at home periodically as it may drift over time.

 

[rishma]

Easier, faster and cheaper to just make up a little DIY refractometer calibration solution at home and check your refractometer. Going to the LFS and testing theirs etc won't do you much good because you still should be checking the calibration on your device at home periodically as it may drift over time.

^This is what you should do. Don't shy away from making a calibration solution with table salt.

https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.php

 

[mimi117]

So today is the 2nd day where my DKH tested the same as the day before, I am at 9.9/9.6 ish two days in a row, dosing 10ML per hour of kalk solution at 1/2 TSP kalk dosage. I'll keep testing for a week to see if the 10 ML is working out for me.

 

[rishma]

So today is the 2nd day where my DKH tested the same as the day before, I am at 9.9/9.6 ish two days in a row, dosing 10ML per hour of kalk solution at 1/2 TSP kalk dosage. I'll keep testing for a week to see if the 10 ML is working out for me.

Ok, that would make your alkalinity demand a little less than 0.1 dKH per day. Seems like a reasonable value at this point. Let us know what you see in a week. If you don’t change anything for a week, regardless of the trend, you’ll have a very good confirmation of the alkalinity demand.

 

[mimi117]

If it was only .1dkh demand how did it go from 10.9 to 9.9 in a few days, it wasn't user error I tested carefully.

 

[rishma]

If it was only .1dkh demand how did it go from 10.9 to 9.9 in a few days, it wasn't user error I tested carefully.

Test error happens even when we are careful. :) test kits have an accuracy range which has a bigger impact when changes are small.

10ml per hour at 1/2tsp per gallon is ~0.1dkh/day for a 20 gallon water volume.